Are VPATs and ACRs the same?

ACR stands for Accessibility Conformance Report, that’s the general name for a document that outlines how accessible a product is, based on testing and evaluation.

A VPAT, on the other hand, is a template, it stands for Voluntary Product Accessibility Template. When you use the VPAT template to create an ACR, you end up with an ACR in the VPAT format. So technically, the VPAT is the format, and the ACR is the final report.

That said, in practice, people often use the terms interchangeably because the VPAT format has become the industry standard. Most customers ask for a “VPAT” because that’s the terminology they’re familiar with, even though what they’re really getting is an ACR.

You could create an ACR in a different format, like a Google Doc or web page, but we always recommend using the VPAT format. It provides a structured, easy-to-compare layout that makes it simple for buyers or procurement teams to evaluate multiple products side by side based on their accessibility.