Accessibility Consulting Cost: What to Expect

Opening answer

Accessibility consulting cost depends on the model you buy, not only on the size of your site. Hourly help suits a short question or a fix review. A per audit price suits a one time review of a set of pages. A retainer suits a site that changes often and needs repeat checks. Published rates for a manual audit of a small or mid sized site run from about $1,250 to $5,000 across the two named sources below, and the gap comes from scope, not from one source being wrong.

Hourly consulting

Hourly work is the smallest unit of consulting. You pay for time, and you get answers, reviews or validation for that time.

• Accessible.org lists technical support at $195 per hour, with a 2 hour minimum, for validating fixes and answering implementation questions.
• ACS Creative bills remediation at $135 to $155 per hour, with an estimate after the audit, and puts most business sites at 10 to 40 hours of fix work.
• Hourly help fits a team that already has developers and needs a second pair of eyes, not a full review.

Ask what an hour buys before you book it. Some hours are spent testing pages, some on notes your developers can act on, and some on a call walking through findings. A quote that lists the task, not only the rate, is easier to compare with the next quote.

Per audit pricing

A per audit price covers a defined review, usually of a sample of pages rather than every page on a site. Accessible.org says most of its audits cost $1,250 to $2,750, at $100 to $250 per primary page or screen and $25 to $100 for light pages or screens. Its audits are fully manual evaluations against WCAG 2.1 AA or WCAG 2.2 AA, and the scope is a representative sample of pages.

ACS Creative puts a website accessibility audit against WCAG 2.2 Level AA at $2,000 to $5,000 for a typical business site in 2026, depending on how many page templates get manual testing. That price buys an automated scan of the whole site, keyboard testing of key templates, a findings report mapped to WCAG success criteria with severity and reproduction steps, and developer-ready notes. It does not buy the fixes, and it does not buy screen reader testing. Those are priced apart.

Read the scope line in every audit quote. The number of templates tested by hand, the checks used, and the form of the report all change the price.

Retainer pricing

A retainer is a monthly arrangement for ongoing work. It usually covers repeat scans or retests, a review meeting, a progress report, and time for questions as new pages go live. It suits a site with frequent updates, a shop that adds products often, or a team that ships new pages each week. It suits an agency that must show clients steady work across the year.

No retainer price is quoted here, because the retainer pages read for this article did not give a verified figure tied to a named scope on an opened source today. Treat any retainer quote as a bundle, and ask for the bundle in writing. Ask how many hours are included, how often retests happen, what reports you receive, and what happens to unused hours.

What moves the price

Four factors move most quotes more than the hourly rate does.

• Page templates. A brochure site with five templates costs less to review than a store with checkout, account pages, search filters and gated content.

• Interface parts. Menus, modals, carousels, data tables, embedded video and multi-step forms each need their own checks, so they add time.

• Documents. PDFs, Word files and downloadable forms are part of a site for accessibility purposes, and document review is often priced apart from page review.

• People doing the work. A reviewer who knows WCAG success criteria and how assistive technology behaves finds issues a scanner alone will miss.

Fix work is a separate line in most quotes. Accessible.org lists remediation at $750 to $4,500 for most clients, with an audit and full code access required first. ACS Creative bills remediation hourly, as noted above.

What Axeazy covers for a monthly price

A software plan is a different buy from consulting. With Axeazy, you get scanning with axe-core and code level fixes across 14 fix categories, plus a dated record of scans and fixes. For a site with a GitHub repo, fixes arrive as a real pull request with a visible diff for owner review. For WordPress, a free plugin applies exactly 3 instant fixes at render time: a skip navigation link, a page language attribute, and an alt text fallback, with no account needed.

For Shopify, Axeazy scans the store and gives a guided plain-English checklist the merchant or theme editor can follow. For other sites, Axeazy gives computed fix values plus a guided checklist, with no automatic changes. Colour contrast is detected and a WCAG-correct colour is calculated, but it is never applied without owner approval.

Paid plans are listed on the capabilities page at Starter $29 a month, Pro $79 a month and Agency $199 a month, with paid prices shown at checkout on the pricing page and annual billing saving 20 to 25 percent. Paid plans give PDF reports and weekly monitoring. The Agency tier gives a white label portal, white label reports and badge, bulk scanning, per client risk scoring, and up to 10 client sites, which fits an agency that wants to show each client a dated record under its own brand. Read the honest scope on the capabilities page before you choose a plan.

How to choose, and mistakes to avoid

Start with the job, not the price. If you need a report for procurement, buy an audit with a defined template count and a written report. If you need fixes landed in code, buy fix time or a code fix plan, not only a report. If your site changes weekly, buy repeat checks, either as a retainer or as a monthly plan with monitoring.

Common mistakes to avoid:

• Comparing a scan price with an audit price as if they were the same job.

• Buying an audit with no plan for the fixes.

• Accepting a quote that does not name the templates, the standard checked against, or the deliverable.

• Paying for a retainer that only repeats a scan, when what you need is retesting and fix validation.

• Choosing on price alone, then finding that documents, screen reader testing or fix work were priced apart.

For a fuller price and fit comparison with a visit based software plan, see the earlier article on this blog: Axeazy vs accessiBe: Price, Fixes and Fit.

FAQ

What does accessibility consulting usually cost?

It depends on the model. Hourly help runs $135 to $195 per hour across the two named sources in this article, with minimums and scopes that differ. A manual audit of a small or mid sized site runs $1,250 to $2,750 at Accessible.org and $2,000 to $5,000 at ACS Creative for a typical business site. Retainer prices vary by bundle, so ask for the hours, retest frequency and reports in writing before you compare them.

Is an audit the same as a scan?

No. A scan runs automated rules over pages and flags issues a machine can detect. A manual audit adds human testing, such as keyboard only checks, and a report mapped to WCAG success criteria with severity and steps to reproduce. A scan is a good first and monitoring step, while an audit gives your team a fix list they can act on with confidence.

Does consulting cost less than a software plan over a year?

Not always, and the comparison needs care. A software plan at $29 to $199 a month covers scanning, code level fixes in 14 categories, weekly monitoring and a dated record, but it is not a manual audit. Consulting buys human testing and tailored advice, priced per hour or per audit. A site that needs a formal audit report for procurement will still need the audit, whatever plan it holds.

Should I buy an audit before I buy fixes?

Yes, in most cases. An audit gives you a fix list ordered by impact, so fix time goes to harder barriers first. This is general information, not legal advice. If you have received a demand letter or been sued, talk to a qualified attorney.

Last checked and sources

Last checked: October 31, 2026.

Sources: Accessible.org accessibility services pricing, updated October 29, 2026, ACS Creative website accessibility audit cost and deliverables.

Run the free 60 second scan on Axeazy first, then compare its monthly plan with a written audit quote for your own site before you spend anything.

Related reading

• Fix Accessibility In-House or Hire a Specialist?