QuickslothLooking for a WP Accessibility Helper alternative?
Last updated: 3 November 2026
WP Accessibility Helper (WAH) is a free WordPress plugin by Alex Volkov, used on more than 10,000 sites, with a paid PRO version. Quicksloth Accessibility Toolbar is a newer free plugin that does a similar job. This page puts the two side by side, using only what WAH's WordPress.org listing and support forum, its plugin code and its PRO page say, so you can decide whether to keep it or switch.
Quicksloth Accessibility Toolbar is free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory since 21 October 2026. You can also try it on our live demo page.
An accessibility toolbar helps some visitors; it does not make a website conform to WCAG or to the law. Fix your content and code first.
Where WAH stands today
On 3 November 2026 the WordPress.org listing of "WP Accessibility Helper (WAH)" showed version 0.6.7, last updated on 2 September 2026, tested up to WordPress 7.1.4 (the current release that day), with more than 10,000 active installations and an average of 4.7 out of 5 from 57 ratings (47 five-star, 2 one-star). So WAH is maintained: unlike some older toolbars, it is not a plugin to leave because it stopped being updated. The same listing showed "Issues resolved in last two months: 0 out of 2", and the author answered in the support forum as recently as July 2026.
The reasons to compare are elsewhere: which tools the free version has, what a visitor's choices do on the next page, and the branding in the panel. A reviewer in December 2022 praised the plugin because it "does not create any warnings or errors in the hosting error log", but could not use it because text resizing in the free version does not carry over from page to page, which they understood the PRO version does.
What stays the same
Both plugins are free, both work without an account, and both serve the toolbar's script and styles from your own WordPress site. In the code of WAH 0.6.7 we found no requests to other servers from your pages: the links to the author's website are links, not files your visitors download. If WAH does what you need, there may be no reason to move.
Where the two differ
- Tools. WAH's free panel has 11 tools for visitors plus a Clear cookies button: Font Resize (smaller and larger), Keyboard navigation, Readable Font, Contrast, Underline links, Highlight Links, Images Greyscale, Invert Colors, Remove Animations, Remove styles and Lights Off. After activation only Font Resize and Clear cookies are shown; you switch the others on one by one. Ours has 25, shown as soon as you activate it, among them line height, letter spacing, a dyslexia-friendly font, a reading guide and mask, and mute media. WAH's own admin sidebar lists line height and letter spacing among its PRO features.
- What is kept between pages. In WAH 0.6.7 only the contrast colors are saved, in two cookies that last 14 days; the other choices, text size included, apply to the page that is open and are gone on the next one. Our toolbar keeps every choice across pages and visits in the visitor's own browser storage, without cookies (plugin privacy notice).
- Branding. WAH's panel always shows an "Accessibility by WAH" link to the author's website. Its script checks, ten seconds after the page loads, that this link is visible; if a theme or custom CSS hides it, the script removes the panel and shows "WAH Credits missing." instead. Our toolbar shows no logo or link to us unless you turn on an optional credit line.
- Dashboard. WAH adds a top-level Accessibility menu, and its own pages carry a "WAH PRO" column with Upgrade to PRO buttons; we found no notices on other dashboard screens. Our plugin has one settings page under Settings and adds no dashboard notices (only a one-time review request on its own settings page after two weeks).
- What only WAH has. A smaller-text button (our text size only goes up, in four steps to 175%), your own contrast color pairs, Remove styles (shows the page without its CSS) and Lights Off, plus tools for the site owner that ours does not have: editing the titles and alt text of all images from one screen, adding ARIA landmark roles with CSS selectors, a skip-links menu, and custom CSS. WAH also has more languages: 7 translations on translate.wordpress.org. Our toolbar's labels are in English until translations are published.
- Track record. WAH has been in the directory since April 2016, with thousands of sites and public reviews. Ours is new, listed since 21 October 2026, and has no ratings yet.
