Octopus Scanner (formerly A11y Scanner) vs WAVE

Octopus Scanner (formerly A11y Scanner)9.3Visit WAVE9.1Visit

Higher score Octopus Scanner (formerly A11y Scanner) #1 in Website Accessibility Tools 9.3/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 0 of 4 features Visit site

vs

WAVE #2 in Website Accessibility Tools 9.1/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit WAVE

• Octopus Scanner (formerly A11y Scanner) fits best

  Auditors scanning complex websites locally

• WAVE fits best

  Established teams needing flexible page analysis

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Side by side

Feature	Octopus Scanner (formerly A11y Scanner) 9.3/10 Visit ↗	WAVE 9.1/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.3	9.1
Ranking	#1 in Website Accessibility Tools	#2 in Website Accessibility Tools
Best for	Auditors scanning complex websites locally	Established teams needing flexible page analysis
Pricing model	Free	Free plan + paid
Starting price	Free	—
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Desktop	Cloud, Self-hosted, Browser extension
Platforms	Windows, macOS	Web, Chrome extension
Support	Email	Email, Docs
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Octopus Scanner (formerly A11y Scanner) 0/4 · WAVE 4/4
Scheduled scans	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Browser extension	—	✓ (best)
CI/CD integration	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
API access	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Specs
WCAG version	Wcag 2.2	Wcag 2.2
Scan scope	Site	Page
Scan limit	Not checked yet	250 pages
Our review
Pros	Crawls full domains, accepts sitemaps, and targets specific URLs Replays authenticated journeys and scans dynamic content, frames, and PDFs Creates interactive HTML and CSV reports with screenshots and guidance	Free online evaluator and browser extensions for public, private, and dynamic pages Rendered-content testing, screenshots, WCAG mappings, and detailed issue reporting Hosted and stand-alone APIs support scheduled audits and CI integration
Cons	Desktop-only, with support limited to Windows and macOS No browser extension or CI/CD workflow is described No recurring scan schedule or scan/results API is described	Annual stand-alone API plans begin at $4,000 API Basic and Expanded limit domains and installations No AI features are included
Our verdict	Octopus Scanner, formerly A11y Scanner, is a desktop application for automated website accessibility auditing. It is aimed at accessibility specialists, developers, and designers who need to examine more than a set of manually selected… Read the review →	WAVE is a suite of web accessibility evaluation tools developed by WebAIM at Utah State University. It is intended for web authors, developers, accessibility professionals, organizations, and educators that need to inspect web pages and… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Octopus Scanner (formerly A11y Scanner) — where it wins

  • Crawls full domains, accepts sitemaps, and targets specific URLs
  • Replays authenticated journeys and scans dynamic content, frames, and PDFs
  • Creates interactive HTML and CSV reports with screenshots and guidance

  Where it doesn't

  • Desktop-only, with support limited to Windows and macOS
  • No browser extension or CI/CD workflow is described
  • No recurring scan schedule or scan/results API is described

• WAVE — where it wins

  • Free online evaluator and browser extensions for public, private, and dynamic pages
  • Rendered-content testing, screenshots, WCAG mappings, and detailed issue reporting
  • Hosted and stand-alone APIs support scheduled audits and CI integration

  Where it doesn't

  • Annual stand-alone API plans begin at $4,000
  • API Basic and Expanded limit domains and installations
  • No AI features are included

• Octopus Scanner (formerly A11y Scanner)9.3/10 · Free plan

  A free desktop scanner for detailed local audits of complex websites.

  Visit siteFull verdict →
• WAVE9.1/10 · Free plan

  A flexible accessibility suite spanning free page checks, browser extensions, APIs, and CI workflows.

  Visit WAVEFull verdict →