ADA compliance consultants for websites compared
An "ADA compliance consultant" for a website is a person or firm that tests your pages against WCAG, explains the fixes, reviews designs before they are built and trains the people who edit the site. The ADA sets no detailed web standard for businesses, DOJ points to WCAG as helpful guidance, and no one certifies a site, so what you are buying is expertise that lasts beyond one report. Here are six web accessibility consultants compared on what their own pages offer, with three picks by use case. If you only need one report by a date, compare ADA compliance audit services instead.
The verdict by use case
Best overall
Its own pages cover the whole job: roadmaps, design reviews, on-call guidance, training, fixes in your source code, an ACR and help after a demand letter.
Best for a WordPress site that needs the fixes made
It advises, fixes WordPress sites in their source code on monthly hour plans, and has blind and visually impaired testers check the result.
Best for a few hours of expert advice
Its HelpDesk sells advice and design and coding reviews by the hour, from a nonprofit that tests to WCAG 2.1 AA.
Side by side
Scroll sideways to see all vendors.
| Requirement | Knowbility | WebAIM | Vispero | Deque | Equalize Digital | Promet Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advice by the hour or on a small monthly plan | Yes | Not stated | Check with the vendor | Not stated | Yes | Not stated |
| Training for your own team | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Design reviews before anything is built | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not stated |
| An accessibility policy, plan or roadmap | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Names the WCAG version and level it tests to | Yes | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Check with the vendor | Yes |
| Testing by people with disabilities | Yes | Not stated | Yes | Check with the vendor | Yes | Not stated |
| Makes the fixes in your source code, not an overlay | Check with the vendor | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Writes an ACR (a completed VPAT®) for your product | Not stated | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not stated |
| Works with your CMS | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | Yes |
| Help after a demand letter | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | Not stated | Not stated |
The vendors
Knowbility
- What it is
- An Austin, Texas nonprofit that began as a training organisation. Its HelpDesk sells expert advice by the hour, and it also audits, trains and helps write accessibility policy.
- Who it fits
- A small business that wants a few hours of expert advice, a design review or a question answered, without a long contract.
- Advice by the hour or on a small monthly planYes
- Design reviews before anything is builtYes
- Names the WCAG version and levelYes
- Testing by people with disabilitiesYes
- Makes the fixes in your source codeCheck with the vendor
WebAIM
- What it is
- The Utah State University team behind the WAVE checker. Its consulting covers technical advice, design reviews, policy and procurement, and it can help a vendor write its ACR.
- Who it fits
- A team that wants to learn to do the work itself, from someone who explains the reasons behind each fix.
- Training for your own teamYes
- Design reviews before anything is builtYes
- An accessibility policy, plan or roadmapYes
- Writes an ACR (a completed VPAT®) for your productYes
- Makes the fixes in your source codeNot stated
Vispero
- What it is
- The company behind the JAWS screen reader. Its services page offers audits, an ACR, a practical plan, role-based training and long-term program support.
- Who it fits
- A business building an accessibility program over years, or a software vendor that needs an ACR for a buyer.
- Training for your own teamYes
- An accessibility plan or roadmapYes
- Testing by people with disabilitiesYes
- Writes an ACR (a completed VPAT®) for your productYes
- Makes the fixes in your source codeNot stated
Deque
- What it is
- A large accessibility firm, maker of the axe testing tools. Its consultants offer roadmaps, design reviews, on-call guidance and training, and its developers can fix your source code.
- Who it fits
- A business that wants one firm for advice, fixes and an ACR, or help responding to a demand letter alongside its lawyer.
- Design reviews before anything is builtYes
- Makes the fixes in your source codeYes
- Writes an ACR (a completed VPAT®) for your productYes
- Help after a demand letterYes
- Names the WCAG version and levelNot stated
Equalize Digital
- What it is
- A WordPress accessibility agency, maker of the Accessibility Checker plugin. It audits, fixes WordPress sites in their source code on monthly hour plans, and trains the people who edit them.
