Answers
What do web agencies use to check client WordPress sites for accessibility problems?
Most start with a free browser checker on each page, plus a person with a keyboard: in WebAIM's survey of 758 accessibility practitioners, 64% use axe and 53% the WAVE browser extension. To watch many client sites at once, agencies add a monitoring service, such as Pope Tech (free up to 25 pages, paid plans from $25 a month), Equalize Digital's Agency plan ($2,250 a year for 25 sites) or Siteimprove (by quote). Fixlight Pro, which we make, checks 25 client sites every week and after updates for $249 a month.
We make Fixlight, a free WordPress accessibility plugin, so we're not neutral. Every number below has its source, and facts about other products come from their own pages.
Free tools for one page at a time
- axe DevTools (Deque): free browser extension; Pro, with guided tests, is $60 per user a month or $650 a year.
- WAVE (WebAIM): free extension for Chrome, Firefox and Edge; it runs in your browser.
- Lighthouse: built into Chrome; its accessibility score counts automated checks only.
- Accessibility Insights (Microsoft): free; FastPass takes under five minutes, and the full assessment walks through manual tests.
Tools for many client sites
| Tool | Price | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Pope Tech | Free; from $25 a month (yearly) | 25 pages free; 50 pages on Team |
| Accessibility Checker (Equalize Digital) | $2,250 a year or $225 a month | 25 sites (Agency plan) |
| Siteimprove | By quote | Enterprise monitoring |
| Fixlight Pro (ours) | $249 a month | 25 client sites: weekly checks, checks after updates, keyboard tests of checkouts and forms, client reports, fixes in each site's HTML |
What the tools can't do
Automated checks find many problems but not all of them. Agencies that sell accessibility care also test each site with a keyboard and a screen reader, keep a record of what was found and fixed, and give clients a statement page with a way to report problems.
Sources
Checked on October 25, 2026.
- WebAIM Survey of Web Accessibility Practitioners #3 (2021)
- Deque: axe DevTools pricing
- WAVE browser extensions
- Accessibility Insights for Web
- Pope Tech pricing
- Equalize Digital: Accessibility Checker pricing
- Siteimprove pricing
More: Free scan of 25 client sites · Fixlight Pro for agencies · All answers