[Trainer-Talk] Is NVDA enough for the blind?

Thu Jun 4 12:04:52 UTC 2026

Hi everyone,

Broadly speaking, NVDA does all the same things Jaws does - One might do a
specific task in a particular program better, sure - but that goes both
ways - one specific thing might work better with Jaws (please do let us
know so we can improve) and something else might work better with NVDA.
Both use very similar keys for many things in fact.  There is a document
the community created on switching from Jaws to NVDA with comparisons of
keystrokes and how features work:
https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/wiki/SwitchingFromJawsToNVDA

The argument that NVDA does not work as well in certain contexts is largely
from two things:
1) Someone used to Jaws who is much more familiar with that screen reader
and the slight differences in how it work in a particular setting.
2) A specific instance where Jaws MAY work better, perhaps than using NVDA
with the default settings (and that may be because the default settings are
different, or because they changed the equivalent setting in Jaws many
moons ago).

If you are familiar with Jaws and start using NVDA, then of course the
things which jump out to you are not going to be the things which work the
same, but rather the things which are different, and humans tend to resist
change, so it's easy to see that as "Ah the new thing isn't as good", when
it may just be that you need to press a different key or that NVDA reads
something slightly differently.

The misconception that NVDA may not be adopted due to being open source is
100% false.  We have a page on our website devoted to information for
corporate users.  I've linked specifically here to the section on open
source: https://www.nvaccess.org/corporate-government/#OpenSource

Governments around the world, including the US government, not only
encourage, but mandate the use of open source.  The link on that page to
the US government goes here:
https://digital.gov/resources/requirements-for-achieving-efficiency-transparency-and-innovation-through-reusable-and-open-source-software/
which encourages using open source and also stipulates that for developed
code, at least 20% must be made available as open source.

While our page addresses a range of security concerns (because these are
important for ANY software to address), the concerns around open source
tend to be more around whether NVDA has support.  The answer is yes!  We
have telephone support available as well as training material, and we
regularly release new versions of NVDA.  And in terms of security, there
are various options in NVDA, including a locked down "Secure" mode.

Much of the misconception around NVDA is due to the price.  If you're
looking at two screen readers and one costs thousands of dollars, and the
other is free, it's easy to be fooled that the more expensive one must be
better.  All price tells you is who the developers chose to burden with the
cost.  NV Access understands that many blind people around the world cannot
afford multi-thousand dollar programs just to have the same level of access
to technology as their sighted peers, so we explored other ways of
funding.  NVDA works with companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon,
Adobe & others.  They believe in what we do and help fund us to ensure that
NVDA remains free long term (we're at 20 years and counting this year!).
In return, we share our expertise in accessibility with them, which helps
improve the accessibility of programs everyone uses - even if you don't use
NVDA.  We are also a registered charity and accept donations (tax
deductible in Australia at least - we are currently exploring the path
towards 501c3 in the US - follow our social media or blog if you're
interested as no doubt we will share news loudly as and when anything new
becomes available there).

For users coming across from Jaws, even if you are primarily a Jaws user
and just want to explore NVDA as a second option, I'd encourage you to
start with the switching from Jaws guide:
https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/wiki/SwitchingFromJawsToNVDA - and yes you
can happily have both installed at once - I just wouldn't have both
actively running and speaking at once.  Exit one before the starting the
other.

For new screen reader users, we would recommend the "Quick Start Guide",
which comes as the first main section in the User Guide:
https://download.nvaccess.org/documentation/userGuide.html#NVDAQuickStartGuide

If you would like more formal training material - either for yourself or
teaching a class, we would recommend starting with "Basic Training for
NVDA" from our shop, and if you are interested in Microsoft Office as well,
then the "NVDA Productivity Bundle" is a great deal as it comes with
telephone support (also available separately) at a discount over buying it
all.  All available in our shop: https://www.nvaccess.org/shop/

Oh, and for those who are coming from Jaws and love Eloquence, you CAN get
Eloquence for NVDA.  The legal option is the SAPI 5 version from Code
Factory (also available from Tiflotecnia) both of which you can find on our
Extra Voices page: https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/wiki/ExtraVoices

