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QA Proof vs WAVE

A WAVE alternative for agencies auditing client sites

WAVE is the free tool accessibility professionals reach for when they inspect a page by hand — and it's excellent at that. QA Proof is built for a different job: auditing many client pages without installing anything, and handing over a report that a client can read and a developer can act on.

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TL;DR

WAVE, from WebAIM, is a free browser extension and online tool for evaluating one web page at a time, and it is one of the best tools for hands-on accessibility review. QA Proof is a hosted alternative for web agencies and site owners who need to audit many client pages without installing anything: each automated WCAG 2.1 audit (Level A, AA or AAA) returns a 0–100 score, issues ranked by severity with the WCAG criterion, CSS selector and HTML snippet, and a PDF report to share. Neither replaces manual testing. You can try QA Proof on any public page with its free, no-signup accessibility checker.

Perfect for one page. Harder across thirty client sites.

WAVE is designed for evaluation in context: open a page, read the icons, fix, move on. Agencies need something extra — a record of which pages were checked and what was found, a score a client understands, and fix details a developer can paste straight into a ticket. That is the gap QA Proof is built for.

WAVE vs QA Proof, honestly

Different tools for different jobs. If you want free, hands-on inspection of a page — including pages behind a login — use WAVE. If you want hosted audits with saved history and client-ready reports, that's QA Proof.

Feature WAVE (WebAIM) QA Proof
Built for Hands-on evaluation of one page at a time Automated WCAG audits of many client pages, with reports to share
How you run it Browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) or the online tool Paste a URL in the hosted dashboard, run it from the WordPress plugin, or call the REST API
Price Free; WebAIM sells a paid WAVE API for automated testing Free no-signup checker; paid plans from $29/month
How results are shown Icons and indicators placed on the page itself, with a details panel Issue list ranked by severity, with markers on a full-page screenshot
Fix details per issue Element highlighted in the page and in the code view WCAG criterion, CSS selector and HTML snippet, plus a recommendation
Overall score Counts of errors, contrast errors and alerts — no single score 0–100 score with category scores and an AI summary
Conformance level Findings mapped to WCAG Choose WCAG 2.1 Level A, AA or AAA per audit
Client-ready report Not built into the extension PDF report to download or email
Saved history No — each evaluation is live in your browser Yes — from 7 days (free) to 1 year (Business and Scale)
Pages behind login, localhost Yes No — public pages only
Manual inspection views Yes — structure, reading order, contrast and styles-off views No — it is an automated audit, not an inspection tool

How a QA Proof accessibility audit works

1

Paste a URL

Use the dashboard, the free WordPress plugin, or the REST API. Nothing to install in your browser or on the site.

2

Pick a WCAG level

Audit against WCAG 2.1 Level A, AA or AAA. The page loads in a real browser and results arrive in a few minutes.

3

Fix and share

Each issue names the WCAG criterion, selector and code snippet. Export the PDF report or email it to your client.

Which one fits your workflow?

WAVE is the right choice when…

  • You want a free tool and you're checking a page by hand
  • You need to see issues in context on the page, with structure, reading-order and contrast views
  • The page is behind a login, on staging behind a VPN, or on localhost
  • You're an accessibility specialist doing an expert review, or you're learning WCAG

QA Proof fits better when…

  • You audit pages across many client sites and want the results saved in one dashboard
  • Clients need a deliverable — a 0–100 score and a PDF report they can read
  • Developers want the selector and HTML snippet for every issue, not a screenshot of icons
  • You manage WordPress sites and want to run audits from wp-admin with the free plugin
  • You also want visual regression monitoring and Figma design checks in the same tool

An honest note: no automated checker is enough on its own

WAVE and QA Proof both catch measurable problems such as low contrast, missing labels and invalid ARIA. Neither can tell whether alt text is actually meaningful, whether a checkout works with a keyboard, or how a screen reader announces a custom widget. Use automated audits as a fast first pass, then test key user journeys manually. A clean automated result is not a certificate of WCAG conformance.

Common questions

For inspecting a single page by hand, WAVE is hard to beat: the WebAIM browser extensions and the online tool at wave.webaim.org are free. The reasons agencies add QA Proof are volume and deliverables — saved test history for every client page, a 0–100 score, issues ranked by severity with the CSS selector and HTML snippet to fix, and a PDF report you can send to a client. You can try that on any public page with the free checker, no signup needed.
Not entirely, and we would not recommend it. WAVE is a manual evaluation aid: its icons, structure, reading-order and contrast views help an expert judge a page in context. QA Proof is an automated audit that produces a report. Many teams use WAVE while fixing a page and QA Proof to audit and document many pages across client sites.
It loads the page in a real browser and checks WCAG 2.1 at Level A, AA or AAA: text colour contrast and non-text contrast of UI components, image alt text, form labels and placeholder-only fields, ARIA roles and attributes, buttons and links without an accessible name, heading hierarchy, landmarks and skip links, page language and title, duplicate IDs, visible focus indicators, positive tabindex, iframe titles, zoom-blocking viewport settings, autoplaying audio and touch-target size (from WCAG 2.2, reported as low severity). Each finding cites the WCAG success criterion.
No. QA Proof runs in the cloud, so it can only reach publicly accessible pages. The WAVE browser extension evaluates the page as rendered in your own browser, so it works on logged-in areas, staging behind a VPN and local development — use WAVE for those.
Not today. Scheduled monitors (daily, weekly or monthly, with email alerts) cover visual regression. Accessibility audits run on demand from the dashboard or the WordPress plugin, or from your own scripts through the REST API with an API key, and results are kept in your test history so you can come back to them.
The free accessibility checker needs no account and shows the score, severity breakdown and top issues for one page. A free account includes 10 AI generations as a one-time trial, with no credit card. Paid plans: Pro $29/month (100 AI generations), Business $79/month (300) and Scale $199/month (1,000). Annual billing is 20% off, with a 14-day money-back guarantee on annual plans.

Comparing developer tools too? See the axe DevTools comparison or our guide to the best WCAG checkers for agencies. More on the QA Proof accessibility audit.

See what an audit finds on your page

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