WordPress accessibility audit: what it costs and what you get
A WordPress accessibility audit for a small business site usually costs $1,000–$3,000 for a 1–10 page site and $2,000–$7,000 for a larger one when a specialist tests by hand, and $0–$300 a month when it is an automated scan only. The audit finds the errors; fixing them is a separate bill. This guide explains the four kinds of WordPress accessibility audit, what each delivers, which problems come from your theme, plugins or content, and what to ask before you pay.
What a WordPress accessibility audit is
An audit checks your pages against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the standard courts and settlement agreements point to in website cases. In practice that means WCAG 2.1 Level AA, and newer audits often test 2.2 AA, which adds a few checks. The output is a report: each failure, where it is, which WCAG rule it breaks and how to fix it. Our guide website accessibility audit cost covers the price tiers for any platform; this page is about what changes on WordPress.
WordPress matters because a site there is built from layers. The core software is mostly sound. The theme controls colours, menus and headings. Plugins add forms, sliders, popups and booking widgets. And you or your staff add the content: images, links, PDFs. An error can come from any layer, and the layer decides who fixes it.
The four kinds of WordPress accessibility audit
| Kind | Typical price | What you get | What it misses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free scan (WAVE, axe, Lighthouse) | $0 | List of errors on one page at a time | Most keyboard and screen reader problems; no fix guidance for your theme |
| Plugin scanner (Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker and similar) | Free tier; paid plans listed at about $75 a month or $750 a year for small business | Scans posts and pages inside the editor, flags errors as you write | Needs someone to read and act on it; automated only |
| Automated audit with a written report | About $50–$300 a month for monitoring; one-off reports from $0 to a few hundred dollars | Many pages scanned, errors grouped by type | The checks a program cannot judge: meaning, order, keyboard flow |
| Written fix list for your site | Site Record: $499 once | Each error with the exact change, for 25 pages, rechecked monthly for 12 months | Does not make the changes for you |
| Manual expert audit | $1,000–$3,000 for 1–10 pages; $2,000–$7,000 for typical small sites | A person tests with keyboard and screen reader, plus a report | Nothing, but you still pay separately to fix |
Prices from Equalize Digital's public pricing page and from vendor pages found for this search, 2026-11-15. They are quotes from sellers, so treat them as ranges, and check the current page before you buy.
One often-quoted figure is that automated tools find only part of the WCAG problems, because things like whether alt text is meaningful or whether a menu makes sense with a screen reader need a human. That is why a scan is a first step and not a clean bill of health.
What a WordPress audit usually finds
Across small WordPress sites the same short list repeats. Knowing it lets you check your own site in an hour.
- Low colour contrast. Theme palettes use light grey text or white on a pale accent. Normal text needs 4.5 to 1 against its background; large text and button borders need 3 to 1. Our WCAG colour contrast checker guide shows how to test a pair.
- Images with no alt text, or "image1.jpg". Content problem; the person adding the media fixes it in the Media Library.
- Form fields with no label. Often a contact-form plugin using placeholder text only.
- Links that say only "click here" or "read more". Theme blog templates are common culprits.
- No visible focus outline. Many themes remove it with one line of CSS, so keyboard users cannot see where they are.
- Menus that a keyboard cannot open. Hover-only dropdowns and mobile "hamburger" buttons without a name.
- Skipped heading levels. A theme that styles h4 as a subtitle under an h1.
- Sliders and popups that trap focus or cannot be paused. Plugin problem; often the fix is to remove it.
- Missing page language, empty buttons and duplicate IDs. Theme or builder output.
Theme, plugin or content: who fixes what
This is the part generic audits skip. When the report says "contrast fails on the button", ask where the colour is set.
- Theme setting or Customizer: change it yourself in minutes (brand colours, link underline, focus style).
- Theme code: a child theme or custom CSS fixes it so an update does not undo it. A web person does this in an hour or two.
- Plugin: check for a setting, update, or a replacement plugin. If the developer will not fix it, swapping it is the honest option.
- Content: alt text, link wording, headings and PDF files are yours, and a report tells you which items.
