accessiBe alternative
The FTC ordered accessiBe to pay $1 million in April 2025 and barred it from claiming its widget makes any site WCAG-compliant. The 20-year consent decree, the buyer angle, and the year-five cost math.
Site Brace alternatives to accessibility overlays
If you are comparing Site Brace against an accessibility overlay vendor (accessiBe, UserWay, AudioEye, EqualWeb), this index is the per-vendor honest read. Each comparison covers what the vendor actually sells, the recent legal and regulatory context (including the FTC's April 2025 $1 million settlement with accessiBe), the year-one through year-five cost math, and the cases where the overlay might still be your right answer.
One-line summary: Overlays are runtime widgets. They do not modify your code. Site Brace runs a one-time WCAG 2.1 AA audit for $149 with 12 re-scans included over 12 months, and the fix list lives in your source. If you are weighing $490 to $1,490 a year for an overlay against $149 once for an audit, start with the per-vendor pages below.
Per-vendor comparisons
UserWay alternative
UserWay was the named defendant in the 2022 Murphy class action, alleging the widget itself blocked accessibility. UserWay's pricing scales with page views: $490 a year at the entry tier, up to $1,490 at high traffic. How the math shifts as your site grows.
AudioEye alternative
AudioEye is the premium-priced overlay ($588+ a year), marketed as "AI plus humans." It is also the vendor that sued accessibility expert Adrian Roselli over criticism of overlay products; the case was dropped in January 2024 with AudioEye paying $10,000 to the National Federation of the Blind. What the hybrid pitch actually delivers.
EqualWeb alternative
EqualWeb is the most honestly-marketed of the major overlay vendors. Their own copy says automation alone is not enough. We agree, and we still think an audit is the better buy. Why the comparison turns on architecture, not vendor candor.
Head-to-head
AudioEye vs accessiBe
Weighing the two biggest overlay vendors against each other? They are the same kind of product - a JavaScript overlay - with different track records: AudioEye's hybrid "AI plus humans" model and the dropped Roselli suit, against accessiBe's $1 million FTC order. An honest head-to-head, plus the case for an audit instead of either.
UserWay vs AudioEye
Two overlays with different wrappers: UserWay's page-view pricing and the 2022 Murphy class action, against AudioEye's premium "AI plus humans" hybrid and the dropped Roselli suit. An honest head-to-head, plus the case for an audit instead of either.
accessiBe vs UserWay
The same JavaScript-overlay architecture with different track records: accessiBe's $1 million FTC order against UserWay's first-of-its-kind class action. How they compare, and why a one-time audit may beat renting either.
Versus the enterprise platforms
Not every alternative is an overlay. If you are comparing Site Brace against a real scanning and governance platform, the comparison is about scope and price, not whether the tool works.
Siteimprove alternative
Siteimprove is not an overlay. It is a capable enterprise web-governance platform that genuinely scans your site, sold on a quote-based annual contract to large organizations. The honest question is whether your site needs the platform or a focused one-time $149 audit.
The umbrella case
Why accessibility overlays do not make sites WCAG-compliant
The technical, legal, and user-experience reasons overlays fall short, with primary-source citations: the FTC accessiBe ruling, the Murphy v. UserWay class action, the Roselli SLAPP, UsableNet's 2024 lawsuit data, and overlayfactsheet.com. Read this if you are still in the "do overlays work" stage of research.
Looking for the full multi-vendor table?
If you would rather see Site Brace alongside the audit-tool category (Tenon, WAVE, Pope Tech) and the manual-audit consultancies in one place, our full comparison page covers all three categories with year-one cost rolled in.
Start a Site Brace audit, $149
Site Brace is not affiliated with accessiBe, UserWay, AudioEye, EqualWeb, or any other overlay vendor named on the pages above. Trademarks belong to their respective owners. Last updated 2026-06-24.