- Who it fits
- An owner of a WordPress site who wants the advice and the fixes from the same small team.
- Advice by the hour or on a small monthly planYes
- Makes the fixes in your source codeYes
- Testing by people with disabilitiesYes
- Training for your own teamYes
- Works with your CMSYes
Promet Source
- What it is
- A Drupal and WordPress agency whose ADA consulting is aimed at governments and colleges. Its page says the team includes IAAP CPACC and CPWA holders and DHS Trusted Testers.
- Who it fits
- A city, county or public college working to the Title II rule, or a supplier building sites for one.
- Names the WCAG version and levelYes
- An accessibility plan or roadmapYes
- Makes the fixes in your source codeYes
- Training for your own teamYes
- Writes an ACR (a completed VPAT®) for your productNot stated
Accessibility consultant or audit: which one you need
An audit is one report: a person tests a sample of your pages against WCAG on a date and writes down what fails. A consultant is the person you keep asking afterwards. All six firms above also audit; what sets accessibility consulting services apart is the work around the report, such as reviewing a design before it is built, training whoever edits the pages, helping write a policy or an ACR, and answering your developer's question the week it comes up.
A redesign is coming
A design review before any code is written catches a problem while it is still cheap to change. Five of the six firms above name design reviews on their own pages.
Several people edit the site
New pages bring new failures: an image with no alt text, a heading picked for its size. Training the editors stops them at the source; our alt text examples are a fair first lesson.
A buyer asks for an ACR
A school, city or agency buying your software may ask for an Accessibility Conformance Report. Firms that only write the report are compared in VPAT and ACR writing services compared.
A demand letter has arrived
Call your lawyer first. A consultant or auditor then shows what is actually wrong, and the demand letter response checklist keeps the steps in order.
If all you need is one report by a date, a consultant is more than you need; compare ADA compliance audit services instead, and for what either one costs, read what ADA website compliance costs.
An ADA compliance consultant for a building or for a website
The phrase covers two trades. California's Certified Access Specialist (CASp) program, run by the Division of the State Architect, is for people who can inspect buildings and sites for compliance with state and federal construction-related accessibility standards (see the CASp certification page). That is ramps, doors and restrooms. A CASp inspects your premises, not your web pages.
A website consultant works to WCAG. DOJ has no regulation setting detailed web standards for businesses open to the public; its position is that the ADA's general rules still apply to websites. Businesses have flexibility in how they comply; DOJ names WCAG and the Section 508 Standards as "helpful guidance". So the consultant's job is to help your site meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA or WCAG 2.2 Level AA and keep it there, which what the ADA asks of a business website sets out in full.
No one certifies a website
No federal body certifies a website as ADA compliant. When a firm offers to certify your site, that is the firm's own statement about the pages it tested. It can be worth having, but it is not a government certificate.
Credentials worth asking a WCAG consultant about
A credential does not prove skill on your kind of site, but it does show training. These are the ones you will see on a consultant's page.
- CPACC. IAAP's CPACC (Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies) is its foundational certification.
- WAS. IAAP's WAS (Web Accessibility Specialist) is its technical certification; candidates need at least 3 years of hands-on experience.
- CPWA. CPWA (Certified Professional in Web Accessibility) is IAAP's highest credential, awarded for passing both CPACC and WAS.
- Trusted Tester. The DHS Trusted Tester process is a manual, code-inspection test method for Section 508 conformance; DHS trains and certifies testers, and agencies that adopt it accept results only from certified Trusted Testers.
IAAP runs a public Certified Professional Directory; certificants choose whether they appear, so absence proves nothing. Neither DHS's Trusted Tester page nor Section508.gov's names a public list of certified Trusted Testers; ask a tester for their certificate. Both programs are on our evaluation tools and auditor lists page. A credential shows what a person has studied, not that they have worked on a site like yours, so ask for a sample report as well.
