axe Auditor vs WAVE

axe Auditor guides manual accessibility testing and produces actionable findings and audit trails. It can be used to examine native mobile apps, HTML pages, desktop applications, Microsoft documents, and PDFs. Step-by-step guidance helps testers find complex accessibility issues that automated scanning alone may not catch. The product supports WCAG 2.2 and includes automated scans, manual review tools, mobile testing, a browser extension, and remediation guidance. Teams can create, review, approve, and publish ACR/VPATs, while tailored reports and audit trails help demonstrate accessibility conformance to stakeholders, partners, and customers. Deque says its axe DevTools integration can significantly reduce manual testing requirements. SaaS and Private Cloud customers can send findings to Jira through a two-way integration that tracks issue progress, displays Jira status, and records push history. An administrator must configure the Jira connection and issue template. Contractor access controls can limit external contributors to assigned test cases while internal team members retain full visibility. The product is intended for accessibility practitioners at agencies, companies, and consulting firms, including testers at different experience levels.

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.