Accessibility Audits

We offer excellent quality accessibility audits at competitive market rates. When your organization hires Accessible.org, you’ll receive a clear, easy to understand audit report within a quick turnaround time.

Accessible.org audits usually range from $1,500 – $5,500 and are 100% fully manual — we never rely on automated scans as a primary source, only as a review. With each audit we formally evaluate your digital asset against a set WCAG standard using screen readers, keyboard testing, and comprehensive manual evaluation. Most clients receive their detailed audit report within 1-2 weeks.

What Is an Accessibility Audit?

An accessibility audit is a comprehensive evaluation of your digital asset’s conformance with technical accessibility standards — typically the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Through systematic manual evaluation, an audit identifies instances of nonconformance that could prevent people with disabilities from effectively using your website, mobile app, or other digital asset.

This formal evaluation process ensures your digital assets meet established technical standards.

Non-technically speaking, an audit looks for accessibility issues that might negatively impact access to people with disabilities.

Digital accessibility audits include not only web assets like websites and web apps, but also non-web assets. Here’s how we approach a mobile app accessibility audit.

What Digital Assets Can be Audited?

All types of digital assets can be audited for accessibility.

• Websites
• Web pages
• Web apps
• Mobile apps
• Platforms
• Learning Management Systems (LMS)
• Software

Learn how we approach a desktop software accessibility audit.

If users interact with your digital property through a screen and it contains content or functionality, it’s likely a digital asset and can benefit from an accessibility audit. This includes internal tools, customer-facing applications, and digital kiosks.

What is the Purpose of an Audit?

The primary purpose of an accessibility audit is to identify all instances where a digital asset does not meet accessibility requirements under a given technical standard.

Once we have an audit report, we know:

• where certain content or functionality may not be accessible
• what we need to do for conformance with a technical standard
• what we need to do for material compliance with a digital accessibility law

Why is an Audit Needed?

Organizations need accessibility audits to ensure their digital assets are accessible to people with disabilities and compliant with laws and regulations. Whether you’re preparing for a VPAT, working toward certification, or addressing accessibility proactively, an audit identifies all accessibility issues that need to be fixed. The audit provides the meticulous evaluation necessary for WCAG conformance.

An audit identifies all accessibility issues (instances of nonconformance with WCAG 2.1 AA or WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria) of the website or other digital asset being evaluated. The only purpose of an audit is to define the accessibility issues that exist. No remediation or fixes take place during an audit.

• An audit is necessary to conclusively identified all accessibility issues that exist on a digital asset. Once all issues are identified, then remediation (fixes) can begin.
• An audit is necessary before a VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) can be filled in and an ACR (Accessibility Conformance Report) can be completed.
• An audit is also an essential first step to any potential conformance statement or certification.

Are Audits 100% Manual?

Yes, audits must be fully manual. Accessible.org only provides fully manual accessibility audits and only use an automated scan as a secondary check – never a primary source of finding issues.

The manual evaluation consists of a technical accessibility expert thoroughly and meticulously evaluating your digital asset against a technical standard using various methodologies. Automated scans must only be used to ensure that any issues correctly identified by a scan are included in the audit.

What is a WCAG Audit?

A WCAG audit is a formal evaluation based on a given version and conformance level of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). By default, all of our audits are conducted using the WCAG 2.1 AA standard. Occasionally, some clients opt for WCAG 2.0 AA or WCAG 2.2 AA as their technical standard. In effect, with a WCAG Audit, we are grading a digital asset against all of the success criteria that comprise that version and conformance level of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

What is an ADA Website Compliance Audit?

An ADA website audit is a website accessibility audit conducted to help a client ensure their website follows best practices for ADA compliance. When a client asks for an ADA website audit, they want to identify all accessibility issues that exist so that they can fix these issues and virtually eliminate the chances of being sued.

The process of conducting the audit remains the same. ADA website audit should be conducted using either the WCAG 2.1 AA or WCAG 2.2 AA standard.

Which WCAG Standard Should You Use for Your Audit?

We recommend WCAG 2.1 AA or WCAG 2.2 AA technical standard for your audit. WCAG 2.1 AA is the default standard we use for audits, but some clients opt for WCAG 2.2 AA which contains 6 additional success criteria.

WCAG 2.1 AA provides for an excellent level of accessibility and is a recognized technical standard around the world, often used for compliance or for best practice for compliance. WCAG 2.2 AA provides for an even higher level of accessibility, but is more difficult to be conformant with.

Read more on the difference between a WCAG 2.1 AA and 2.2 AA audit.

What Happens During an Audit?

During an audit, your digital asset is evaluated for conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) by technical accessibility experts. In effect, your asset is graded against WCAG.

A technical accessibility expert will evaluate your asset using the methodologies outlined below to look for technical instances of non-conformance with WCAG.

Read our huge ADA website compliance treatise for more on new updates to the law, legal landscape, and how to stop web accessibility lawsuits.