Side by side
| Quicksloth Accessibility Toolbar | WP Accessibility Helper 0.6.7 (as of 3 November 2026) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free; an optional paid Pro is planned, not available to buy yet | Free; a separate PRO sold on the author's website, from $259 a year for one domain (yearly license; shown as a reduced price on 3 November 2026) |
| Account | None | None |
| Last updated | 25 October 2026 (version 0.1.2) | 2 September 2026 (version 0.6.7) |
| Tested up to | WordPress 7.1.4 | WordPress 7.1.4 |
| Requests to other servers from your pages | None | None found in the plugin's code |
| Visitor tools in the free version | 25, all shown after activation | 11, plus Clear cookies; 2 shown after activation |
| Visitor choices kept on the next page | All, in the visitor's browser storage, no cookies | Contrast colors only, in cookies for 14 days |
| Line height and letter spacing | Yes | Listed as PRO features |
| Own colors for contrast | No | Yes, up to 5 color pairs |
| Image alt text and ARIA landmark tools for the site owner | No | Yes |
| Toolbar languages | English until translations are published | 7 translations on translate.wordpress.org |
| Branding on your pages | None by default | "Accessibility by WAH" link, always shown |
| Needs | WordPress 6.0, PHP 7.4 | WordPress 4.3, PHP 7.4; uses jQuery |
| Directory | Listed since 21 October 2026 (new, no ratings yet) | More than 10,000 active installations, 4.7 out of 5 |
Information about WP Accessibility Helper comes from its WordPress.org listing and support forum, the public WordPress.org plugin and translation APIs, the code of plugin version 0.6.7 downloaded from WordPress.org, and its PRO page, all read on 3 November 2026. The tool names are theirs and ours; similar names may not work in exactly the same way. If something has changed, tell us at support@quicksloth.dev and we will correct this page.
What neither toolbar does
A toolbar changes how a page looks in one visitor's browser. It does not add missing alt text, fix a heading order, label form fields or make a theme usable with a keyboard. WAH's own readme says it "does not guarantee 100% result (at any level: A, AA, AAA)"; we make no compliance claim for ours either. Read what a widget can and cannot do for the European Accessibility Act before you rely on any toolbar.
How to switch in 5 minutes
The toolbar has no data to bring across: visitors' choices live in their own browsers, and our plugin does not import WAH's settings.
- Open Accessibility in your dashboard and note which tools you turned on, the side, the icon and any custom contrast colors.
- Go to Plugins → Add Plugin, search for "Quicksloth Accessibility Toolbar", click Install Now, then Activate.
- Under Settings → Accessibility Toolbar, pick the corner, the color and the tools you want shown.
- In Plugins → Installed Plugins, deactivate WP Accessibility Helper, check a page of your site, then delete it if you no longer need it.
- If you used WAH's skip-links menu, ARIA landmark selectors or custom CSS, those stop with it: our toolbar adds a single "Skip to content" link, and alt text is best fixed in the Media Library or the Image block itself.
Where to find each WAH tool
| WP Accessibility Helper | Quicksloth Accessibility Toolbar |
|---|---|
| Font Resize: larger | Text size |
| Font Resize: smaller | No equivalent |
| Keyboard navigation | Visible focus |
| Readable Font (Arial) | Readable font (the visitor's system sans-serif font) or Dyslexia-friendly font |
| Contrast (color pairs) | High contrast, Dark contrast or Light contrast |
| Underline links | Underline links |
| Highlight Links | Highlight links |
| Images Greyscale | Monochrome (the whole page, not only images) |
| Invert Colors | Invert colors |
| Remove Animations | Stop animations |
| Remove styles | No equivalent |
| Lights Off | No direct equivalent; Reading mask is the closest |
| Clear cookies | Reset all |
Other options
- WP Accessibility by Joe Dolson is free and fixes some common theme problems besides offering an optional toolbar (WordPress.org listing).
- OneTap is a popular free toolbar with a paid Pro: see how it compares with ours.
- AccessibleWP is another free toolbar with more than 10,000 sites: see the AccessibleWP comparison.
Questions
Will my settings carry over?
No. The two plugins store their settings differently, so you set ours once, in a few minutes, on one settings page.
Does it slow my site?
Our toolbar loads one deferred script of about 9 KB gzipped and panel styles of about 2 KB, with no jQuery and no web fonts from other servers; the page rules and the dyslexia-friendly font load only when a visitor turns on a tool that needs them. WAH's own files are smaller (about 3 KB of script and 2 KB of styles gzipped), but its script needs jQuery, which many themes load anyway.
Do I need the WAH PRO for text size to stay on every page?
With our free toolbar, no: every choice a visitor makes, text size included, stays on as they move through your site. In WAH's free version only the contrast colors are kept.
Does it make my site compliant?
No. An accessibility toolbar helps some visitors; it does not make a website conform to WCAG or to the law. Fix your content and code first. Our accessibility checklist is a place to start.
Try it
Open the live demo to use every tool on a sample page, get the plugin from its WordPress.org listing, or read what the plugin does, what it does not do and how to set it up. Also comparing other toolbars? See One Click Accessibility (Ally), OneTap, UserWay, accessiBe and AccessibleWP. Questions: support@quicksloth.dev.