Accessibility at WordPress.com

Welcome to your central resource for accessibility information regarding WordPress.com and our official plugins and theme marketplaces.

Below, you’ll find accessibility statements, conformance reports, best practices, and resources to help you build and maintain accessible websites.

This accessibility statement applies specifically to the WordPress.com platform, including our official themes and plugins available through WordPress.com. It does not cover self-hosted WordPress websites, which are managed independently by site owners using the open-source WordPress software.

Reporting accessibility issues

We’re committed to making WordPress.com more accessible for everyone. If you encounter an accessibility issue, please contact support or email us at accessibility@wordpress.com. We review all feedback and use it to improve our services over time.

If you’re not satisfied with our response, you may have the right to raise a complaint with your national enforcement body under the European Accessibility Act. For more information, please consult the relevant authority in your country.

Our ongoing commitment to accessibility

We’re committed to building modern software in line with accessibility standards adopted across the WordPress.com platform.

Accessibility standards and compliance

WordPress.com has adopted Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) — an internationally recognized standard — as our benchmark for measuring the accessibility of our website and plugins/extensions.

WordPress.com accessibility

WordPress.com aims to fully conform with level AA of the latest version of WCAG. As of the date of this statement, our website is partially conformant with level AA of WCAG 2.1 which is included in EN 301 549 standard, meaning some content does not yet fully conform to these accessibility standards.

Our website includes the following accessibility features:

Proper heading structure for easy navigation.
Keyboard accessibility throughout the site.
Alternative (alt) text for images.
Sufficient color contrast.
Readable font sizes and styles.
Additional resources

Our accessibility approach

Automattic ensures that WordPress.com is accessible to all users by:

Including accessibility throughout our internal policies.
Providing continual accessibility training for our staff.
Employing formal accessibility quality assurance methods.
Conducting external evaluations of our accessibility compliance.

Technical implementation

WordPress.com’s accessibility relies on the following technologies:

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite (WAI-ARIA)
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
JavaScript (JS)

Known limitations

The following areas of WordPress.com may include missing image alt text, incorrect link text, or non-conformant headings:

User comments.
Content hosted using third-party software.
Content in blog posts and pages created before June 2025.

Method of assessment

The accessibility of WordPress.com has been evaluated through a self-assessment conducted by our internal accessibility and quality assurance teams. We use a combination of automated testing tools, manual checks, and user feedback to assess conformance with WCAG 2.1 level AA criteria.

WordPress.com plugins and themes accessibility

We’re continually working on plugins and themes accessibility, and acknowledge that certain areas may still require improvement. Please report any accessibility issues related to official WordPress.com plugins and themes via the methods listed above.

While we encourage developers to follow best practices, unofficial plugins/themes created by third parties may not meet our accessibility standards, as we’re unable to take action related to accessibility concerns about those. Site owners are advised to always test third-party plugins/themes before using them in their sites.

Creating an accessible WordPress.com site

Creating an accessible website benefits all users and helps ensure your content is usable by as many people as possible. To get started, we recommend reviewing the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and following best practices for inclusive design.

Here are some tips to improve your site’s accessibility:

Store design

Use a responsive, accessibility-ready WordPress theme.
Maintain sufficient color contrast (at least 4.5:1).
Ensure keyboard navigation works throughout your store.
Add descriptive alt text to all product images.
Structure content with proper heading hierarchy (H1, H2, etc.).

Accessibility testing

Use an automated tool (such as WAVE) for initial scans.
Test with keyboard-only navigation.
Test with screen readers such as NVDA or VoiceOver.
Consider an accessibility audit from a qualified professional.

The lists above are not comprehensive and do not constitute legal advice. For more detailed guidance, review WCAG resources.

Additional resources

Need help making your WordPress.com store accessible? Find accessibility-focused developers in our WordPress.com Partner Directory directory.

We are committed to ongoing improvements and appreciate your feedback as we work toward a more inclusive ecommerce experience. The statements and reports on this page were last updated on June 13, 2025.