Free scanners, enterprise platforms, or Wexlo?
An honest comparison. We use the same open-source engine the free tools use, so the difference is not the scan. It is what you can hand to your client, your management, or a regulator afterwards.
Free developer tools
axe DevTools, WAVE, Lighthouse
Excellent while you build. They answer "what is broken on this page right now?" in your browser or CI, at no cost. What they do not produce: a client-ready report, an accessibility statement, monitoring over time, or manual verification. If you only need a first impression, start there. Our free scan gives you that same first look, and it is where a record can start.
Wexlo
Continuous evidence for SMEs and agencies
Every scan becomes a report with a certainty label per finding, a draft accessibility statement, and monthly monitoring. A manual verification on five representative pages is available as a fixed-price service. Agencies run their whole client portfolio on one subscription. Pricing is on the page, not behind a sales call: reports from €79, monitoring from €99 per month.
Enterprise platforms
Deque axe DevTools Pro/Monitor, Siteimprove, Level Access
Governance suites for large digital estates: thousands of pages, procurement, dedicated program managers. Pricing is quote-based; procurement data (Vendr, mid-2026) reports entry contracts from roughly $15,000 per year. If that is your scale, they are a solid choice. If it is not, you are paying for governance you will not use.
| Free | Wexlo | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scan engine | axe-core and similar | axe-core + own deterministic checks | proprietary + axe-core |
| Client-ready report (PDF, 4 languages) | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Draft accessibility statement (EAA/EN 301 549 context) | – | ✓ | varies |
| Monitoring over time | – | ✓ monthly and up | ✓ |
| Manual verification | do it yourself | ✓ fixed price | ✓ audits, quote-based |
| White-label for agencies | – | co-branded reports on our roadmap | enterprise contracts |
| Published pricing | free | ✓ published on this site | quote only |
| Finding traceability (criterion, page, selector, scan date) | varies by tool | ✓ every finding | ✓ |
What about accessibility widgets?
We do not sell overlays. In April 2025 the US FTC ordered overlay vendor accessiBe to pay $1 million and barred it for 20 years from claiming automated compliance. The European Disability Forum and IAAP stated jointly in 2023 that overlays do not make a website accessible or compliant with European legislation. The European Commission's own guidance is blunter still: overlays "are not an appropriate solution" and "it is best to fix accessibility issues at their source." A report tells you what is actually there; a widget does not change what is actually there.
Frequently asked
We already use axe. Why Wexlo?
Same engine, plus the evidence layer: a client-ready report, a draft statement, monitoring, and manual verification when you need it. Co-branded reports for your clients are on our roadmap.
Does a Wexlo report make us compliant?
No, and be wary of anyone who promises that. We report findings with a certainty label per finding; manual verification exists as a service for exactly the criteria automated scanning can't judge.
Can we hand a Wexlo report to a regulator (e.g. the Dutch ACM) as evidence?
Every finding traces back to a specific WCAG criterion, page, element and scan date, so you can show exactly what was checked and when. That is evidentiary structure, not a certification; whether it satisfies a specific regulator's request is between you and them.
Can automated scanning find everything?
No tool can. Today's scanner automatically tests 30 of the 50 WCAG 2.1 AA criteria, in full or in part; that figure is published per report from a single source of truth in the product, not from marketing.