Free website audit: what a scan can't see

What free tools measure well

Each family of tools answers one precise question, quickly, and asks for nothing more than a URL.

• Speed. Google's PageSpeed Insights measures a page on mobile and desktop. It gives a lab measurement, on a simulated device and network, and, when Google has it, the experience of real visitors to that page.
• SEO. SEO tools read titles, descriptions, broken links and redirects, often across many pages. Our guide to SEO audits versus full website audits shows where their question stops.
• Security. A scanner such as Mozilla's HTTP Observatory reads the HTTP headers and the configuration the server shows to every visitor.
• Accessibility. An automated checker flags an image without alt text, low contrast, a form field without a label. The W3C says so itself in its guide to selecting evaluation tools: tools cannot check all accessibility aspects automatically, and human judgment is required.

For one precise issue, a slow page or a missing header, these tools often give the right answer. Our guide to website audit tools by type details what each one measures, and our guide on how to audit a website covers the order in which an audit asks these questions.

What one automated pass can't see

These points aren't measured. They are read, then compared with a rule or with another text on the site.

• What the page sets before the visitor chooses. In the EU, the ePrivacy Directive requires consent before non-essential cookies are stored or read on a visitor's device. A speed tool loads the page to time it; it doesn't ask what the page stored, or whether the banner offers "Reject" as plainly as "Accept".
• The legal notice. A tool sees that a link exists. Whether the page names the publisher, the editor in charge and the host takes reading it. Our guide to the French legal notice lists what it must contain.
• The law your providers answer to. A tool sees a server's IP address and the country it sits in. Whether a US company runs it, even in Europe, only shows up once you establish who supplies each layer of the site. That is what brings the CLOUD Act into play.
• The pages the tool never opened. A tool that measures one URL measures that URL. A defect carried by the product page template or the blog template doesn't show on the home page.
• What one text promises and another takes back. A description that advertises a benefit the terms of sale withdraw triggers no technical rule: someone has to read both.

Three extracts from a published report

In our sample report on an online store, three findings would not have come out of a home page measurement alone.

• On accessibility, the home page scores better than the other pages. Product pages are the weakest, because their specification lists are poorly structured: the home page made the site look better than it is.
• Google's tag manager loads as soon as the page opens, before any choice. The reject button only appears after a click on "Customize": rejecting takes two clicks, accepting takes one.
• The descriptions Google shows promise a free 30-day return. The terms of sale put return costs on the buyer.

Our guide to auditing an e-commerce site covers what else the audit reads on an online store.

What we find on the sites we audit

These percentages cover about 20 to 30 websites we audited between August 14, 2026 and September 24, 2026. Each one counts only the sites where the point could be checked. Many were audited because a defect showed up quickly, so these figures describe our audits, not websites in general.

The free audit: one page, one pillar

It covers one page: the home page of the domain you give us. It covers one pillar: the one you choose. We read the page in a browser, the way a visitor does. There is nothing to install and no access to give us.

You get a simple report on that pillar by email. Allow at least 24 hours from your confirmation. If you pick compliance, it covers what the page sets before the visitor chooses and what your legal notice says; if you pick independence, it names your providers and the law they answer to.

It has the same limit as a tool that measures one URL: one page says nothing about the rest of your site, and the report says so. We may also publish the free report on this site, with the name of the audited site; the terms you accept when you request it say so.

The audit we sell covers the 9 pillars across the pages of your whole site. Its plans are on the Pricing page, and our guide to website audit cost explains what moves the price.

What this check doesn't tell you

By Quentin Mathis, Z29K · updated September 28, 2026