Audit Details

Evaluation Methodologies

We use several evaluation methodologies to ensure our report includes all accessibility issues:

• Screen reader testing with NVDA, JAWS, and/or VoiceOver
• Keyboard testing
• Visual inspection
• Code inspection
• Browser zoom testing (200% and 400%)
• Color contrast analysis
• AXE automated scan review (as a secondary check only)

Environments

Different users access your digital assets using various combinations of browsers, devices, and assistive technologies. Evaluation conducted in multiple environments ensures your accessibility fixes work across these different configurations. Desktop audits cover approximately 70% of accessibility issues across all devices, while mobile audits cover issues specific to mobile devices such as phones and tablets.

Our proposals provide pricing for desktop and desktop + mobile audits:

Desktop Environments

• Assistive Technology: NVDA screen reader
• Browser: Google Chrome
• Device: PC Desktop
• Operating System: Windows 11

Mobile Environments (optional add-on)

• Assistive Technology: VoiceOver screen reader
• Browser: Safari
• Device: iPhone
• Operating System: iOS

Android and MacOS environments can be added at additional cost.

Clients can always request additional combinations based on project specifics. For example, if a client knows their web app will be accessed primarily by users on Windows desktops using FireFox browser, then that should environment combination should be used during the audit.

Although auditing using more environment combinations will make an audit much more robust (because we’ve looked for accessibility issues when using many different technologies), more environments will significantly increase both the time necessary to complete the audit and the cost.

The best path is to use the default environment combination or one where the client already knows which environments and technologies are used the most.

Audit Report

Upon completion of the audit, you’ll receive a detailed Excel spreadsheet report containing:

• Issue description
• URL/screen location
• Specific element location
• Testing environment
• Applicable WCAG success criterion
• Related code
• Visual documentation (screenshots/clips)
• Remediation recommendations
• Additional notes

This detailed report provides all the information you need to understand and address each accessibility issue identified during the audit.

Can Audits be Automated?

No. There is no such thing as an automated accessibility audit. While automated scans can instantly flag several accessibility issues, the scan results are limited and the results must still be manually reviewed.

Think of scans, sometimes called checkers, as flagging approximately 25% of WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria.

And remember that scans are using automation which means they only use “if this, then that” rule sets to flag issues based on the code. This means that false negatives are frequent.

False negatives are where a scan does not return an error or alert, but one still exists.

Popular scans include WAVE by WebAIM, AXE by Deque, and Google Lighthouse.

Can Artificial Intelligence Audit for Website Accessibility?

Artificial Intellience (AI) large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT cannot conduct a website accessibility audit, but they can detect the presence of some accessibility issues if you provide snippets of code.

However, AI LLMs can miss issues on the very code they are analyzing. AI detection accuracy improves when the code snippet and prompt are more narrow vs. general.

For example, if you copy the view source code on a webpage and prompt ChatGPT to audit this code using WCAG 2.1 AA standards, the quality of results will be poor. However, if you focus in one the snippet of code for one element and ask it to evaluate the code based on the requirements for one success criterion, you will get much better accuracy.

But even with this in mind, AI is still very limited in what issues it can flag. In most cases, you are better off using an automated scan rather than ChatGPT, Claude, or another LLM.

What is the Result of an Audit?

After the audit is completed, a formal audit report to the client. The report will usually be in Excel spreadsheet format.

What are the Benefits of an Audit?

An accessibility audit delivers several key benefits beyond just identifying issues:

Documentation for Risk Management

A thorough audit report provides evidence of your commitment to accessibility and can help defend against complaints by demonstrating due diligence and a clear plan for improvement. This documentation shows a proactive approach to accessibility and can be valuable in multiple contexts:

• Legal defense documentation
• Insurance requirements
• Contract compliance
• Internal policy enforcement
• Stakeholder reporting

Procurement Requirements

Audit results form the basis for completing Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs) required for government procurement and enterprise sales opportunities. A well-documented audit provides the detail needed to:

• Complete VPATs accurately
• Respond to RFP requirements
• Document conformance claims
• Support procurement processes
• Demonstrate technical compliance

Development Guidance

Detailed audit recommendations help development teams understand exactly how to fix identified issues and prevent similar problems in future work. There’s even an often overlooked educational component for digital teams that work through audits. This creates long-term value by:

• Providing specific technical solutions
• Identifying patterns in accessibility issues
• Informing developer training needs
• Supporting accessibility testing processes
• Establishing coding best practices

Measuring Progress

Interval audits also provide a way to measure improvement in accessibility over time. This helps organizations:

• Track remediation progress
• Identify recurring issues
• Work on process implementation
• Adjust accessibility strategies
• Report on accessibility metrics

Before Your Audit

Before an audit takes place, we first need to determine what the scope of the audit will be. Sometimes the scope will include all pages, screens, and content for the digital asset. Other times, we only recommend a representative sample of pages, screens, and content because it would be cost prohibitive and impractical to conduct an audit of the complete digital asset.

For example, it wouldn’t make sense to audit every page of Amazon.com.

