Most accessibility auditors charge between $150 and $300 per unique page or screen for a WCAG 2.1 AA or 2.2 AA audit, with experienced auditors pricing at the higher end and newer practitioners starting lower. Hourly rates typically fall between $100 and $200. Project minimums of $1,500 to $3,000 are common because small audits carry the same setup, reporting, and review overhead as larger ones. Your rate should reflect scope, asset type, standard version, report depth, and turnaround, not a flat number pulled from a forum post.
Pricing accessibility work is less about finding the right number and more about building a quote that reflects the actual work. This guide walks through how to think about rates, what to charge for different asset types, and how to avoid underpricing yourself out of sustainable work.
| Pricing Model | Typical Range |
|---|---|
| Per page or screen | $150 to $300 |
| Hourly rate | $100 to $200 |
| Small website audit (5 to 10 pages) | $1,500 to $3,500 |
| Mid-size website audit (15 to 30 pages) | $3,500 to $8,000 |
| Web app or SaaS audit | $5,000 to $20,000+ |
| Mobile app audit (iOS or Android) | $4,000 to $12,000 |
| Project minimum | $1,500 to $3,000 |
What factors should shape your audit rate?
Scope is the biggest driver. A five-page marketing site and a 25-screen SaaS product require different levels of effort, and your price should scale accordingly. Auditing is a per-unit activity in most cases.
Asset type matters nearly as much. Informational websites are the most predictable. Ecommerce sites introduce cart flows, product filters, and checkout. Web apps and mobile apps add state changes, authenticated areas, and native component behavior. Each step up adds hours.
The WCAG version also affects pricing. WCAG 2.2 AA audits take slightly longer than 2.1 AA audits because of the additional criteria. Clients asking for both environments (desktop and mobile) on the same pages should pay more, since each environment is evaluated independently.
Turnaround, report depth, and whether you include a validation review after fixes all factor into the final number.
How do you price per page or per screen?
Per-page pricing is the most common model for websites because it is easy for clients to understand and easy for you to scope. A typical range is $150 to $300 per unique page. Templated pages (product detail pages, blog posts) are sometimes discounted because the issues repeat across the set.
For web apps and mobile apps, the unit is a screen or view rather than a URL. A screen includes all its states, modals, error messages, and interactive components. This is why per-screen pricing often lands above per-page pricing for informational sites.
Auditors working with larger clients or enterprise procurement teams sometimes price in tiers: a base fee for the first 10 pages, a slightly reduced rate for the next 20, and so on. This rewards larger projects without undercutting the work.
Should you charge hourly or by project?
Project pricing is cleaner for most audit work. Clients know what they owe. You know what you are delivering. The scope is defined in the quote, and change requests are managed as add-ons.
Hourly billing fits better for advisory work, remediation guidance, validation reviews, and ongoing consulting. If a client asks you to sit with their dev team and walk through fixes, hourly makes sense. If they ask you to conduct an audit and deliver a report, a project rate is more predictable for both sides.
New auditors sometimes default to hourly because they are uncertain about how long the work will take. That is fine early on, but move to project pricing as soon as you have a reliable sense of your pace. Project rates reward efficiency. Hourly rates penalize it.
How do you avoid underpricing?
Underpricing is the most common mistake in the early years of an accessibility career. The work is technical, the standard is detailed, and the reporting takes longer than most people expect. A thorough audit includes setup, evaluation across criteria, issue documentation with code examples and recommended fixes, severity ratings, and a clean report the client can actually use.
If you quote $75 per page thinking it sounds competitive, you will find yourself working 10 hours for $750 and resenting the project by day two. Price for the full scope of what you are delivering, not the portion the client sees.
Look at what experienced accessibility companies charge. Some firms publish pricing openly and sit in the $300 per page range for standard website audits. That is a reference point, not a ceiling, but it confirms the market supports real rates for real work.
What should your quote include?
A clear quote reduces back and forth and sets expectations. At minimum, include the asset being audited, the number of unique pages or screens, the WCAG version and level (2.1 AA or 2.2 AA), the environments (desktop, mobile, or both), the turnaround time, and what the report will contain.
Note what is not included. Remediation, validation reviews after fixes, user evaluation with assistive technology, and VPAT or ACR preparation are separate services. Bundling them without pricing them separately creates scope confusion.
A quote that reads like a contract, not a napkin sketch, gets taken seriously. Clients who compare your quote to cheaper options will notice the difference in clarity, and that often wins the work.
Do clients expect fixed pricing or custom quotes?
Most clients expect custom quotes because every audit scope is different. Publishing a starting price or a per-page rate on your site helps buyers self-qualify before they reach out. Full quotes should still be tailored after you see the asset.
How much should I charge for a VPAT or ACR?
An ACR backed by a thorough audit typically prices between $2,500 and $7,500 for standard products, with enterprise work costing more. The audit is the foundation; the ACR is the document built from the audit results. Pricing the two together is common.
Can I charge more as I gain experience?
Yes, and you should. Rates scale with demonstrated skill, report quality, turnaround reliability, and specialization in areas like mobile apps, native iOS and Android, or complex SaaS products. Auditors with three to five years of focused work routinely charge at or above the top of the ranges above.
What if a client asks for a discount?
Discounts are reasonable when the scope justifies it (large project, repeat client, templated pages). Discounts to match a cheaper competitor rarely end well. If the client is shopping on price alone, they are not your client.
Set your rate based on the work the audit actually requires, not on what feels safe to quote. The auditors who build sustainable practices are the ones who priced for the full scope from the start.
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