Octopus Scanner is developed and maintained independently, and the decisions behind it are deliberate rather than incidental. The six principles below govern what gets built, what gets refused and how the trade-offs are settled when they conflict.
1. Accuracy over speed
Octopus Scanner prioritises the accurate identification of accessibility issues over the rapid completion of scans. Where the two are in tension, accuracy takes precedence.
2. Free and accessible
Octopus Scanner is free to use in full. No feature is locked behind payment, and no account is required. Donations are welcome but never expected. The tools used to make the web more accessible should themselves be accessible to anyone.
3. Private and local by default
Scans, reports and screenshots remain on your device. Nothing you scan is sent to the developer or to any online service. Data, Privacy & Security sets out the detail.
4. Lightweight, efficient and native
Octopus Scanner is designed to work naturally with the system it runs on. It aims to start quickly, run without interruption and ask as little of your machine as the work allows.
5. Built on open, trusted foundations
Octopus Scanner is built on axe-core, Node.js, Puppeteer and Chrome: engines that are public, auditable and continuously maintained.
6. Not a substitute for human judgement
Automation identifies what is technically detectable. Human review identifies what is meaningful. The reports produced here are intended to support that review, never to replace it.
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