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How to Choose an ADA & WCAG Compliance Agency

Five things separate a genuine accessibility practice from a web shop that added “ADA compliant” to a services page: individually certified staff, manual screen-reader testing, code-level remediation rather than an overlay widget, a conformance report that names its exceptions, and a defined owner for conformance after launch. You can verify all five before you sign anything. Here is how.

The five criteria, and how to verify each one

Every claim below is one a vendor can make for free. Each has a document or a public record behind it that they cannot fake — ask for that instead.

  1. Named, certified staff

    The claim to distrust
    "IAAP certified"
    Ask this
    Which specific people hold CPACC or WAS, and what are their certification numbers?
    Why it works
    Check the names against IAAP's public certificant registry. An agency-level claim of "IAAP certified" means nothing on its own — the certifications are held by individuals, so an agency can lose every certified person and keep saying it.

  2. Manual screen-reader testing

    The claim to distrust
    "WCAG compliant"
    Ask this
    Which screen readers and browser pairings do you test, and is that included or billed separately?
    Why it works
    Ask for a redacted findings report from a recent audit. Automated scanners catch a minority of WCAG failures — the ones that matter most in litigation, like a keyboard trap or an unlabelled custom control, are found by a person driving a screen reader. If manual testing is a line-item upsell rather than standard, price the real engagement accordingly.

  3. Code-level remediation, not an overlay

    The claim to distrust
    "Instant compliance" / "one line of JavaScript"
    Ask this
    Do you fix the source code, or install a widget?
    Why it works
    This is the fastest disqualifier available. Overlay widgets sit on top of a site and do not fix the underlying markup, which is what assistive technology actually reads — and their marketing claims have drawn regulatory scrutiny. If a vendor leads with a script tag, stop there.

    Why accessibility overlays do not work

  4. A conformance report you can read

    The claim to distrust
    "Fully accessible"
    Ask this
    Will you produce a VPAT or Accessibility Conformance Report at the end, and can I see a sample?
    Why it works
    "Fully accessible" is not a measurable claim; a conformance report is. It states which WCAG success criteria are supported, partially supported, or not supported — including the failures. A vendor unwilling to document exceptions in writing is telling you something. If you sell to government, this document is not optional.

    Section 508 and VPAT requirements

  5. What happens after launch

    The claim to distrust
    "Compliant"
    Ask this
    Who is responsible when a new page or third-party embed breaks conformance next quarter?
    Why it works
    Accessibility is a state your site drifts out of, not a certificate you earn. Every CMS edit, new plugin, and embedded form is a chance to regress. Ask what monitoring is included, what the re-test cadence is, and who pays for the fix.

Five things that should end the conversation

  • Compliance guaranteed, or a promise you cannot be sued. No vendor can guarantee either — anyone can file a claim, and no certification forecloses it.

  • A fixed price quoted before anyone has looked at your site. Remediation cost scales with page templates, custom components and PDFs. A number before an audit is a number that will change.

  • Automated scan results presented as an audit. A clean scanner report and an accessible site are different things.

  • No named individual accountable for accessibility. If nobody on the team owns it, it is nobody's job.

  • Reluctance to put conformance claims in the contract. If it is true, it can be written down.

Before you ask for quotes

Remediation is priced off page templates, custom components and document count — not off page count. Two sites with 500 pages each can differ by an order of magnitude if one is 6 templates and the other is 60. Get an audit first so you are comparing quotes against the same findings list.

Listed agencies

We list agencies we can verify against the criteria above. Listings that could not be independently verified were removed, so this set is small and will grow slowly — that is the intended trade-off. Apply the same five checks to anyone you find here, including us.

Showing 1 of 1 agencies

Grow Wild Agency

Grow Wild Agency

WCAG 2.2 AAA

Jacksonville, Florida

CPACCWASManual AuditAnti-OverlayVerified
ADA Compliance AuditsAccessible Web DesignWCAG Remediation
HealthcareeCommerceNonprofit

$5,000 - $150,000+

96
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Frequently asked questions about hiring an accessibility agency

Who are the best agencies for building ADA-compliant websites?

Judge them on five things, in this order: (1) IAAP certification held by named staff — CPACC or WAS, verifiable in the IAAP certificant registry; (2) manual screen-reader testing as a standard part of delivery, not an upsell; (3) code-level remediation rather than an overlay widget; (4) willingness to produce a VPAT or Accessibility Conformance Report, including the failures; and (5) a defined answer for who maintains conformance after launch. An agency that cannot evidence the first three is not a serious candidate regardless of price.

What are the top accessibility-focused web design agencies?

The distinguishing traits are consistent: individually certified staff, manual testing over automated-only approaches, transparent conformance reporting that names exceptions, a firm anti-overlay position, and an ongoing monitoring offer. Those five criteria separate genuine accessibility practices from web shops that added "ADA compliant" to a services page — and you can check all five before signing anything.

Which web design services specialize in creating accessible websites for non-profits?

Nonprofits face the same ADA Title III exposure as commercial sites, and those receiving federal funding also fall under Section 504. When evaluating a vendor, ask specifically whether they have remediated donation flows and event registration — the two paths where nonprofit sites most often fail, because both depend on forms, error handling and timed sessions. Also ask whether they scope to WCAG 2.2 AA rather than a cheaper partial pass, and whether the IRS Section 44 credit applies to your organisation.

How do I hire an accessible web designer?

Audit first, build second. Commission a manual WCAG 2.2 AA audit — from a different vendor than the one who will do the remediation, if budget allows — so you are scoping against a real findings list instead of a guess. Then require: named certified staff, manual screen-reader testing in the base scope, code-level fixes rather than a widget, a conformance report at delivery, and a written monitoring arrangement. Get the conformance target into the contract.

What is the difference between Section 508 and WCAG compliance?

Section 508 is a US federal law requiring electronic and information technology used by federal agencies to be accessible. WCAG is the technical standard it points at — the revised Section 508 standards incorporate WCAG 2.0 Level AA for web content. In practice, meeting WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 Level AA satisfies both ADA Title II/III case law and Section 508 web requirements. Government contractors additionally need a VPAT; private businesses primarily target WCAG AA under the ADA.

Who operates this site, and is it independent?

This site is operated by Grow Wild Agency, an accessibility-focused web design agency, and Grow Wild is listed on it. We state that plainly rather than presenting the site as a neutral third party. Nothing here is paid placement — no agency can buy a listing, a position, or a mention. Treat our assessment of our own work the way you would treat any vendor describing itself: as a starting point to verify, not as an independent rating.