AudioEye combines automated fixes with expert audits and managed services, all priced by quote; BearScan publishes its prices and is a scanner. AudioEye says its automated tools address about 50% of accessibility issues, and it offers limited financial protection against demand letters only on its managed plan.
Summary
| Question | BearScan | AudioEye | Better fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it checks your site | Real-browser scan, then models read what text and images mean | Script fixes issues automatically; experts handle the rest on higher plans | Depends |
| How much of the site it covers | 10 pages free; 100 with a free account; up to 1,000 in a report | Monitors on each page load; tests 37 of 55 WCAG 2.2 A/AA criteria | AudioEye |
| What you get back | Every issue with its page, element, fix and rule; a PDF; what it couldn't check | Expert audits, scanner, developer tools, help desk; VPAT not stated | AudioEye |
| Whether it changes your site | No: it only reads public pages | Yes on automated plans: fixes are applied on the page | BearScan |
| What it costs | Free scan; $49 report per site; $29 a month for Monitoring | Not published; three plans, each routed to sales | BearScan |
| How it fits your workflow | API, MCP server, GitHub pull-request checks, weekly rescans | Testing SDK for Jest, CLI, Playwright and Cypress; MCP on one plan | Depends |
| What it promises about the law | Never claims compliance; no legal protection offered | Managed plan includes limited financial protection (Assurance) | AudioEye |
Which should you choose?
| If you want | Choose |
|---|---|
| You want a price before you talk to anyone. | BearScan |
| You want a free scan to see what is wrong first. | BearScan |
| You do the fixes yourself or with a coding agent and want precise instructions. | BearScan |
| You want a vendor to manage accessibility end to end, including custom fixes. | AudioEye |
| You want the financial protection that comes with its managed plan. | AudioEye |
How we compared
We compared the two on seven questions a buyer asks: how each checks a site, how much of it they cover, what you get back, whether they change your pages, what they cost, how they fit a team’s workflow, and what they promise about the law. We make BearScan, so weigh our description of it accordingly. To keep the comparison honest we describe AudioEye from its own pages, attribute its marketing claims to it, cite every source, and say where AudioEye is the better choice. Prices and terms were read on and change often; check the vendor’s page before you buy.
AudioEye at a glance
AudioEye is a overlay and monitoring service. Automated fixes plus expert-assisted and managed accessibility services, sold by quote.
BearScan at a glance
BearScan is a website accessibility scanner. It checks a site against WCAG 2.2 Level A and AA in a real browser, reports each issue with the page, the element, how to fix it and the rule it breaks, and lists what it couldn’t check. Scanning is free; a full report is $49.
Feature by feature
How it checks your site
BearScan. BearScan loads pages in a real browser and measures what a visitor gets: computed names, contrast from computed styles, Tab order and visible focus, layout at 320 pixels wide, text spacing and content that moves. It then uses language and vision models to judge what text and images mean, such as whether a label or alt text fits. A rule it can't decide is reported as incomplete, never as a pass.
AudioEye. AudioEye's JavaScript reads the rendered page and applies fixes in the browser. AudioEye says its automated fixes address up to 50% of detected issues, and that experts write and deploy custom code-based fixes for what automation can't handle. Its Basic Protection plan notes it doesn't include expert testing for the remaining issues. Sources: audioeye.com (opens in a new tab), audioeye.com (opens in a new tab).
Why this matters. How a tool finds problems decides which problems it can find. Rules run on markup miss what only a rendered, operated page shows, such as focus order and whether a label means what it says. A tool that repairs pages as they load leaves your own code as it was, and your own code is what an accessibility claim examines.
Better fit: Depends. AudioEye combines automation with people; BearScan is a scanner and leaves the fixing to you.
How much of the site it covers
BearScan. A scan without an account covers 10 pages. A free account covers up to 100 pages of one site, and a report up to 1,000. BearScan picks pages by template, one of each distinct kind, rather than by what the address looks like, and the report says how many pages of each kind it evaluated. It reads public pages only and never signs in.
AudioEye. AudioEye says its monitoring scans for potential WCAG issues every time a visitor loads a page, and that it automatically tests 37 of 55 WCAG 2.2 Level A and AA criteria. Another AudioEye page gives a different figure, 32 or more criteria, so treat the number as approximate. PDF remediation and mobile app audits are sold as separate services. Sources: audioeye.com (opens in a new tab), audioeye.com (opens in a new tab).
