Normfluss vs Nutrient DWS Accessibility API

Normfluss checks PDF documents for accessibility, applies structural fixes, and provides a signed record describing the checks and decisions made. It evaluates PDFs against PDF/UA-1 and the parts of WCAG 2.2 AA that apply to PDF files. The platform can automatically handle tags, reading order, and tables; people review judgment calls in a guided editor. A self-hosted model drafts image descriptions in English, French, German, or Dutch, but a person must accept each suggestion before it is applied.

Users can check up to 25 PDFs at once for free. Files may be up to 100 MB and 150 pages without an account, or 1,000 pages with a free account. A remediated file can be downloaded with a signed evidence record. Normfluss offers a REST API and HMAC-signed webhooks. Processing takes place in the EU; the maker says models are self-hosted, files are not used for training, and no third-party AI is used. Unauthenticated free-check files are deleted after 72 hours; account documents remain until deleted. Plans include a free check and one-time credit bundles from €50, paid once. The platform reports technical conformance, not legal certification or advice.

Nutrient DWS Accessibility API processes PDFs to add accessibility tags and check conformance. It returns a tagged PDF with PDF/UA metadata and targets PDF/UA-1 (ISO 14289-1). Tagging covers H1–H6 headings, ordered and unordered lists, table rows and cells, reading order, annotations and decorative artifacts. The API accepts HTTP requests from any programming language, with quickstarts for Java, C#, JavaScript, Python and PHP. Nutrient reports 96.5% PDF/UA conformance across a validation corpus of 3,157 files. Its free plan costs nothing and includes 20 auto-tagged pages and 100 validations per month. Starter costs $79 a month for 200 pages and 1,000 validations; Professional is $249 a month for 1,000 pages and 5,000 validations; Business is $499 a month for 3,000 pages and 15,000 validations. Monthly quotas do not roll over, and requests in a quota category are blocked when that quota runs out unless a larger plan or pay-as-you-go is used. Auto-tagging does not guarantee full accessibility compliance, so Nutrient recommends QA, especially for sensitive or high-stakes documents.