Comparisons

accessiBe alternative — source code fixes, not an overlay

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The short version

accessiBe's accessWidget is an overlay: a JavaScript plug-in that loads in your visitor's browser and adjusts the page as it renders. adasafe is a scanner and fix generator: it tests your live pages against WCAG 2.2, hands you code fixes to apply to your own source, re-tests each one, and publishes a timestamped record of the result. Nothing adasafe produces runs on your site.

What accessWidget actually is

accessWidget is installed as a single script tag. Once loaded, it applies changes to the rendered page — ARIA attributes, keyboard handling, contrast and text controls behind a toolbar. accessiBe describes it as auditing and remediating accessibility issues in adherence to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

The architectural point is not that this does nothing. It is that the changes live in the browser at runtime. The HTML, CSS and JavaScript you deploy are unchanged, and those are what an auditor requests, what a VPAT documents, and what a plaintiff's expert inspects.

The FTC order, and why it matters to a buyer

On 22 April 2025 the Federal Trade Commission approved a final order requiring accessiBe to pay $1 million, on a 3-0 Commission vote. The order bars the company from representing that its automated products can make any website WCAG-compliant, or ensure continued compliance over time, without evidence to support it.

The complaint also alleged that accessiBe formatted third-party articles and reviews to look like independent opinions while failing to disclose its material connections to them. The order separately bars misrepresenting endorsers as independent or impartial.

Read it as a statement about the whole category rather than one vendor: the claim the FTC acted against — that an automated product delivers compliance — is one no automated tool can substantiate, including ours.

Does an overlay stop a lawsuit?

The filing data says having one is not protective. EcomBack's analysis of Q1 2026 US ADA website lawsuits found 25.55% of cases — 265 filings — targeted sites that were running an accessibility overlay at the time.

That is a correlation, not a causal finding, and it partly reflects how widely overlays are deployed. What it does not support is the idea that installing one removes the risk.

How the two compare

  • Where the change lives. accessWidget changes the rendered page in the visitor's browser. adasafe gives you fixes you apply to your source, so the change ships with your code.
  • Verification. adasafe re-runs each generated fix against your live page, up to three times, to confirm it resolves the issue without introducing another. We could not verify an equivalent published step for accessWidget.
  • Evidence. adasafe publishes a public, timestamped, tamper-evident proof record you can hand to a lawyer, insurer or client.
  • Pricing model. accessWidget is priced on monthly visits, estimated from Similarweb data: Micro $59/mo, Growth $179/mo, Scale $479/mo, then custom above 100,000 visits. adasafe is flat — $39, $129 or $299 a month regardless of traffic, plus a $99 one-off verified scan.

When accessiBe is the better choice

If you have no engineering capacity at all — no developer, no deploy process, no way to change a template — then a script tag is something you can actually install, and a report full of code fixes is not. adasafe assumes someone can apply a patch. If nobody can, we are the wrong tool, and a widget plus a manual audit from a specialist firm is a more honest path than buying a scanner you cannot act on.

What adasafe does not do

  • We do not make your site compliant, and we do not claim any tool can. Automated testing catches a subset of WCAG failures; the rest need manual and assistive-technology testing by a person.
  • We do not apply fixes for you. You review and ship them, which is the point — it is your code, and it stays reviewable.
  • We do not sell a legal guarantee. A proof record documents what was tested, when, and what the result was. It is evidence of diligence, not immunity.

Sources

See what a scan actually reports on your site

adasafe scans a live page and lists the WCAG 2.2 failures it finds, with the element and the fix. No widget, no script to install.