Assistiv Labs vs Octopus Scanner (formerly A11y Scanner)

Assistiv Labs connects users remotely to real assistive technologies so they can test websites and apps through a modern web browser. It covers WCAG 2.2 and lists manual review tools, mobile testing, automated scans, CI/CD integration, and remediation guidance. Available technologies vary by plan and include NVDA, Narrator, JAWS, VoiceOver, Android TalkBack, Windows High Contrast, Edge Reader mode, Windows Reduce Motion, Windows Screen Magnifier, and ZoomText/Fusion. Sessions start clean and stay within the browser tab. Debugging tools include Chrome DevTools, inspect.exe, and Xcode Accessibility Inspector. AssistivTunnel provides a secure connection for testing localhost, VPN-protected, and intranet sites. New accounts receive a 14-day Professional trial for one user without a credit card, with sessions limited to 10 minutes each. Freelancer costs $19 a month and includes 120 testing minutes monthly; Professional costs $99 a month with unlimited testing minutes. The company plan has unlimited users and minutes, with price not listed. The company says it holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification and a SOC 2 Type 2 attestation for Security criteria.

Octopus Scanner, formerly A11y Scanner, is a free desktop tool for auditing website accessibility on Windows and macOS. It uses browser automation and axe-core-powered checks to scan sites against WCAG 2.2; setup also supports requirements including Section 508 and EN 301 549. It can record and replay authenticated flows such as logins and checkouts without code, and handle dynamic interfaces, Shadow DOM, embedded frames and dark mode. Scans produce an interactive HTML report and a companion CSV, and the tool can check the structure of linked PDF documents. Scanning, analysis and reporting stay on the local machine. Scanned-site traffic can be routed through HTTP, HTTPS or SOCKS proxies. Optional update checks use official checksums and signatures, and updates can be reverted. The Windows download is 64-bit and the macOS download is ARM64. Listed version 5.0.9.8 is marked beta. The software is free; contributions to its independent developer are optional.