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Email Color Contrast Checker

Check WCAG color contrast compliance for your email designs. Enter foreground and background colors to get instant accessibility ratings for normal text, large text, and UI components with real-time preview.

Email Color Contrast Checker

Check WCAG color contrast compliance for email designs

Large text preview (24px)

Normal body text at 16px. This is what most of your email content will look like. Make sure it is easy to read.

Small text at 14px — often used for footer content and disclaimers in marketing emails.

Fine print at 12px — used for unsubscribe links and legal text.

Contrast Ratio

12.63:1

WCAG AAA
Normal text

Pass — requires 4.5:1 ratio

Large text

Pass — requires 3:1 ratio

UI / Buttons

Pass — requires 3:1 ratio

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Email contrast tips

  • • Many email clients default to light mode — test both light and dark backgrounds
  • • CTA buttons need at least 3:1 contrast between button text and button background
  • • Avoid light gray text (#999) on white — it fails WCAG and is hard to read on mobile
  • • Footer text and unsubscribe links still need to be readable
  • • Dark mode overrides may change your colors — use inline styles defensively

About this tool

Color contrast is one of the most impactful accessibility improvements you can make to your emails. Poor contrast makes text unreadable for users with low vision, color blindness, or anyone reading on a bright screen. This checker uses the WCAG 2.1 algorithm to calculate contrast ratios and tells you if your color combinations pass for normal text (4.5:1), large text (3:1), and UI components. Use it alongside our full accessibility checker to ensure your emails work for everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions