Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
WCAG 3.0 Working Draft · 10 September 2026
WCAG 3.0 is a new model for the guidelines, still being written as a W3C Working Draft, and it will change before it is final. W3C says it is years from being finished and will not replace WCAG 2 when it is: WCAG 2.2 remains the version to meet.
- Status
- Working Draft
- Latest draft
- 10 September 2026
- Drafts so far
- 10
- Guidelines
- 46
Where it stands
A draft, not a standard
WCAG 3.0 is a W3C Working Draft. Its requirements are still being written, and W3C warns that the final ones will differ from the draft.
Read the latest draft at W3C- First Public Working Draft: 21 January 2021.
- Latest Working Draft: 10 September 2026, the tenth, holding the requirements that have reached the developing stage.
- W3C gives no date for a final version. Its working group aims for a Candidate Recommendation in 2027; historically, the last step has taken about two more years.
- WCAG 3 will not replace WCAG 2 when it is done. W3C says WCAG 2 will not be deprecated for several years after that.
How it is built
Outcomes and requirements instead of success criteria
The draft covers more than websites: apps, documents, wearables and other connected devices, and the tools used to make and test them. Its requirements are finer-grained than WCAG 2 success criteria and say when they apply and when they do not.
Guidelines
Plain-language outcome statements that organise the requirements. The latest draft has 46, in 12 topic groups such as images and media, text and wording, and error handling.
Core requirements
What must be met to conform. W3C expects them to cover a similar, but not identical, set of needs to WCAG 2.2 Level AA.
Supplemental requirements
Requirements that go beyond the core: stricter versions and improvements that are not needed to conform.
Assertions
Attributed claims about how content is made, such as plain-language reviews or usability testing. The group has not decided whether any will be required.
Methods
Ways to meet a requirement, with tests, much like WCAG 2 techniques.
Maturity labels
Every section is marked Placeholder, Exploratory, Developing, Refining or Mature, so readers know how settled it is.
Conformance in the draft
One level, reported in tiers
To conform, every core requirement must be met. Progress is reported in six tiers built on each other; Bronze, Silver and Gold are now tiers above conformance, not conformance levels.
The tiers are exploratory and not normative in this draft.
Avoid physical harm
Requirements whose failure could cause physical harm, and those that carry risk, are met.
Foundational access
Requirements whose failure blocks people are met too.
Conformance
Every core requirement is met, including those that only cause friction.
Bronze
Conformance, plus a number of supplemental requirements and assertions still to be set.
Silver
More of them.
Gold
More again, including assertions about the organisation.
What to do now
Meet WCAG 2.2
W3C's advice is that the best way to prepare for WCAG 3 is to meet WCAG 2.2 now. Laws name WCAG 2 versions, and will for years.