What to ask on the first call
Three of the firms above, Deque, Equalize Digital and Promet Source, offer a free first consultation on their pages. Use a first call to find out what you would actually get, in words you can hold the firm to later.
| Ask | A useful answer |
|---|---|
| Which WCAG version and level do you work to? | A version and a level, such as WCAG 2.2 Level AA, written into the proposal. Only two of the six pages above say it. |
| Who will I talk to, and how do I reach them between meetings? | A named person and a way to reach them, such as email, a booked call or a block of hours, rather than a ticket queue. |
| Do you make the fixes, or tell my developer how? | Either can be right, and the answer should be plain. If the firm makes them, they go into your source code and a person checks them again afterwards. |
| Will you train the people who edit our pages? | Training on the tools they actually use, such as your site builder's editor, with your own pages as the examples. |
| Do you sell or recommend an overlay widget? | No. The fixes belong in your code; our guide to accessibility overlays explains why. |
| What will we hold at the end? | The files you agreed: a report, a plan, an ACR, a public accessibility statement. You keep them whoever you hire next. |
How we compared
Vendor pages read on
We listed firms whose own pages sell accessibility consulting beyond a single audit (advice, design reviews, training or a plan) and which sell no overlay widget, their own or a group company's. Every status word comes from the firm's own pages as read that day. Yes means the page says it. Not stated means the page does not say it, which is not the same as no. Check with the vendor means the page says part of it.
Prices are left out on purpose; ask each firm to quote on your own list of needs. Credentials and the official tester lists are on our evaluation tools and auditor lists page.
Verdicts are editorial: no vendor can buy a verdict position or displace another vendor.
No overlay widget is listed. By an overlay we mean a third-party widget or toolbar script sold as making a site conform without changing its source. In April 2025 the FTC approved a final order that bars one overlay vendor from claiming, without evidence to support it, that its automated products can make any website WCAG-compliant. Read the FTC's announcement of the order.
Nothing here is legal advice. For a specific case, ask a lawyer.
Questions
What does an ADA compliance consultant do for a website?
A good web accessibility consultant tests your pages against WCAG by hand, explains each failure and its fix, reviews new designs before they are built, trains the people who edit the site, and helps write the papers a buyer or a lawyer may ask for: a policy, an ACR, a public accessibility statement. Ask that a person does the testing: DOJ says automated checkers and overlays "need to be used carefully" and a clean report does not mean a site is accessible; pair them with a manual check.
Can a consultant certify that my website is ADA compliant?
No. DOJ has no regulation setting detailed web standards for businesses open to the public; its position is that the ADA's general rules still apply to websites. Some firms issue their own paper once the fixes are checked: WebAIM can publish a statement of your site's substantial conformance to WCAG on a specific date, and Knowbility issues a letter of validation for the screens it examined. That is the firm's word on the pages it tested, not a government certificate.
How is Section 508 consulting different?
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal agencies to make the ICT they develop, buy, maintain or use accessible. It does not apply directly to private websites. The Section 508 Standards incorporate WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA by reference (not 2.1 or 2.2). So Section 508 consulting is mostly for vendors selling software to agencies, and the deliverable is usually an ACR: Section508.gov says a vendor selling to the U.S. federal government must use the Revised Section 508 edition or the INT edition of the VPAT®. The background is in what is Section 508.
Do we still need a consultant after an audit?
Not always. If the site rarely changes and your developer can work from the report, an audit and a retest may be all you need. A consultant earns the fee when the site keeps changing: new pages every week, a redesign on the way, or a product that buyers ask about. Our seven-step plan for making a website accessible shows which steps an owner can keep in house.
We have received a demand letter. Do we call a consultant or a lawyer first?
The lawyer. A consultant then shows what is actually wrong with the site, which you will both need; of the six firms here, only Deque names demand letter response on its page. Keep a dated record of every step; the demand letter response checklist lists them in order.
This is general information, not legal advice. For your own situation, ask a lawyer.
Related
- WCAG audit services comparedWho audits a small-business site by hand against WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 AA, verdict by use case.
- VPAT and ACR writing services comparedFirms that test a software product and write its accessibility conformance report.
- What ADA website compliance costs12 min read
- How to make a website ADA compliant9 min read