Your business needs to have an accessible website. Why? Because you need to ensure that all of your customers can actually visit and use your site the way you want them to. How can they buy your products or view your content otherwise? By making your site more accessible you’ll increase the number of people who can visit your site. On the other hand, having an inaccessible site may anger your customers causing them to log off and never return, or, in a worst-case scenario, you may be sued for failing to comply with accessibility standards under The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). If you have a website and you’re based in the United States, you need to be well versed in digital accessibility and what it means for you, your business, and your website.
Owning a business doesn’t mean you’re a web engineer or digital accessibility expert. In the old days, making the right changes to make your site compliant used to be tedious and difficult. When running a business, digital accessibility isn’t something that’s at the forefront of your mind. Luckily, technology has lent a helping hand. Two digital accessibility companies, UserWay and accessiBe, have come to the rescue and released AI-based plug-ins to help websites get compliant.
While they are similar, there are differences between the two widgets that are worth noting, especially depending on your own individual needs and preferences. In our opinion, one widget stands slightly above the other. Please read on to find out which one comes out on top.
UserWay vs. accessiBe Comparison
To start, it’s worth noting that both widgets use artificial intelligence and automation. It’s why the process works so seamlessly to set up and use. For example, artificial intelligence helps reduce the effort it takes to set up by quickly analyzing your site and implementing changes. Machine learning also allows the widgets to capture a website’s current layout and design so that it can figure out what needs to be changed.
| Monthly Pricing | $49 / $129 / $329 | $49 / $149 / $199 / $349 |
| Current Discounts | 20% OFF Any Order Must Enter Code GRANDS21 | N/A |
| Get Discounts | GET DISCOUNT | SEE PRICES |
| Pricing Model | Based on page views | Based on total pages |
| Total Plans | 3 | 4 |
| ADA & WCAG Compliance | ||
| Accessibility Statement | ||
| Litigation Support | ||
| Free Solution | ||
| Customizable UI/UX | ||
| Continuous Updates | ||
| Functionality | No special key-press required | Requires special key-press to enable overlay |
| Full Review | Read our Userway Review | Read our accessiBe Review |
Popularity & Number of Users
We think it’s a good idea to compare the popularity of each widget, as well as their features, simply because it offers a good indication of who uses the widgets, what reputation they have, and how many users they serve.
UserWay is hands-down the most well-known. It has serviced over 700,000 websites including the sites of very large companies like Duracell, eBay, FedEx, and Coca-Cola, as well as many small and medium-sized companies. AcessiBe has had great success as well. It has helped over 100,000 businesses to meet ADA compliance requirements, and has serviced some larger enterprises too like Knoll, Benadryl, Energizer, and Fiverr.
Integration
Both UserWay and accessiBe widgets are very easy to integrate with your website, which is a great feature if you’re not technologically minded.
When we tested both, we discovered that their integration methods are very much alike. The process will vary depending on who builds your website, but it should look something like this:
- Go to your settings and locate the “Add New Plug-In” button.
- Find the UserWay or accessiBe option. Select “Install Now.”
- Finish by registering your plug-in. You’ll likely have to provide your name, email, and site URL.
- Save your work.
This is a godsend to anyone who’s not great with technology. For instance, you can add a plug-in to site providers, such as WordPress, in a simple few clicks, making your website fully compliant in a matter of days.
After getting to know both products so well, there’s no clear winner for us in this regard — both are great and offer similar features, such as a wonderful installation experience. We also really enjoyed the addition of being able to customize user interfaces on both platforms. These can be added through a simple plug-in or copying and pasting some JavaScript.
Automation
accessiBe’s AI means that it’s fully automatic. Shortly after you’ve installed it, the AI will begin to scan your website for digital accessibility violations. In around two days, your site will be certified for compliance.
It’s worth remembering though that any changes you make to your website could cause new accessibility issues which may violate the ADA. While, you shouldn’t let this stop you from updating your site, it’s worth keeping in mind so that you can maintain your accountability plug-in subscription. Both of these widgets will automatically check for any violations once you’ve updated your site.
UserWay’s widget also scans your site for accessibility issues after installation. However, UserWay offers an additional service to accessibility compliance in how it finds accessibility violations — it offers manual detection.
Although some users prefer not to use the manual option as they feel it’s too much hassle, it’s always there if you want the peace of mind of being able to check yourself. For instance, if your company’s accessibility plan has an additional layer of review that includes user interaction. If you feel that you don’t need the manual option, you can rely on its automatic abilities without any problems. The manual option will not provide you with daily reports, but you’re able to check for any accessibility issues yourself if you’d like.
UserWay’s widget is not 100% accurate, but it comes close. Sometimes it will detect bogus violations. If that occurs you have the option of correcting them at your convenience.
Pricing Systems
The pricing systems for each platform differ. Both widgets essentially offer the same features, but the difference in pricing depends on the size of the website. For example, in UserWay’s two top packages, its customers can become UserWay account managers. This may be useful if you run a large business that handles a big website. All accessiBe’s plans have the same features.
AccessiBe: accessiBe’s pricing plan is based on how many pages their websites have. Its pricing plan is detailed below:
- Standard: $49 per month for websites under 1,000 unique pages
- Large: $149 per month for websites under 10,000 unique pages
- Huge: $199 per month for websites under 100,000 unique pages
- Jumbo: $349 per month for websites under 1,000,000 unique pages
UserWay: On the other hand, UserWay bases its pricing on how many monthly page views their customers’ websites receive. Its pricing plan is detailed below:
- Small Business: $49 per month for websites with up to 100,000 monthly page views
- Medium Business: $129 per month for websites with up to 1,000,000 monthly page views
- Large Business: $329 per month for websites with up to 10,000,000 monthly page views
UserWay is slightly more affordable. It works especially well if you’re a medium-sized business that falls into the middle-tier of monthly page views. Both companies offer you the option of paying for your subscription once per year, instead of once per month or per week. If you opt for the annual subscription, you get a nice 20% discount!
Also, both UserWay and accessiBe are now offering free trials. UserWay’s free trial period is slightly longer at ten days, whereas accessiBe offers a seven-day trial. Still, both of those give you more than enough time to choose which widgets work for you and your business.
Which Web Accessibility Solution Is Better?
Both widgets are superb for making your site more accessible. But, at the end of the day, we feel that UserWay rises ever so slightly above its competitor. Due to UserWay’s affordability, manual detection feature, and ease of use. Both widgets have excellent industry reputations and are easy to set up, so no matter which one you choose it’ll be beneficial for your business.
