Contrast checking is a critical step in accessible design, and there is no shortage of tools. But they serve different purposes at different stages of your workflow. Here is when to use what.
PaletteRx: Best for Palette Creation
PaletteRx checks every possible pair in your entire palette simultaneously in Step 3. This is uniquely valuable during palette creation because it shows you the full picture: which colors pair accessibly and which do not. No other tool tests all-pairs-at-once for a full palette. If you are building a color system from scratch, this is where to start.
WebAIM Contrast Checker: Best for Quick Spot Checks
WebAIM's online tool lets you enter two colors and get an instant pass/fail result. It is fast and authoritative, perfect for checking a single pair during development. But it only checks one pair at a time, making it impractical for evaluating an entire palette.
Browser DevTools: Best for Live Auditing
Chrome and Firefox DevTools show contrast ratios when you inspect text elements. Chrome's accessibility panel also highlights contrast failures across the page. This is the best tool for auditing a live site because it tests actual rendered colors, including transparency and layered backgrounds.
Figma/Sketch Plugins: Best for Design Phase
Plugins like Stark integrate directly into design tools, showing contrast ratios as you design. They are valuable during the mockup phase but do not help during palette creation (before you have a design) or post-launch auditing (when you need to test the live site).
The Recommended Workflow
Use PaletteRx for the initial palette build (all-pairs testing). Use Figma/Sketch plugins during design. Use browser DevTools for QA on the live site. Use WebAIM for ad-hoc spot checks during development. Each tool excels at a different stage.