WCAG vs ADA: What's the Difference and Which Applies to You?

If you have been researching web accessibility, you have almost certainly encountered two acronyms over and over: WCAG and ADA. They are frequently mentioned together, and it is easy to assume they are interchangeable. They are not. Understanding the distinction between WCAG and ADA is critical for any organization that wants to build an accessible website and stay on the right side of the law.

What Is WCAG?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a set of technical standards published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) through its Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). WCAG defines how to make web content accessible to people with disabilities, covering visual, auditory, motor, cognitive, and neurological impairments.

WCAG is organized around four principles known as POUR: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. Under these principles, specific success criteria provide testable requirements at three conformance levels: Level A (minimum), Level AA (the standard most laws reference), and Level AAA (the highest, aspirational level). The current version is WCAG 2.2, published in October 2023, which adds nine new success criteria focused on cognitive accessibility, mobile usability, and authentication improvements.

It is important to understand that WCAG is not a law. It is a voluntary technical standard developed by an international standards body. However, WCAG has been adopted by reference in laws and regulations worldwide, which is precisely where the relationship with the ADA comes in. WCAG tells you how to make your website accessible. Laws like the ADA tell you that you must.

What Is the ADA?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal civil rights law enacted in 1990 that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life. It covers employment (Title I), state and local government services (Title II), and public accommodations operated by private businesses (Title III).

When the ADA was written, the internet barely existed. Naturally, the statute does not mention websites, apps, or digital content. However, courts and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) have increasingly interpreted the ADA to cover digital experiences. In 2022, the DOJ issued formal guidance confirming that Title III applies to websites of businesses that are public accommodations. In 2024, the DOJ published a final rule under Title II that explicitly requires state and local government websites to conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

The ADA is enforced through lawsuits and regulatory action. ADA website accessibility lawsuits have increased dramatically, with over 4,000 filed in federal courts in 2023 alone. For a deeper look at the legal framework, see our ADA Website Compliance Guide.

Key Differences Between WCAG and ADA

While WCAG and ADA are closely related in practice, they differ fundamentally in their nature, scope, and enforcement. The table below summarizes the core differences.

Attribute	WCAG	ADA
Type	Technical standard	Federal civil rights law
Published by	W3C (international standards body)	U.S. Congress
Geographic scope	Global (adopted worldwide)	United States only
What it covers	Web and digital content accessibility	Discrimination in employment, government services, public accommodations
Enforcement	Not directly enforceable (voluntary standard)	Lawsuits, DOJ enforcement, financial penalties
Mentions websites?	Yes, it is specifically about digital content	No, but courts and DOJ interpret it to include websites
Current version	WCAG 2.2 (October 2023)	Original statute from 1990, amended 2008

How WCAG and ADA Work Together

Think of the relationship this way: the ADA creates the legal obligation to make your website accessible, and WCAG provides the technical blueprint for how to do it. The ADA says “your website must be accessible.” WCAG says “here is what accessible means, criterion by criterion.”

The DOJ has consistently pointed to WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the standard for ADA web compliance. Nearly every ADA settlement agreement and consent decree in recent years has required conformance to WCAG 2.0 AA or WCAG 2.1 AA. The 2024 Title II rule formally codifies WCAG 2.1 AA for government websites. While no Title III regulation yet specifies a WCAG version for private businesses, the direction is unmistakable.

In practice, this means that if you conform to WCAG 2.2 Level AA, you are in a strong position to demonstrate ADA compliance. WCAG 2.2 is backward-compatible with 2.1 and 2.0, so meeting the latest version also satisfies the requirements referenced in existing regulations and settlement agreements.

Which Applies to Your Business?

The answer depends on where your business operates, who it serves, and what sector you are in.

U.S.-Based Businesses Serving the Public

If you operate a business in the United States that serves the public — whether a retail store, restaurant, healthcare provider, financial institution, SaaS company, or e-commerce site — the ADA almost certainly applies to you under Title III. You should target WCAG 2.1 AA at minimum, and ideally WCAG 2.2 AA. The risk of an ADA website lawsuit is real and growing, with small businesses increasingly targeted.

U.S. Government Entities

State and local government websites are now formally required to conform to WCAG 2.1 AA under the DOJ's 2024 Title II rule. Federal agencies are separately required to conform to WCAG under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. If you work in government IT, both the ADA and WCAG directly apply.

Companies Serving the European Union

The ADA does not apply outside the United States, but the European Union has its own accessibility legislation. The European Accessibility Act (EAA), effective June 2025, requires websites and digital products serving EU consumers to meet accessibility standards derived from EN 301 549, which maps directly to WCAG 2.1 AA. If you sell to EU customers, WCAG compliance is required regardless of where your company is headquartered.

Canadian, UK, and Australian Organizations

Canada's AODA requires WCAG 2.0 AA for organizations with 50 or more employees in Ontario, and the federal Accessible Canada Act is expanding requirements. The UK applies WCAG 2.1 AA to public sector websites. Australia's Disability Discrimination Act references WCAG for digital content. In each case, the legal instrument varies but the technical standard is WCAG.

The International Accessibility Landscape

One of the most important distinctions between WCAG and the ADA is scope. The ADA is a U.S. law that applies to U.S. businesses and entities. WCAG, on the other hand, is a global standard that has been adopted or referenced by dozens of countries.

This means that while the specific legal framework differs from country to country, WCAG is almost always the underlying technical standard. If you build your website to WCAG 2.2 Level AA, you are well-positioned for compliance under virtually every major accessibility law in the world, including the ADA (U.S.), the EAA (EU), the Equality Act (UK), AODA (Canada), and the DDA (Australia).

For multinational organizations, this is a significant advantage. Rather than navigating dozens of different technical requirements, you can focus on a single standard — WCAG — and meet the requirements of multiple jurisdictions simultaneously. This is precisely why WCAG has become the universal lingua franca of digital accessibility.

Common Misconceptions

“WCAG compliance means I am ADA compliant.” Not exactly. WCAG conformance is strong evidence of ADA compliance, and courts treat it as the benchmark. But the ADA is a legal standard, and legal compliance can involve factors beyond technical conformance, such as having an accessibility statement, responding to accommodation requests, and ensuring third-party content is accessible.

“The ADA does not apply to websites because it does not mention them.” This is a common but outdated argument. Courts in the majority of federal circuits have rejected this position, and the DOJ has repeatedly confirmed that the ADA applies to websites. The 2024 Title II rule makes this explicit for government sites.

“Only large enterprises need to worry about this.” Small businesses are increasingly targeted by ADA accessibility lawsuits. In fact, small e-commerce sites with obvious violations are often easier targets for serial plaintiffs. See our article on whether small businesses need ADA-compliant websites.

“An overlay widget makes my site WCAG compliant.” Overlay widgets that promise one-click compliance do not achieve WCAG conformance. They apply cosmetic changes on top of an inaccessible codebase without fixing the underlying issues. The National Federation of the Blind, the American Council of the Blind, and numerous accessibility experts have spoken out against overlay products. True compliance requires fixing your site's code and content to meet WCAG criteria.

Practical Next Steps

Regardless of whether you are primarily concerned about ADA compliance, EAA requirements, or simply building a better user experience, the path forward is the same:

Scan your website with an automated WCAG checker or ADA compliance checker to identify existing issues.
Review against the checklist using our WCAG compliance checklist to systematically verify each success criterion.
Check color contrast with our color contrast checker to ensure text meets WCAG contrast ratios.
Remediate and monitor by fixing the issues found, then set up ongoing monitoring to prevent regressions.
Consider professional monitoring through a CompliaScan plan for continuous scanning, reporting, and alerting.

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