Accessibility Auditing Services
An accessibility audit is a systematic evaluation of your website or application against WCAG 2.1/2.2, ADA, Section 508, EN 301 549, and European Accessibility Act requirements. StepTo combines automated scanning with manual assistive-technology testing to find real barriers—then, because we are an engineering company first, our developers fix them in your codebase. Audits are fixed-price; remediation runs at $35–75/hr or through an embedded engineer.
What the Audit Covers
- Automated scanning: Full-site crawls with axe-core, Lighthouse, and Pa11y to catch programmatically detectable failures (missing alt text, contrast, ARIA misuse, form labelling) across every template.
- Manual expert review: Keyboard-only navigation, focus order and visibility, logical heading structure, error handling, and dynamic content behaviour on 10–25 representative screens.
- Assistive technology testing: NVDA and JAWS on Windows, VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, TalkBack on Android—verifying that critical journeys (signup, checkout, forms) are actually completable.
- Responsive & zoom testing: Reflow at 320px width and 400% browser zoom, touch target sizing, and orientation support per WCAG 2.2.
- Document & media review: PDF accessibility, video captions, transcripts, and audio descriptions where applicable.
Deliverables
- Findings report: Every issue mapped to its WCAG success criterion with severity, affected pages, screenshots, and code-level fix guidance.
- Prioritised remediation backlog: Issues grouped by component and ranked by user impact and legal risk, ready to import into Jira or Linear.
- Conformance documentation: VPAT / Accessibility Conformance Report for procurement, or a public accessibility statement for EAA and EN 301 549 obligations.
- Re-test & verification: A follow-up pass after fixes to confirm conformance and update the report.
Remediation & Accessible Development
- Code-level fixes: Our engineers remediate directly in React, Angular, Vue, or server-rendered codebases—semantic HTML, ARIA patterns, focus management, and accessible forms.
- Component library hardening: Rebuilding problem components (modals, menus, data tables, date pickers) to WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices so fixes propagate across your product.
- CI integration: Automated axe checks in your pipeline plus linting rules, so new code can't reintroduce known failures.
- Team enablement: Practical workshops for your developers and designers covering the failure patterns found in your audit.
Engagement Models & Pricing
- Fixed-price audit: $5,000–$15,000 for typical sites and apps; $15,000–$40,000 for large platforms with complex interactive components. Timeline: 2–4 weeks.
- Audit + remediation project: Combined engagements at $35–75/hr, usually 6–12 weeks depending on backlog size.
- Embedded accessibility engineer: From $4,500/month via staff augmentation for organisations making accessibility part of every sprint.
- Ongoing monitoring: Quarterly re-audits and automated monitoring as part of a dedicated team engagement—see pricing.
Who Needs an Accessibility Audit Now
- Businesses covered by the European Accessibility Act: E-commerce, banking, transport booking, e-books, and telecom services sold in the EU have been required to meet accessibility requirements since June 2025—new products immediately, existing services within transition periods.
- Public-sector bodies and their suppliers: The EU Web Accessibility Directive and Section 508 in the US make WCAG conformance a legal and contractual obligation, including for vendors selling into government.
- SaaS vendors selling to enterprises: Procurement teams increasingly require a current VPAT/ACR before signing; an audit produces the documentation your sales team keeps being asked for.
- Companies that received a demand letter: ADA web-accessibility claims are common in the US; a documented audit-and-remediation programme is the standard response counsel will ask you to stand up.
- Product teams before a major launch: Fixing accessibility in design and component libraries costs a fraction of retrofitting it after release.
FAQ: Accessibility Audits
- How much does an accessibility audit cost?
- A WCAG 2.2 AA audit of a typical marketing site or web app (10–25 representative screens) usually costs $5,000–$15,000 and takes 2–4 weeks. Large platforms with complex interactive components (data grids, editors, checkout flows) range from $15,000 to $40,000. Remediation is billed separately at $35–75/hr, or handled by an embedded engineer from $4,500/month via staff augmentation.
- Which standards do you audit against—WCAG, ADA, EAA, or Section 508?
- We audit against WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 at level AA (or AAA where required), which is the technical baseline referenced by the ADA in US case law, Section 508 for US federal procurement, EN 301 549 for EU public sector, and the European Accessibility Act (EAA) that applies to many private-sector digital products since June 2025. The report maps each finding to the standard your legal or procurement team cares about.
- Do you test with real assistive technology or just automated scanners?
- Both. Automated tools (axe-core, Lighthouse, Pa11y) catch roughly a third of WCAG failures, so every audit includes manual testing: keyboard-only navigation, screen readers (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, TalkBack on Android), browser zoom to 400%, and colour contrast verification. Each issue comes with steps to reproduce and the assistive technology it affects.
- What do we get at the end of the audit?
- A findings report listing every issue with WCAG success criterion, severity, affected pages, screenshots, and code-level remediation guidance; a prioritised remediation backlog importable into Jira; and, where needed, a VPAT/Accessibility Conformance Report or an accessibility statement for your website. We re-test after remediation and update the report to document conformance.
- Can you fix the issues as well as find them?
- Yes. Unlike audit-only firms, StepTo is an engineering company—our developers remediate directly in your React, Angular, Vue, or server-rendered codebase, build accessible replacements for problem components, and add automated accessibility checks to your CI pipeline so regressions are caught before release.