Overlay vs Audit vs Automated Fixes: Cost and Fit

Three different things are sold under the same loose label of accessibility help, and they cost different amounts for different reasons. An overlay adds a script that adjusts a page at run time. An audit is a person testing sampled pages against WCAG 2.2 AA and writing findings a developer can act on. Automated fixes change source code, or give exact fix values for a developer to apply, based on a scan. A buyer who confuses the three will pay for one and expect the work of another.

This article prices each route with dated figures where a vendor publishes them, and says plainly where a price is only available on request. Each route can reduce risk when it is used well, and each one leaves a different kind of record.

Route one: overlay

What you buy: a script plus a floating panel of visitor controls, live on the site within minutes of pasting a snippet. What you do not buy: changes to source code. The original markup stays as it was, and the run-time patches end when the script fails to load, is blocked, or is switched off.

Cost shape: monthly, often tied to traffic. accessiBe's pricing page states that plans for accessWidget start at $59 a month and are priced by monthly traffic, checked October 31, 2026. That starting figure is the floor, not a quote for a busy store, because traffic tiers move the price up. Over a year, $59 a month is $708, before any higher tier or add-on. Ask what happens to the price when traffic grows, whether manual testing is included, and whether the monthly fee includes a retest of fixed code, since an overlay has no fixed code to retest in the same way.

Fit: an overlay fits a site that wants visitor controls fast and understands that code work is still open. It fits less well as the only answer after a demand letter, or as the only answer for a checkout path, because the barriers named in a letter are in the code, not in the panel. The FTC record is worth reading before buying in this category: in January 2025 the FTC announced a proposed $1 million order settling allegations that accessiBe misrepresented its tool's ability to make any website conform to WCAG, and that third-party articles and reviews were formatted to look impartial without disclosing material connections. The final order was approved in April 2025. That record is about marketing claims and disclosure, described here factually, and it is a reason to ask any overlay vendor for evidence in writing rather than a panel demo.

Route two: audit

What you buy: a dated report from a person. An auditor tests a sample of pages with a keyboard, a screen reader, and visual checks, maps each finding to a WCAG criterion, and gives severity and fix steps. An audit does not fix anything by itself. It tells a developer exactly what to fix, and it gives a lawyer or a client a report that a scan alone cannot give.

Cost shape: one-off, by scope. Accessible.org lists most manual audits at $1,250 to $2,750, at $100 to $250 per primary page and $25 to $100 per light page, checked October 31, 2026. Technical support is listed at $195 per hour, and remediation by that firm is listed at $750 to $4,500 for most clients. Those are published figures from one firm, not a market average, and a quote for your site depends on templates, user paths, and whether mobile testing, documents, or retesting are included. A small site with five templates and a contact form will land near the low end of a range. A store with a checkout, an account area, and many templates will land higher, and documents such as PDFs are often priced separately.

Fit: an audit fits a site that needs depth, a site with a complex path, or a site that needs a report a third party can read. It fits less well as a repeat tool, because an audit is a snapshot. After fixes land, the audit is out of date unless a retest is bought. Ask before you pay: which pages and paths are in scope, which criteria are tested, whether retesting is included and for how long, and whether the report gives code-level steps or only general advice.

Route three: automated fixes

What you buy: scan results turned into code changes, or into exact fix values a developer applies. The word automated covers a wide range here, so read the method, not the label. Some tools apply fixes at run time and call that automated. Others change source code and call that automated too. The difference is the same as in the overlay comparison: run-time patch versus source change.

Cost shape: monthly by site count, or per project, depending on the vendor. Axeazy lists Starter at about $29 a month for one site with up to 500 pages, Pro at about $79 a month for three sites with unlimited pages, and Agency at about $199 a month or $1,799 a year for up to ten client sites, with paid prices shown at checkout and an annual saving of 20 to 25 percent. Over a year, Starter at about $29 a month is about $348, Pro at about $79 a month is about $948, and Agency at about $199 a month is about $2,388, or $1,799 on the yearly rate. Those are list figures to check on the pricing page on the day you buy, not a quote for a site with special needs.

What automated fixes from Axeazy look like in practice: a scan using 98 automated checks against WCAG 2.2 AA, fixes grouped into 14 categories, and, for sites with a GitHub repository, fixes sent as a real pull request with a visible code diff that the owner or developer reviews and merges. WordPress sites get three render-time fixes from a free plugin: a skip navigation link, a page language attribute, and an alt text fallback. Shopify stores and other sites with no repo get a scan plus a guided checklist with computed fix values, not automatic template changes. Weekly monitoring runs on paid plans, so new problems after an update are caught and dated. Colour contrast is detected and a correct colour is calculated, but a visible colour change is never applied without owner approval. Axeazy does not scan PDFs, so document work needs a separate plan.

Cost side by side for a small site

How to combine them without wasting money

For most small sites, the cheapest honest combination is a scan plus code fixes for the repeat work, with a manual check of the top paths, and an audit only when the site is complex or a third party needs a report. Start with a free scan of the homepage and the top pages, fix the code problems it finds, and record the dates. Then test the contact form and any booking path by keyboard alone, and fix what that test finds. If the site has a checkout, a booking path, or a letter naming many pages, add a scoped audit for those paths, and ask for a retest after fixes.

Related reading

For the cost of fixing late, read late stage accessibility fixes cost more, and for consulting rates beside software prices, read accessibility consulting cost: what to expect. For the ten checks to run on any tool, read how to choose an accessibility tool. If contrast is a recurring problem on your pages, try the contrast quiz to see how contrast ratios work in practice.

• For twenty questions to ask before signing, read questions to ask an accessibility vendor.

FAQ

Which route is cheapest for a small site?

A monthly automated fix tool is usually cheapest over a year for repeat checks, at about $348 for Axeazy Starter at about $29 a month. An overlay at $59 a month costs $708 for the year, and a one-off manual audit costs $1,250 to $2,750. Cheapest does not mean most complete, because each route buys a different thing.

Do I need an audit if I already use a scan tool?

Not always. A scan tool plus a keyboard check of your top paths covers a small, simple site well. An audit is worth buying when the site has a checkout or booking path, a custom widget, many templates, or a third party that needs a dated report from a person.

Can an overlay replace an audit?

No. An overlay changes a page at run time and does not change source code, while an audit tests sampled pages against WCAG criteria and reports findings for a developer to fix. They answer different questions, and an audit report cannot be replaced by a panel.

Last checked: October 31, 2026 Sources: FTC January 2025 press release; W3C WCAG 2.2; ADA.gov web guidance; Accessible.org pricing page; accessiBe pricing page; Axeazy capabilities and pricing pages.

If you manage client sites, see the plan for up to ten of them on Axeazy's agency page.