Continuous scan monitoring for accessibility typically costs anywhere from zero dollars for open source tools to several thousand dollars per month for enterprise platforms. Pricing depends on the number of pages scanned, scan frequency, authentication requirements, and the reporting features included. Most small to mid-sized sites fall in the range of 50 dollars to 500 dollars per month, while larger sites with thousands of pages and advanced features land between 1,000 dollars and 5,000 dollars per month.
| Cost Factor | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Open source tools | Free to use but require developer time to configure, host, and maintain. |
| SMB platforms | Roughly 50 dollars to 500 dollars per month for sites with up to a few hundred pages. |
| Enterprise platforms | 1,000 dollars to 5,000 dollars per month or more for large sites and advanced features. |
| Coverage limit | Scans detect approximately 25% of accessibility issues, regardless of price. |
What Continuous Scan Monitoring Includes
Continuous scan monitoring runs automated accessibility checks against a website on a recurring schedule. Scans can be set to run daily, weekly, monthly, or on a custom interval. The output is a report of detected issues mapped to WCAG success criteria.
The pricing you pay covers the scanning engine, the dashboard or reporting interface, and storage of historical scan data. Higher tiers add features like authenticated page scanning, alerts, role-based access, and integrations with project management tools.
Factors That Affect Continuous Scan Monitoring Pricing
Several variables push the cost of continuous scan monitoring up or down. Understanding these factors helps explain why two providers can quote very different numbers for what looks like the same service.
- Page volume: Most platforms price by the number of unique URLs scanned. A 50-page site costs far less to monitor than a 50,000-page site.
- Scan frequency: Daily scans cost more than weekly or monthly scans because they consume more compute and storage.
- Authenticated scanning: Scanning pages behind a login requires session management, often through a browser extension. This is usually a premium feature.
- Historical data retention: Platforms that store months or years of scan history charge more than those that only show the latest results.
- User seats and reporting: Multi-user access, dashboards, and exportable reports often live in higher tiers.
- Alerts and integrations: Notifications, webhooks, and connections to ticketing systems add to the price.
Open Source and Free Scanning Options
Open source command-line scanners and browser-based scanners are available at no licensing cost. The expense shifts to engineering time. A developer needs to configure the scanner, schedule it, store the output, and build a way to view results over time.
For organizations with internal engineering capacity, this path can be cost effective at small scale. As the site grows, the maintenance burden often pushes teams toward a paid platform.
SMB Platform Pricing
Platforms directed at small and mid-sized businesses generally fall between 50 dollars and 500 dollars per month. At this tier, expect support for a few hundred pages, weekly or monthly scans, basic dashboards, and email alerts. Authenticated scanning may be available on higher plans within this range.
This pricing band works well for marketing sites, small ecommerce stores, and SaaS products with a limited public footprint.
Enterprise Platform Pricing
Enterprise accessibility platforms with continuous scanning typically start around 1,000 dollars per month and scale to 5,000 dollars per month or more. At this level, pricing reflects large page counts, daily scan cadence, full authenticated coverage, role-based access, integrations, and detailed historical reporting.
Enterprise contracts are often annual and may include onboarding, training, and account management as part of the fee.
What Scan Monitoring Cannot Do
Continuous scan monitoring detects approximately 25% of accessibility issues. The remaining 75% requires manual evaluation by an accessibility professional, including screen reader testing, keyboard testing, and code inspection. No amount of monitoring spend changes this coverage limit.
Most organizations pair continuous scan monitoring with a periodic accessibility audit, which typically starts at 1,000 dollars and ranges to 3,000 dollars per project, depending on scope. The scan covers ongoing regression detection between audits.
Estimating Your Monitoring Budget
To estimate cost, start with the page count you need to monitor and the scan frequency you require. A 200-page site scanned weekly with basic reporting may cost 100 dollars to 300 dollars per month. The same site scanned daily with authenticated coverage and integrations may cost 500 dollars to 1,500 dollars per month.
Pricing transparency varies. Some providers publish tiers; others quote based on a discovery call. Comparing two or three options against your actual page volume and feature needs gives the clearest picture of where your spend will land.