Why this matters. Accessibility problems live in page templates, so a tool that tests one page at a time can miss the template where the problem starts, and a tool that tests a handful of pages can miss most of the site. Check how pages are chosen and how many are included in the price.
Better fit: AudioEye. Checking on every page load is more continuous than a weekly rescan.
What you get back
BearScan. The free scan lists every issue and the pages it appears on. The report ($49 per site) adds each issue's element, an explanation, the fix, a prompt you can hand to a coding agent and a PDF, with 48 hours of free reruns to verify your fixes. Every report lists what the scan could not check and never says a site is compliant.
AudioEye. AudioEye's plans list an accessibility scanner, expert audit and reporting, developer tools, a help desk, a learning platform, document remediation and legal support, spread across its three plans. We didn't find a VPAT offering on the pages we read. Sources: audioeye.com (opens in a new tab).
Why this matters. A list of failures is not a fix. What matters is whether each result names the page and the element, explains the rule it breaks, says how to fix it, and says what the tool could not check, so you know where the gaps are.
Better fit: AudioEye. AudioEye bundles human expertise that a scanner doesn't include.
Whether it changes your site
BearScan. BearScan visits public pages the way a visitor does and reports what it finds. Nothing is installed on your site. To check that forms explain their errors it may submit a simple email-only form once, to its own origin, with an obviously invalid value; it never signs in, signs up, pays or buys anything.
AudioEye. AudioEye says its automated fixes are applied instantly on every page, and that its experts write and deploy custom fixes to the site on managed plans. Sources: audioeye.com (opens in a new tab).
Why this matters. Some products work by adding a script that alters your pages as they load. That can fix some problems for visitors, but it adds a third-party dependency to every page, and it doesn't change the source code your developers maintain.
Better fit: BearScan. A scanner leaves your pages exactly as they are.
What it costs
BearScan. Scanning is free. A full report is $49 per site, once. Monitoring is $29 a month ($228 a year) per site and adds the full report on every scan, weekly rescans with alerts and pull-request checks. The price doesn't change with your traffic.
AudioEye. AudioEye's plans page lists Basic Protection (automated), Self-Serviced Protection and Maximum Protection (managed) with no prices; buttons say Get Started or Talk to an Expert. Third-party directories list older tiers at $49 to $499 a month, but they don't match the current plans, so we don't rely on them. Sources: audioeye.com (opens in a new tab).
Why this matters. Price models differ more than price. Some scale with your traffic, some with the pages monitored, some are quotes you only get after a call. Compare the cost for your site over a year, and what happens to the bill if your traffic doubles.
Better fit: BearScan. You can see BearScan's price before you speak to anyone.
How it fits your workflow
BearScan. BearScan has a REST API with an OpenAPI spec, an MCP server so coding agents can scan a site and read its findings, and a GitHub App that checks pull requests and scans the preview against the pull request's base commit, commenting only on lines the pull request added. Monitoring rescans weekly and emails you when something new fails. It has no browser extension and no library for unit-testing components.
AudioEye. AudioEye says its Accessibility Testing SDK integrates into CI/CD pipelines including Jest, a CLI, Playwright and Cypress, and its Self-Serviced plan lists an AudioEye MCP. The pages we read don't list a GitHub integration or a public API. Sources: audioeye.com (opens in a new tab), audioeye.com (opens in a new tab).
Why this matters. A finding only helps if it reaches the person who fixes it. Look at whether results go where your team already works: pull requests, tickets, coding assistants, a CI job.
Better fit: Depends. AudioEye is stronger in test frameworks; BearScan is stronger at pull-request checks on the preview.
What it promises about the law
BearScan. BearScan reports what a scan found and what it couldn't check. It isn't legal advice, doesn't certify compliance, and offers no litigation support, guarantee or indemnity. Each issue links to the standard or law it is based on, so you and your lawyer can review it.
AudioEye. AudioEye says its Assurance product, available only on the Managed package, provides limited, guaranteed financial protection against WCAG-related demand letters and lawsuits. It pays up to the set coverage or the total settlement, whichever is less, depends on the pages involved being ones AudioEye fixed, and won't pay out for false positives. The coverage amount isn't stated on the page. Sources: audioeye.com (opens in a new tab), audioeye.com (opens in a new tab).
