The right scanner depends on what you need. For one page, WAVE and Lighthouse are free. For tests inside a development workflow, axe DevTools and Pa11y. For a whole site checked in a few minutes with every issue, its fix and the rule it breaks, BearScan scans free and sells the full report at $49. Overlay widgets such as accessiBe and UserWay are a different kind of product, and no tool can promise a site is ADA compliant.
What a scanner can and can’t do
An automated scanner loads your pages and tests them against WCAG rules. It finds missing text alternatives, low contrast, unlabeled controls and similar failures quickly and repeatably. It can’t judge everything: the Justice Department’s guidance (opens in a new tab) says a “clean” report does not necessarily mean everything is accessible. Any vendor that promises compliance from a scan alone is promising more than the tool can know. Our guide to checking ADA compliance covers the rest.
Free and developer tools
These check a page you point them at, or a list of pages you maintain. All are credible; they differ in where you run them.
- axe DevTools (developer tool): Deque's accessibility testing for developers: a browser extension, IDE linter and CI tooling built on the open-source axe-core engine. Compare with BearScan
- WAVE (free checker): WebAIM's free evaluation tool, as a web page and browser extensions, that marks problems on a single page. Compare with BearScan
- Lighthouse (free checker): Google's free auditing tool, built into Chrome DevTools, whose accessibility section scores a page from 0 to 100. Compare with BearScan
- Pa11y (developer tool): Free, open-source command-line tools that test pages for accessibility, with a CI runner and a dashboard. Compare with BearScan
A whole-site scanner: BearScan
BearScan crawls a site, loads the pages in a real browser, and reports each issue with the page, the element, how to fix it and the rule it breaks. It also tells you what it couldn’t check and never says a site is compliant. The scan is free: it covers 10 pages with no account and up to 100 pages of one site with a free account. The report adds the detail you fix from, scans up to 1,000 pages, and costs $49 per site; Monitoring rescans weekly for $29 a month.
Paid platforms and overlays
These are sold as services, by quote or by traffic. Some change your site with a script, which the FTC’s 2025 order against accessiBe (opens in a new tab) makes worth reading about before you buy. Our overlay guide explains.
- accessiBe (overlay and monitoring service): A script-based overlay widget with automated scanning and fixes, sold by monthly site traffic. Compare with BearScan
- UserWay (overlay and monitoring service): An overlay widget with page monitoring, audits and a litigation support program, sold by page views. Compare with BearScan
- AudioEye (overlay and monitoring service): Automated fixes plus expert-assisted and managed accessibility services, sold by quote. Compare with BearScan
- Siteimprove (enterprise platform): An enterprise platform that monitors accessibility across web pages, documents and apps, with manual audits and training. Compare with BearScan
Scanners compared by price and coverage
| Tool | Price | Covers | Changes your site |
|---|---|---|---|
| BearScan | Free scan; $49 report; $29 a month | Up to 1,000 pages of one site | No |
| accessiBe | From $59 a month, by traffic | Widget on every page; scanning every 24 hours | Yes: a script alters pages as they load |
| UserWay | Widget from $490 a year; monitoring from $990 a year | Widget plus 10 to 100 monitored pages by tier | Yes: a script alters pages as they load |
| AudioEye | Quote only | Whole site, by plan | Yes on automated plans: a script applies fixes |
| axe DevTools | Free tools; paid plans by demo | The page you are testing | No |
| WAVE | No price stated for the web tool or extensions; API from $10; AIM report from $500 | One page at a time | No |
| Lighthouse | Free | One page per run | No |
| Pa11y | Free; you host it | The list of pages you give it | No |
| Siteimprove | Quote only | Organization-wide, including documents and apps | No |
Prices and features come from each vendor’s own pages, read on . We make BearScan, so weigh our description of it accordingly; each comparison page cites its sources.
How to choose
- Start with a free scan of your whole site to see how big the problem is, and keep the issue list.
- Fix issues in the code, template by template, so each fix covers many pages.
- Test by hand what a scanner can’t: keyboard use, focus order, a screen reader.
- Rescan after every release, and keep dated records of what you found and fixed.
Questions
What is the best free ADA compliance checker?
For a single page, WAVE and Lighthouse are free and well known. For a whole site, BearScan scans 10 pages without an account and up to 100 pages of one site with a free account. No automated checker can confirm ADA compliance on its own.
Can a scanner make my website ADA compliant?
No. A scanner finds problems; fixing them is separate, and automated tools only check part of WCAG. The Justice Department's guidance says a clean automated report doesn't necessarily mean everything is accessible.
What is the difference between a scanner and an overlay?
A scanner reads your site and reports problems for you to fix in the code. An overlay is a script added to your site that changes pages as they load. The FTC ordered the overlay vendor accessiBe to pay $1 million in 2025 over claims that its tool could make any website WCAG-compliant.