The company was started in 1999 and produces accessibility testing software in addition to offering accessibility consulting services and training.[citation needed]
In June, 2015 Deque open-sourced the accessibility rules engine axe-core.[2]
In May 2020, the WorldSpace brand name was retired and replaced by axe for each of Deque's products.[3]
In September 2020, Deque found that the majority of vote by mail applications were inaccessible, and fixed them for the 2020 Presidential Election.[4][5][6][7]
More than 17,000 attendees joined Deque's digital accessibility conference axe-con in March 2021, making it the largest accessibility conference recorded.[8]
Deque was named a leader in the first-ever Forrester Wave report for Digital Accessibility Platforms, Q4 2023 with the highest overall score.[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]