Why this matters. No tool can certify that a site is ADA compliant, because the ADA doesn't certify websites, and the Justice Department's guidance says a clean automated report doesn't necessarily mean everything is accessible. What differs is what a vendor claims and what it will stand behind in writing.
Better fit: AudioEye. This is the one place a vendor offers financial protection; BearScan offers none.
Pricing in detail
| Plan | Price | What sets the price or what it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Protection (Automated) | Not published | Automated tools addressing about 50% of issues, monitoring, help desk |
| Self-Serviced Protection | Not published | Expert guidance, developer tools, scanner, audit and reporting, MCP |
| Maximum Protection (Managed) | Not published | Custom fixes, agentic audits, Assurance |
AudioEye publishes no prices. Get a quote from its sales team. Source: audioeye.com (opens in a new tab), read 2026-10-11.
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free scan | $0 | 10 pages without an account; up to 100 pages of one site with a free account; every issue and the pages it’s on |
| Full report | $49 per site, once | Up to 1,000 pages; each issue’s element, explanation, fix and coding-agent prompt; a PDF; 48 hours of free reruns |
| Monitoring | $29 a month or $228 a year, per site | The full report on every scan, weekly rescans with alerts, pull-request checks |
Strengths and gaps
Where AudioEye is stronger than BearScan
- It pairs automation with experts who write custom fixes on the managed plan.
- It offers limited financial protection against demand letters on that plan.
- It covers PDFs and mobile app audits as services.
Where BearScan is stronger than AudioEye
- You want a price before you talk to anyone.
- You want a free scan to see what is wrong first.
- You do the fixes yourself or with a coding agent and want precise instructions.
Where BearScan falls short
- It has no manual expert audits, VPATs or accessibility training.
- It reads public pages only, so it can't test anything behind a login.
- It has no browser extension or in-test library for checking a component while you build it.
- It offers no litigation support, financial protection or guarantee.
- It scans websites, not mobile apps.
What independent sources say
- In WebAIM's 2021 survey of accessibility practitioners, 67% rated overlays, plugins and widgets as not at all or not very effective. The finding covers the category, not AudioEye alone. (webaim.org (opens in a new tab))
Our verdict: BearScan or AudioEye
Choose AudioEye if you want a vendor to manage accessibility for you, including custom fixes and limited financial protection, and are happy to buy by quote. Choose BearScan if you want a clear price, a scan you can run today, and instructions your own developers can act on.
Whichever you pick, no automated tool can certify that a site is ADA compliant. The Justice Department’s guidance (opens in a new tab) says a “clean” report doesn’t necessarily mean everything is accessible, and our WCAG criteria pages say which criteria need a person.
Check your own site
The quickest way to compare is to see your own results. The scan is free and takes about a minute.
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Sources are listed beside each claim. AudioEye’s own site: audioeye.com (opens in a new tab).
Questions
Is BearScan an alternative to AudioEye?
For finding accessibility problems, yes. AudioEye is a overlay and monitoring service: Automated fixes plus expert-assisted and managed accessibility services, sold by quote. BearScan is a scanner that reports each issue with the page, the element, the fix and the rule it breaks, and never claims a site is compliant.
How much does BearScan cost compared with AudioEye?
Scanning is free: 10 pages without an account, up to 100 pages of one site with a free account. A full report is $49 per site and Monitoring is $29 a month per site. AudioEye: Not published; three plans, each routed to sales.
Does BearScan change my website like AudioEye can?
No. BearScan only reads your public pages and reports what it finds. AudioEye: Yes on automated plans: fixes are applied on the page.
How much does AudioEye cost?
AudioEye publishes no prices. Its three plans each route to sales. Third-party directories list older tiers, but they don't match the current plans.
Does AudioEye make a website ADA compliant?
AudioEye says automated fixes address up to 50% of issues and that experts handle more on managed plans. Its Assurance product offers limited financial protection against demand letters and lawsuits, not a promise of compliance.
What does AudioEye's Assurance cover?
AudioEye says it pays up to the set coverage or the total settlement, whichever is less, for issues on pages it fixed, and not for false positives. It requires the Managed package, and the coverage amount isn't stated on the page.
Does AudioEye change my site?
Yes on automated plans: AudioEye says its fixes are applied instantly on every page, and on managed plans its experts deploy custom fixes.