How Much Does a WCAG Audit Cost?

13 October 2026 · AI Web Page SEO

A WCAG audit costs from free for an automated WCAG 2.2 check of a page (ours is £2.49) to roughly £1,500 to £5,000 or more for a manual WCAG 2.2 AA audit of a typical UK website. Make sure it tests WCAG 2.2, the current version, at Level AA, covers all 55 Level A and AA criteria, includes the pages people actually use, and reports which criteria could not be tested.

A WCAG audit is an accessibility audit measured against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the international standard written by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). In the UK it costs from free for an automated audit of a page to £5,000 or more for a full manual audit of a website. What you are really paying for is which version and level of WCAG is tested, how many of its criteria a person checks by hand, and how much of your site is covered.

The short answer

Automated WCAG 2.2 audit: free to a few pounds per page. Ours costs £2.49.
Manual WCAG 2.2 AA audit by a specialist: roughly £1,500 to £5,000 or more for a typical site, based on UK providers' published prices in October 2026.
Single-page manual review: from around £350.

For a breakdown of UK providers' prices, see How much does an accessibility audit cost in the UK?

Which WCAG are you paying for?

The version

WCAG 2.2 is the current version, published by W3C in October 2023. It added criteria that earlier versions did not have, including Focus Not Obscured (a focused link must not be hidden behind a sticky header or cookie banner), Target Size (controls big enough to tap), Dragging Movements, Consistent Help, Redundant Entry and Accessible Authentication. GOV.UK guidance asks public sector websites to meet WCAG 2.2 AA. An audit quoted against WCAG 2.1 is checking an older standard and will not test those criteria.

The level

WCAG has three levels: A, AA and AAA. Level AA is the one laws and guidance point to: it means meeting every Level A and every Level AA success criterion, 55 in WCAG 2.2. Level AAA is stricter, for example 7:1 text contrast instead of 4.5:1, and W3C itself does not recommend requiring AAA for whole sites. An audit that includes AAA costs more and reports items that are not required.

What a WCAG audit should test

Whoever does it, a WCAG 2.2 AA audit should cover all 55 Level A and AA criteria and say, for each one, whether it passed, failed or could not be tested. The criteria fall into four groups, known as POUR:

Perceivable: text alternatives for images, captions for video, contrast of text and of control edges, content that still works when zoomed or on a narrow phone screen.
Operable: everything works with a keyboard, no keyboard traps, focus is visible and not hidden, nothing flashes, there is more than one way to find pages, controls are big enough to tap.
Understandable: the page language is set, navigation is consistent, form fields have labels and errors are explained.
Robust: every control has a name, role and value that assistive technology can read, and status messages are announced.

Automated or manual?

Software can test many criteria reliably and in seconds, especially when it loads the page in a real browser after its scripts have run, the way visitors see it. Our audit does that, tests the page with keyboard and phone-width checks as well as code rules, and checks two more pages for consistent navigation and help. Of the 55 Level A and AA criteria, it tests 35 and marks 20 for a person to check, such as whether alt text describes each image well or whether error messages are clear.

A manual audit covers those 20 too, using screen readers, keyboard testing and expert judgement. That is why it costs more, and why it is the only way to state full conformance. The sensible order is automated first, fix what it finds, then manual: the specialist's time goes on the criteria only a person can judge.

Five questions to ask before you pay for a WCAG audit

Which version and level? WCAG 2.2 Level AA is the current benchmark.
Which pages or journeys? Make sure the pages people actually use, such as sign-up, booking or checkout, are in the sample.
What is tested by hand? Ask which criteria a person checks and with which assistive technology.
What does the report say about each criterion? A good report lists all 55, including those that could not be tested, so "not tested" is never mistaken for "passed".
Is a re-test included? Fixes need checking, and some providers charge again for it.

Sources

Try it yourself: Accessibility Audit · Example WCAG 2.2 report

Frequently asked questions

Should a WCAG audit test version 2.1 or 2.2?

WCAG 2.2, published by W3C in October 2023, is the current version and the standard GOV.UK guidance gives for public sector websites. It adds criteria that 2.1 does not have, such as Focus Not Obscured, Target Size, Consistent Help, Redundant Entry and Accessible Authentication. An audit quoted against 2.1 will not test those new criteria at all, so ask the provider for WCAG 2.2 Level AA.

Do I need my WCAG audit to include Level AAA?

Usually not. Laws and guidance point to Level AA, which means meeting all 55 Level A and AA criteria in WCAG 2.2. Level AAA is stricter, for example 7:1 text contrast instead of 4.5:1, and W3C itself does not recommend requiring AAA for whole sites. Including AAA costs more and reports items that are not required, though some audits list them as optional notes.

Can an automated tool do a full WCAG audit?

It can test many criteria reliably, especially when it loads the page in a real browser after its scripts have run. Our audit tests 35 of the 55 Level A and AA criteria and marks the other 20 for a person to check, such as whether alt text describes each image well. Full conformance needs a person to check those too, so automated first and manual second is the sensible order.