Short answer
A fair AODA website compliance cost is what it takes to test your unique page templates by hand and fix the code, and not a dollar more. For most small and mid-sized business sites that is a one-time project fee, not a monthly subscription. Published 2026 price guides put a manual audit alone at roughly $2,500 to $10,000, with the fixes billed on top. You can do better than that if you choose a hands-on specialist over a large agency.
If you have asked around, you have probably heard everything from "$49 a month" to "$40,000." Both numbers are real. They are just prices for very different things. Here is how to tell them apart, and what a fair quote looks like.
What are you actually paying for?
Proper AODA work has three parts, and a good quote covers all of them:
- The audit. Automated scans with tools like WAVE and axe, followed by manual testing with a keyboard and a screen reader.
- The fixes. Changes to your actual HTML, CSS and JavaScript so the problems are gone, not hidden.
- The re-test. Checking every fix, and writing down the results so you have a record.
A lot of the confusing pricing comes from providers selling only one of the three. An audit on its own leaves you with a long report and a second invoice from a developer. A widget skips all three.
What does AODA website compliance cost in 2026?
| Option | Typical published pricing | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Overlay widget | A monthly or yearly subscription, forever | A script on top of your site. Your code stays broken. |
| Automated scan only | Free to a few hundred dollars | A list of the issues machines can detect, which is only part of the picture. |
| Manual audit only | About $2,500 to $10,000 for a small or mid-sized site | A thorough report. Fixing is extra. |
| Agency audit plus remediation | Often $10,000 to $40,000 or more | The full job, with agency overhead built in. |
| Hands-on specialist (us) | One fixed quote, built to beat the agency number | Audit, code fixes and re-testing in a single price. |
Ranges are drawn from pricing guides published by accessibility firms in 2026 and will vary with scope.
What makes the price go up or down?
- Templates, not pages. A 500-page site built on six templates is a smaller job than a 40-page site where every page is custom. Fixing a template fixes every page that uses it.
- Interactive parts. Checkouts, booking tools, mega menus, sliders and popups take the most testing.
- Your platform. A well-kept WordPress site is quicker to fix than an old custom build nobody has touched in years.
- How far off you are. A site with good bones needs a tune-up. A site with none needs more.
Is a cheap overlay ever the smart choice?
It is the cheapest line on the invoice and the most expensive over time. You pay every month, the underlying issues never get fixed, and you still do not have a compliant website. In 2025 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission ordered overlay vendor accessiBe to pay $1 million over claims that its widget could make any site WCAG compliant. We explain why overlays fall short here.
How do I know a quote is fair?
Ask five questions:
- Does the price include the fixes, or just a report?
- Is there manual testing with a keyboard and screen reader?
- Will each fix be re-tested?
- Do I get written documentation at the end?
- Is it a one-time fee, or am I signing up to pay forever?
If the answer to any of the first four is no, you are not comparing like with like.
How we price it
We look at your real site, count the unique templates, and give you one fixed number that covers the audit, the code fixes and the re-test. We keep our team small on purpose, so you are paying for the work and not the overhead. If you already have a written quote for the same manual scope, send it along and we will do our best to beat it.
Want to know where your site stands?
Send us your web address. We will test it by hand and reply with a fixed quote for real, code-level fixes. No overlay, no subscription.
This article is general information for Ontario organizations, not legal advice. For advice on your specific obligations, speak with a lawyer.