Also, when consulting with clients we always clarify whether any changes to the asset are anticipated. This is because we need your digital asset to be static so the audit results aren’t tampered with.

After Your Audit

Technical Support

All audit packages include basic support to ensure you understand how to use your report. Even though our audits are as clear and easy to understand as possible, we always make sure we provide guidance to any clients who are new to accessibility audits.

What almost all of our clients opt for is our technical support. With technical support, we provide dedicated hours where our technical experts can answer remediation questions and validate fixes.

Our technical support at $195/hour helps your team implement fixes correctly and efficiently.

Validation and Certification

Once remediation is complete, we verify all issues have been resolved through our validation process. This ensures nothing has been missed.

Successful remediation leads to certification documentation, including Accessible.org certification and a conformance statement, provided at no additional charge.

Accessibility Tracker for Issue Tracking

Our new Accessibility Tracker platform makes your accessibility project even easier.

Tracker allows you to upload any audit report in spreadsheet format and quickly track completed issues as well as validation.

There are many other features including the ability sort issues by our data-backed prioritization formulas:

• Risk of lawsuit
• Level of impact (based on our weighted scoring system)

Your team will also save hours of time (theirs and our technical support hours) with our integrated AI that has access to all of your audit report data. This means AI can instantly help your team with fixes.

Quality Matters

Not all accessibility audits are created equal. Poor quality audits can miss critical issues, leaving your organization vulnerable to legal action and failing to provide equal access to users with disabilities.

Some digital accessibility companies cut corners by:

• Relying too heavily on automated scans
• Using inexperienced auditors
• Rushing through evaluations
• Copying and pasting automated results
• Skipping important testing methodologies

At Accessible.org, we’re extremely selective about our auditors. Our auditors must meet multiple requirements as a prerequisite for consideration:

• Audit experience
• Genuine and longstanding interest in accessibility
• Demonstrable expertise

Beyond this, all auditors are tested before they are eligible to work on client audits and we have a quality assurance (QA) process in place to ensure audit reports are of the highest caliber.

How to Conduct an Accessibility Audit?

1. Define environments
2. Determine WCAG version
3. Define scope
4. Select evaluation methodology
5. Grade scope against WCAG
6. List issues in report
7. Create final report

Learn how to conduct a website accessibility audit. Auditing a website requires that you take time to gain the experience and expertise necessary to find all accessibility issues. Some issues are very easy to recognize while others are much more difficult.

What’s the Difference Between Audit and User Testing?

An audit is a highly technical, thorough evaluation of a website based on WCAG. User testing is an experiential assessment of a website conducted by a professional with one or more disabilites. An audit and user testing are separate but related services — both are concerned with finding accessibility issues.

Although audits include screen reader and keyboard testing and may be conducted by professionals with one or more disabilities, audits are not user testing.

It’s best practice to follow up remediation with user testing because this creates a two tier filter in which any outstanding accessibility issues can potentially be caught.

How Often Should I Get an Audit?

Accessible.org recommends either bi-annual or annual audits. The quickest interval we’d recommend is quarterly. In our experience, it takes digital teams several weeks, if not months, to work through an audit so it doesn’t usually make sense for quarterly audits.

However, if you audit your digital asset in phases (for example: 3 separate audits of 7 screens of a mobile app with 21 total screens), then audits in quick succession make complete sense.

How Much Do Audits Cost?

Accessible.org audits typically cost between $1,500 – $5,500. Our pricing is primarily based on three key factors:

• Number of pages or screens in scope ($100 – $250 per page/screen)
• Complexity of your digital asset
• Audit environments

What to Look For in Audit Services?

When deciding on what digital accessibility company or agency to hire for your ADA website compliance audit, here are good signs:

• emphasis on manual services
• covers / asks about specific audit details
• does not refer to scan as audits
• does not sell overlays
• does not conflate audits and user testing
• good reputation

What are Service Provider Red Flags?

There are many good audit service providers, but there are also several companies who are misleading — not only in what is necessary to audit an asset, but what quality purchasers can expect to receive. Some common red flags include:

• Pricing doesn’t adjust after significant audit scope or environment changes
• Audit scope is an afterthought
• Promotion of custom overlays or overlay widgets
• Emphasis on automated “testing” or “solutions”
• Refers to scan as audits
• Inflated claims about scan effectiveness
• Conflating user testing with auditing
• Speaking in generalities rather than specifics
• Unable to detail audit methodology

What Clients Can Expect with Audit Services?

1. Initial Contact – Reach out to us with your project details
2. Quick Quote – Receive a transparent quote based on your specific needs
3. Audit Commencement – We begin our thorough evaluation process
4. Report Delivery – Receive your comprehensive audit report (typically within 1-2 weeks)
5. Technical Support – Get help understanding and implementing the recommended fixes
6. Issue Validation – Verify all issues have been resolved
7. Documentation – Issue VPAT / ACR or certification

Next Step

Are you ready to proceed with your accessibility audit?

We’d love to help. Contact us to ask for an audit quote on your digital asset.