That is also why an overlay plugin is a weak answer: it runs on top of this stack in the visitor's browser and leaves the layers unchanged. We explain the trade in WordPress accessibility plugin vs fixing the theme.
What does the audit not cover?
Read the scope in the quote. Common limits: only the pages listed; no checkout or login screens; no PDFs; only the desktop view; no retest after fixes. For a shop with WooCommerce, the cart and checkout are the pages that matter most, and many audits leave them out unless you ask. Get the page list and the number of retests in writing.
How to prepare before you hire anyone
- Pick the pages. Home, contact, your main service or product, a blog post, the booking or checkout page, and any page with a form. Eight to twelve pages cover most template types.
- Run a free scan on each. Install WAVE or axe DevTools, note the error counts. See website accessibility checker free for how.
- List your plugins and theme with versions. An auditor needs these to say which layer owns the error.
- Try the keyboard. Press Tab through the home page; if you cannot see where you are or cannot open the menu, say so in the brief.
- Decide what you will fix yourself. Colours and alt text cost nothing but time.
Questions to ask a WordPress accessibility audit provider
- Which WCAG version and level do you test, and which pages?
- Is the testing manual, automated or both? Do you use a screen reader?
- Will the report name the theme file, plugin or setting for each error, not just the page?
- Is one retest after fixes included?
- Do you also fix, and what is the hourly rate? Typical specialist rates are $100–$200 an hour.
- Will you promise a result? If the answer is "guaranteed compliant", walk away; no honest provider can promise a lawsuit-proof site.
Audit first, or fix first?
Running a store on Shopify instead? See ADA compliance Shopify.
If your site has fewer than ten pages and you can edit your theme, run a free scan and fix the common list above before paying for a manual audit; an expert's time is better spent on keyboard and screen reader problems than on colours. If the site takes bookings or payments, or you have received a demand letter, get the manual audit. A letter is a legal matter: talk to an attorney first, since we are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. Costs after the audit are in website accessibility remediation cost, and the whole budget picture is in ADA website compliance cost.
A worked example: a six-page salon site
A salon runs WordPress with a purchased theme, a booking plugin and a gallery slider. A free scan on the home page shows 14 errors: nine contrast failures from a pale gold button colour, three unlabelled form fields in the booking form and two empty links on the social icons. The owner changes the button colour in the Customizer (about five minutes), adds the labels in the plugin settings, and names the icons in the theme's menu. On the next scan the home page shows two errors, both inside the slider. The owner removes the slider. A manual audit of the booking flow is then the only paid item, and it asks about the calendar's keyboard use. This is typical: most of the early errors are cheap, the hard ones live in one plugin.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a WordPress accessibility audit cost?
Manual audits for small sites are quoted at about $1,000–$3,000 for 1–10 pages and $2,000–$7,000 for larger small-business sites. Automated scans cost $0–$300 a month. A written fix list from a scan is $499 with us.
Is there a free WordPress accessibility audit?
You can run free scans with WAVE, axe or Lighthouse on any page. They are not a full audit, but they find the most common errors.
Does an accessibility plugin replace an audit?
No. A scanner plugin helps you find errors as you write; an overlay plugin changes the page in the browser. Neither tests with a keyboard and a screen reader the way an audit does.
How long does an audit take?
Providers commonly quote one to three weeks for a small site, depending on pages. Ask for a date in writing.
Do I need an audit to be ADA compliant?
No law names an audit as a requirement. An audit gives you a dated record of what was found and fixed, which is useful. See ADA compliance for small business website for what applies.
Who fixes the errors, the auditor or my web person?
Either. Ask the auditor to write each fix at the level of your theme, plugin or content, so a web person can apply it without guessing.
Sources
- Equalize Digital, Accessibility Checker pricing and "The small business accessibility playbook for WordPress" (checked 2026-11-15).
- Digital A11y, WordPress accessibility services page (checked 2026-11-15).
- accessible.org, accessibility audit pricing (checked 2026-11-15).
- W3C, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 and 2.2.