The core features are free - text and icon scanning, WCAG 2.0/2.1/2.2, AA and AAA, dominant colour detection, bulk scanning. The Pro tier adds icon size controls for design system work at £39.99/year or £3.99/month.

What's the difference between AA and AAA?

AA requires 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. AAA requires 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Most organisations target AA. AAA makes designs readable for people with more severe vision loss but isn't legally required in most places. Perception tests both.

Why is the contrast ratio 4.5:1 specifically?

ISO 9241-3 set 3:1 as the minimum for normal vision. People with 20/40 visual acuity lose roughly 1.5x contrast sensitivity. 3 times 1.5 equals 4.5. The 7:1 AAA ratio follows the same logic for 20/80 acuity.

Do I need to worry about accessibility compliance?

Yes. The European Accessibility Act applies from June 2025 across the EU. The ADA has been enforced on commercial websites in the US. The UK Equality Act has been used against inaccessible websites since 2012. WCAG AA is the standard all three reference.

Does anti-aliasing affect contrast results?

It can. Thin or unusual fonts may render fainter than their specified colour due to anti-aliasing. Perception's dominant colour detection accounts for what actually renders, not what the code says should render.

Perception

Find every contrast failure before handoff

Scan your Figma designs for text and icon contrast issues against WCAG. Select your frames, hit scan, and get a pass/fail breakdown you can act on.

Install the plugin

See pricing

Perception screnshots of passing and failing test results

Difference

What makes Perception different

Where other tools break on gradients, images, and layered fills, Perception uses dominant colour detection to test what users actually see.

Icon contrast testing

Most contrast tools only check text. Perception tests icons too, including requirements for non-text UI components in WCAG 2.2. Get notified if your icons fail before your users do.

Dominant colour detection

Perception calculates contrast from the dominant colour factoring in gradients, images, blending modes, and effects for true accuracy. Results reflect reality.

Bulk testing

Select any frames, components, or layers. Get a pass/warning/fail breakdown of text and icon contrast - instantly filter by result and jump straight to each node.

How it works

Select your layers

Pick frames, components, sections, entire pages, hell anything you want to check

Select your layers

Pick frames, components, sections, entire pages, hell anything you want to check

Run a scan

Perception finds text and icon elements, detects foreground and background colours, and calculates contrast ratios

Run a scan

Perception finds text and icon elements, detects foreground and background colours, and calculates contrast ratios

Review results

Filter by pass or fail. See the exact colours, contrast ratio, and WCAG level for each element

Review results

Filter by pass or fail. See the exact colours, contrast ratio, and WCAG level for each element

Fix and re-test

Jump to any failing node, fix it, and re-test that specific result without re-running the full scan

Fix and re-test

Jump to any failing node, fix it, and re-test that specific result without re-running the full scan

Features

Scan text and icons against WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2 AA/AAA all in bulk

Bulk testing

Dominant colour detection handles gradients, images, opacity, and blending

Context aware detection

Individual re-testing; jump to any failed node in your designs instantly

Quick re-tests

Switch colour formats HEX, RGB, HSL, HSB. Small-text and readability warnings

Customisable

Pricing

Where other tools break on gradients, images, and layered fills, Perception uses dominant colour detection to test what users actually see.

Monthly

Yearly

Insider

£0.00

/month

For designers running contrast checks before handoff

Text and icon contrast scanning

WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2 at AA and AAA

Dominant colour detection for complex fills

Bulk scanning across frames and components

Set max icon size

Buy Now

Pro

£3.99

/month

For design system work where you need control over what gets flagged

Everything in Insider

Set max icon size to cut false positives

Access to all features

Priority support

Support an indie plugin developer

Buy Now

Monthly

Yearly

Insider

£0.00

/month

For designers running contrast checks before handoff

Text and icon contrast scanning

WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2 at AA and AAA

Dominant colour detection for complex fills

Bulk scanning across frames and components

Set max icon size

Buy Now

Pro

£3.99

/month

For design system work where you need control over what gets flagged

Everything in Insider

Set max icon size to cut false positives

Access to all features

Priority support

Support an indie plugin developer

Buy Now

Try the plugin

Coming soon

Features in development

Override detected colours when you know the actual value

Manual colour overrides

Test against the Advanced Perceptual Contrast Algorithm alongside WCAG

APCA contrast mode

Save test data to the canvas and reopen it later

Persistent results

Join 126 other insiders who still care about design

Becoming an insider means you'll be the first to hear about new tools, products, and features. Have your say on our product roadmap, and get exclusive discounts.

By subscribing you agree to our privacy policy

Join 126 other insiders who still care about design

Becoming an insider means you'll be the first to hear about new tools, products, and features. Have your say on our product roadmap, and get exclusive discounts.

By subscribing you agree to our privacy policy

Who Perception is for

Product designers working in Figma who check accessibility before handoff. Especially useful if you work with design systems, component libraries, or large files with dozens of variants.

