The company was started in 1999 and produces accessibility testing software in addition to offering accessibility consulting services and training.[2]
In June, 2015 Deque open-sourced the accessibility rules engine Axe-core.[3]
In May 2020, the WorldSpace brand name was retired and replaced by Axe for each of Deque's products.[4]
In September 2020, Deque found that the majority of vote by mail applications were inaccessible, and fixed them for the 2020 Presidential Election.[5][6][7][8]
In 2025, Deque was listed in the Leader category, first position, by Forrester Research in The Forrester Wave: Digital Accessibility Platforms, Q4 2025 report.[9]
Axe is a suite of accessibility testing tools for HTML, Android, and iOS applications. Each product in the Axe toolkit is powered by the open source rules engine Axe-core.[13][14]
