What is the difference between WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2?

WCAG 2.2 adds nine new success criteria (7 new + 2 enhanced versions) and deprecates one (4.1.1 Parsing). The new criteria focus on focus visibility (2.4.11, 2.4.12, 2.4.13), consistent help (3.2.6), reducing cognitive load (3.3.7 Redundant Entry), and accessible authentication (3.3.8, 3.3.9). If you already meet WCAG 2.1 AA, upgrading to 2.2 primarily requires attention to focus visibility and authentication flows.

Do I need to meet Level AAA to be compliant?

No. Legal and procurement requirements almost universally require WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 at Level AA. Level AAA includes additional criteria for enhanced contrast, sign language, and other advanced provisions that are aspirational best practices but not legally mandated for most organizations.

Can automated tools alone achieve WCAG conformance?

Automated tools like axe-core can detect roughly 30–40% of WCAG failures. The remaining issues require manual testing — keyboard navigation testing, screen reader testing (JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver), and testing with real users who have disabilities. Automated scanning is the essential starting point, but manual testing is required for a credible conformance claim.

What is a WCAG conformance claim?

A formal statement that a web page or set of pages meets all success criteria at a stated level (A, AA, or AAA). A complete claim specifies the WCAG version, conformance level, pages covered, relied-upon technologies, and any exceptions. Organizations publish conformance claims in their accessibility statements or ACRs.

How often should I re-test for WCAG compliance?

Best practice is continuous automated scanning (on every deployment) combined with manual testing at major feature releases. At minimum, a comprehensive accessibility audit should be conducted annually or whenever significant changes are made to navigation, forms, authentication, or media features.

All Guides

WCAG 2.2 Compliance Guide

The current international standard for web accessibility with 87 success criteria across four principles. WCAG 2.2 is adopted by governments and enterprises worldwide as the benchmark for accessible digital experiences.

Overview

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, published by the W3C in September 2023, is the definitive international standard for web accessibility. It builds on WCAG 2.1 (2018) by adding nine new success criteria that address focus visibility, consistent help, cognitive accessibility, and accessible authentication while deprecating the outdated Parsing criterion (4.1.1).

WCAG 2.2 organizes its 87 success criteria across four principles — Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (POUR) — and three conformance levels (A, AA, AAA). Level AA is the widely adopted commercial and legal standard. Achieving WCAG 2.2 AA conformance means meeting all Level A criteria (30 criteria) plus all Level AA criteria (20 criteria) for a total of 50 criteria.

Unlike legislation, WCAG is a technical standard, not a law. However, it is incorporated by reference into laws around the world including Section 508 (US federal), the European Accessibility Act (EU), ADA Title II (US state/local government), AODA (Ontario, Canada), and many others. Meeting WCAG 2.2 AA substantially satisfies the technical requirements of all these regulations simultaneously.

Key Requirements

All non-text content has a text alternative (alt text, captions, audio descriptions)
Color is not the only visual means of conveying information
Text has a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 (3:1 for large text)
All functionality is operable via keyboard without requiring specific timing
Users have sufficient time to read and use content
Content does not flash more than three times per second
Focus is always visible and not entirely hidden by sticky headers (WCAG 2.2)
Users can request and receive consistent help on multi-page processes (WCAG 2.2)
Authentication does not rely solely on cognitive tests (WCAG 2.2)
Input fields for personal information support autocomplete
Error messages identify the field in error and describe the problem in text
HTML is valid with correct name, role, and value for all interactive components

Compliance Deadline

No single global deadline — adoption varies by jurisdiction. WCAG 2.2 is the current W3C recommendation as of September 2023.

Who Must Comply

WCAG applies to all web pages and web applications. While not a law itself, it is incorporated into law for federal agencies (Section 508), EU businesses (EAA), US state/local governments (ADA Title II), and Ontario organizations (AODA). Any organization publishing digital content should target WCAG 2.2 AA as the baseline.

How VPATify Helps

VPATify automates the most time-consuming part of WCAG compliance: scanning for violations and mapping them to specific success criteria. Our scanner runs axe-core against your web pages and organizes results by WCAG 2.2 criterion ID, level badge, and remediation priority — giving your development team a precise list of what to fix and why it matters.

Once issues are remediated, VPATify generates a VPAT 2.5 Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) documenting your WCAG 2.2 conformance status for each criterion. This ACR satisfies procurement requirements from federal agencies, large enterprises, and government buyers who require documented evidence of accessibility before purchasing software.

Frequently Asked Questions

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