AccessLint vs WAVE
AccessLint
accesslint.comWAVE
wave.webaim.orgSide by side
| Figure | AccessLint | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $19/mo | $10/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 13 |
| Spec score · Accessibility Testing Software | 9.0 (#10) | 9.4 (#2) |
| Spec score · Website Accessibility Tools | 9.0 (#8) | 9.4 (#2) |
| Spec score · Web Accessibility Software | 8.9 (#3) | 8.5 (#4) |
| Browser extension | The a11y agent is a Chrome extension that audits pages in real time and gives AI-generated remediation suggestions in Chrome’s side panel. | Yes |
| CI/CD integration | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
Plans
WAVE
- Subscription API — 250–999 credits$10 a month
- Subscription API — 1,000–9,999 creditsPrice not published
- Subscription API — 10,000+ creditsPrice not published
- Stand-alone API — Basic$4,000 a year
- Stand-alone API — Expanded$8,000 a year
- Stand-alone API — Unlimited$12,000 a year
- Free API creditsFree
- API credits 10000+$0.03, paid once
- API credits 1000-9999$0.03, paid once
- API credits 250-999$0.04, paid once
In their own words
AccessLint
AccessLint checks accessibility during development, on pull requests, and on live sites. Its WCAG 2.2 engine has 95 rules and a stated 53ms median audit across 5,000 real-world sites. Pull-request reviews inspect changed files and leave inline comments with the relevant rule and a suggested correction, but do not fail builds or block merges. Deploy-triggered scans require Starter or Pro, run asynchronously, and also do not synchronously fail builds. Saved user journeys can run daily, with email alerts for new violations or changes against a baseline. The toolkit provides checks for Playwright, Vitest, and Storybook, while pull-request reviews use a GitHub App. Starter and Pro include shareable read-only evidence reports with before-and-after screenshots of affected elements. Free covers public-repository pull-request reviews, one daily monitored flow, and violation trends. Starter costs $19 a month or $190 a year; Pro costs $349 a month or $3,490 a year. AccessLint says automated checks alone cannot make a site compliant.
WAVE
WAVE is a web accessibility tool that identifies many accessibility and WCAG errors and provides tools for human evaluation of web content. Its browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge can examine password-protected, locally stored, and highly dynamic pages. The service supports page scans, scheduled site audits, intranet pages with most authentication types, and custom viewport sizes for checking responsive breakpoints. Stand-alone tools can integrate with continuous-integration systems including Selenium and Puppeteer. The API returns JSON or XML; basic analysis uses one credit, while advanced features may use two or three. New accounts receive 100 free API credits. Subscription API access has a 250-credit minimum purchase for $10 a month. Stand-alone API licenses cost $4,000 a year for Basic, $8,000 a year for Expanded, and $12,000 a year for Unlimited. The stand-alone API runs on Linux, Mac, or Windows web servers with PHP and Node installed; minimum requirements are 1 CPU, 1 GB memory, and 100 MB storage.