Level Access vs WAVE
Feature checklists rarely decide anything. What decides it is the pricing metric, who has to write the tests, and which limitation you can live with.
Entry price
Quote on request
Quote onlyFrom $0.04 per credit (one basic page scan), falling to $0.025 at 10k+
Free tierWhat drives the bill
The metric that actually scales your invoice.
Enterprise contracts combining platform licence with audit and advisory services.
Free for interactive use. The API is bought in credits — one credit per basic page scan, 2-3 for advanced requests — at $0.04 each up to 999, $0.03 to 9,999 and $0.025 beyond. Minimum purchase is 250 credits ($10), and new accounts get 100 free.
Free tier
No free tier.
Browser extension and single-page online checker are free.
Open source
Self-hostable
No-code authoring
Languages
Platforms
Fits teams
Adoption
Established
Level Access · since 1997
Widely used
WebAIM (Utah State University) · since 2001
Strengths
- Human expert audits and assistive-technology user testing alongside the tooling.
- Legal and VPAT support for organisations under compliance pressure.
- Covers web, mobile and desktop applications.
- The in-page visual overlay teaches non-specialists what is wrong far better than a list.
- Free for everyday developer and designer use.
- WebAIM's guidance behind each rule is authoritative and clear.
Limitations
- Expensive, services-heavy engagement model.
- The UserWay overlay heritage is contentious — automated overlays are widely criticised by accessibility practitioners.
- Not a self-serve developer tool.
- Manual, page-by-page — not a CI tool.
- Alerts require human judgement, so counts are not directly comparable between pages.
- No issue tracking or programme management.
Best for
Organisations facing accessibility litigation or formal procurement requirements.
Designers and developers learning accessibility, and quick manual spot checks.
Pricing last reviewed August 2026 and is indicative only — confirm on each vendor’s own page.