Perception is a pre-handoff checker. It catches contrast failures early so you're not fixing them in code. It's not a replacement for proper QA with real content, real devices, and real assistive technology. A "pass" isn't a compliance certificate - edge cases like complex imagery, anti-aliasing, and dynamic states still need human review.

What's always annoyed me is that even with a robust design system in place, I'd still end up manually checking contrast ratios.

The existing tools would choke on gradients, fall apart with image backgrounds, and completely ignore blending modes. So I'd be there, squinting and manually picking pixels hoping for the best.

It felt like a problem that should have been solved years ago.

So I built this plugin to handle the messy reality of actual design work - not just solid text on solid backgrounds, but the gradients, opacity, and effects that I see all the time.

Ben

Founder, Design System Tools

What's always annoyed me is that even with a robust design system in place, I'd still end up manually checking contrast ratios.

The existing tools would choke on gradients, fall apart with image backgrounds, and completely ignore blending modes. So I'd be there, squinting and manually picking pixels hoping for the best.

It felt like a problem that should have been solved years ago.

So I built this plugin to handle the messy reality of actual design work - not just solid text on solid backgrounds, but the gradients, opacity, and effects that I see all the time.

Ben

Founder, Design System Tools

Comparison

How Perception compares

How Perception compares
Feature	Perception Free	Perception Pro	Stark Free	Stark Pro	Contrast	Able
Pricing
Annual Cost	Free	£39.99/yr	Free	$120/yr	Free	Free
Core Contrast
Text Contrast	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included
Icon Contrast	Included	Included	Not included	Not included	Not included	Not included
Dominant Colour Detection	Included	Included	Not included	Not included	Not included	Not included
Shows Contrast Ratio	Included	Included	Included	Included	Not included	Included
Shows Tested Colours	Included	Included	Included	Included	Not included	Included
Opacity Support	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Not included
Standards
WCAG 2.0	Included	Included	Included	Included	Not included	Not included
WCAG 2.1	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included
WCAG 2.2	Included	Included	Included	Included	Not included	Not included
AA + AAA	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included
APCA	Coming soon	Coming soon	Not included	Included	Included	Not included
Workflow
Bulk Scanning	Included	Included	Not included	Included	Included	Not included
Component + Instance Support	Included	Included	Not included	Included	Included	Not included
Links to Tested Node	Included	Included	Not included	Included	Included	Not included
Ignore False Positives	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Not included
Auto Monitoring	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Not included
Beyond Contrast
Type Size Checking	Included	Included	Not included	Not included	Not included	Not included
Touch Target Size	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Not included
Vision Simulator	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Included
Focus Order	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Not included
Alt Text Annotations	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Not included
Compliance Reporting	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Not included

How Perception compares
Feature	Perception Free	Perception Pro	Stark Free	Stark Pro	Contrast	Able
Pricing
Annual Cost	Free	£39.99/yr	Free	$120/yr	Free	Free
Core Contrast
Text Contrast	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included
Icon Contrast	Included	Included	Not included	Not included	Not included	Not included
Dominant Colour Detection	Included	Included	Not included	Not included	Not included	Not included
Shows Contrast Ratio	Included	Included	Included	Included	Not included	Included
Shows Tested Colours	Included	Included	Included	Included	Not included	Included
Opacity Support	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Not included
Standards
WCAG 2.0	Included	Included	Included	Included	Not included	Not included
WCAG 2.1	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included
WCAG 2.2	Included	Included	Included	Included	Not included	Not included
AA + AAA	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included
APCA	Coming soon	Coming soon	Not included	Included	Included	Not included
Workflow
Bulk Scanning	Included	Included	Not included	Included	Included	Not included
Component + Instance Support	Included	Included	Not included	Included	Included	Not included
Links to Tested Node	Included	Included	Not included	Included	Included	Not included
Ignore False Positives	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Not included
Auto Monitoring	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Not included
Beyond Contrast
Type Size Checking	Included	Included	Not included	Not included	Not included	Not included
Touch Target Size	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Not included
Vision Simulator	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Included
Focus Order	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Not included
Alt Text Annotations	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Not included
Compliance Reporting	Not included	Not included	Not included	Included	Not included	Not included

Perception does contrast checking. It does it accurately, including for icons and complex fills. It doesn't try to be a full accessibility suite - if you need vision simulation, focus order, alt text, and compliance reporting, Stark's paid plans cover that.

For an honest comparison of every major plugin, read The Best Figma Plugins for Accessibility Testing on benjaminwalsh.co.uk.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Does Perception work with components and instances?

Yes. Select components, instances, sections, or any combination of layers. Perception tests them all in a single scan.

What WCAG versions does Perception support?

How does dominant colour detection work?

Does Perception check icon contrast?

Is Perception free?

How is Perception different from Stark?