Kind regards

Quentin

On Thu, Jun 4, 2026 at 9:05 PM Christopher Murphy via Trainer-Talk <
trainer-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Good morning,
>         While I agree that NVDA is a great program and that it can perform
> most tasks with add-ons, Jaws has far more features and seems to be more
> stable and easier to teach. Because there are now various license options
> available such as home annual among other Jaws has become more affordable
> for someone who doesn't require a professional license. State services
> should be able to justify this without an issue however I have seen some
> circumstances that they won't just because they want to save some money or
> the person's goal may be different. While I can get by using NVDA when I
> need to, I find that my experience with Jaws has been much better because
> of its integration with so many different programs and applications. Jaws
> is a much more popular screen reader then NVDA and doesn't require so much
> effort just to make it perform tasks because of the apparent need to make
> sure that it has add-ons for applications and programs. The ability to
> customize settings based on user preference along with the updates every
> single year in my opinion make Jaws more highly utilized then NVDA
> especially in places of employment.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Christopher Murphy
> Email:
> cjohnmurph at gmail.com
>
> this is a CONFIDENTIAL communication and is not to be duplicated or
> forwarded to other individuals or organizations unless the email says
> otherwise. This electronic message, including all attachments, is intended
> only for the use of the addressee(s) named above and may contain legally
> privileged and confidential information. The authorized recipient of this
> information is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other
> party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to
> destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled.  If you
> received this message in error, please do not use, disclose, copy, or
> disseminate any of the information in this message. Please notify the
> sender by reply e-mail and delete the original message
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Trainer-Talk <trainer-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Showe
> Trela via Trainer-Talk
> Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2026 5:48 AM
> To: List for teachers and trainers of adaptive technology <
> trainer-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Showe Trela <myshowe86 at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Trainer-Talk] Is NVDA enough for the blind?
>
> Hello fellow trainers.
> I am writing this email to ask you all this question because I want to
> educate myself and be a better AT trainer, looking at all sides and
> choosing what is best for the individuals I instruct. Here in Minnesota,
> state services are telling us that NVDA should be enough for blind people
> to use and using JAWS is no longer ideal and might need further
> justification. In states like Virginia and Delaware and Colorado, I am
> hearing the same tune. I am also hearing other AT instructors supporting
> this claim that people don't really need to learn JAWS and NVDA is enough.
> Admitedly, I am way more proficient with JAWS and can get by on NVDA when I
> have to. Can you all chime in and share your thoughts on this? I have
> always thought that because NVDA is open source software, workplaces will
> sometimes balk at installing this screen reader. Although free.99 is always
> good for employers. I understand that NVDA add-ons make it so much more
> efficient but I have wondered about workplaces allowing for those
> installations as well. Can you all enlighten me on this matter? Thank you.
>
> Showe
> Sent from my iPhone
> _______________________________________________
> Trainer-Talk mailing list
> Trainer-Talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/trainer-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Trainer-Talk:
>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/trainer-talk_nfbnet.org/cjohnmurph%40gmail.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Trainer-Talk mailing list
> Trainer-Talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/trainer-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Trainer-Talk:
>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/trainer-talk_nfbnet.org/quentin%40nvaccess.org
>

-- 

Quentin Christensen
Training and Support Manager

NV Access
www.nvaccess.org  <http://www.nvaccess.org/>

Celebrating 20 years of NVDA
[image: image.png]
Training: https://www.nvaccess.org/shop/
Certification: https://certification.nvaccess.org/
Blog, releases & news by email: https://nvaccess.org/newsletter
User group: https://nvaccess.org/nvda-users
Mastodon: https://fosstodon.org/@NVAccess
Other socials & community: https://www.nvaccess.org/#socials

[image: image.png]
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 228252 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/trainer-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20260604/e9b043be/attachment-0002.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 17236 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/trainer-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20260604/e9b043be/attachment-0003.png>