If you have been told your website needs a WCAG audit report, you probably have questions. What exactly is in one? Who writes it? And is it worth the money? This guide answers all of those questions and more. Whether you are a business owner responding to a legal complaint, an agency preparing compliance documentation for a client, or a developer trying to understand the scope of work, this guide will help.

What Is a WCAG Audit Report?

A WCAG audit report is a document that evaluates a website against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The current standard is WCAG 2.2, published by the W3C. The report identifies accessibility barriers that prevent people with disabilities from using the site and provides recommendations for fixing them.

Think of it like a building inspection report, but for your website. Instead of checking fire exits and electrical wiring, the auditor checks whether screen readers can navigate your pages, whether keyboard users can complete forms, and whether color contrast meets minimum thresholds.

Why You Need a WCAG Audit Report

There are several reasons businesses invest in professional audit reports.

Legal Compliance

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) became enforceable in June 2025. If your business serves customers in the EU, your website must meet accessibility standards. Fines vary by country but can reach hundreds of thousands of euros. In the United States, the ADA has been applied to websites since landmark court rulings in 2017 and 2018, and over 5,000 accessibility lawsuits are filed every year.

A professional audit report demonstrates due diligence. If you receive a legal complaint, having a documented audit and remediation plan shows that you are taking accessibility seriously.

Client Requirements

For agencies, audit reports are increasingly a deliverable that clients expect. Large enterprises and government organizations often require WCAG conformance documentation as part of procurement processes. If you build websites for others, offering audit reports is both a revenue stream and a competitive advantage.

Understanding Your Current State

Before you can fix accessibility issues, you need to know what they are. An audit report gives you a clear picture of your current compliance status, which issues are most severe, and where to start.

What a Professional WCAG Audit Report Contains

Not all audit reports are created equal. A thorough, professional report typically includes the following sections.

Executive Summary

This is a plain-language overview designed for non-technical stakeholders such as executives, project managers, or clients. It summarizes the overall compliance status, highlights the most critical issues, and provides a high-level risk assessment. A good executive summary can be understood by someone who has never heard of WCAG.

Methodology

This section explains how the audit was conducted. It should describe the tools used (such as axe-core, WAVE, or Lighthouse), the WCAG version and conformance level tested against (typically WCAG 2.2 Level AA), the pages or user flows tested, and whether manual testing was performed in addition to automated scanning.

Automated testing alone can catch roughly 30 to 40 percent of WCAG issues. A quality audit report will note this limitation and explain what additional manual checks were performed.

Detailed Findings

This is the core of the report. Each accessibility issue is documented with the following information:

• WCAG success criterion: The specific rule being violated (e.g., 1.4.3 Contrast Minimum)
• Severity level: Critical, serious, moderate, or minor
• Description: What the issue is and why it matters
• Location: Where on the page the issue was found, often with a screenshot or code snippet
• Affected users: Which disability groups are impacted (screen reader users, keyboard users, low vision users, etc.)
• Recommendation: How to fix the issue, ideally with a code example

Issues are typically organized by severity so that development teams can prioritize the most impactful fixes first.

Compliance Checklist

A criterion-by-criterion breakdown of WCAG 2.2 Level AA showing pass, fail, or not applicable for each success criterion. This gives you a comprehensive view of where you stand and is useful for tracking progress over time.

Prioritized Fix List

A practical action plan that groups issues by effort and impact. High-impact, low-effort fixes go first. This section is what your development team will actually work from.

Code Examples

For each issue, a professional report should include before-and-after code examples showing exactly what needs to change. This eliminates ambiguity and accelerates the fix process. For example, if an image is missing alt text, the report should show the current HTML and the corrected HTML with an appropriate alt attribute.

Automated vs. Manual Audits

Understanding the difference is important when evaluating audit services.

Automated audits use tools like axe-core, WAVE, or Lighthouse to scan your pages programmatically. They are fast, affordable, and can cover many pages at once. However, they can only detect about 30 to 40 percent of WCAG issues. They cannot evaluate whether alt text is meaningful (only whether it exists), whether content is logically ordered, or whether custom interactive components are usable with a keyboard.

Manual audits involve a human tester navigating your site with assistive technologies such as screen readers (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver) and keyboard-only navigation. Manual testing catches the issues that automation misses, including logical reading order, meaningful link text, and correct ARIA usage.

The best audit reports combine both approaches. Automated scanning provides broad coverage, while manual testing provides depth on critical user flows.

How to Choose an Auditor

When selecting an accessibility audit provider, consider the following.

Methodology transparency: Do they explain what tools and manual checks they use? Be wary of providers who only run automated scans and call it a full audit.

WCAG version: Make sure they test against WCAG 2.2, not an older version like 2.0 or 2.1. The EAA references the latest harmonized standard.

Report format: Ask for a sample report. Is it well-organized? Does it include code examples? Is the executive summary understandable by non-technical readers?

Turnaround time: Most professional audits take one to five business days depending on the number of pages.

Price: Single-page audits typically range from $100 to $300. Multi-page audits for five to ten pages range from $300 to $600. Full-site audits for larger sites can range from $500 to several thousand dollars.

Follow-up support: Some providers offer a follow-up scan after you have implemented fixes to verify compliance. This is valuable for closing the loop.

How Often Should You Audit?

Accessibility is not a one-time task. Websites change constantly as new content is published, features are added, and designs are updated. Best practice is to run an automated scan after every deployment (using CI/CD integration) and commission a full professional audit at least once per year or whenever significant design changes are made.

Getting Started

If you have never had your site audited, start with a free scan to understand the scope of the problem. You can run one instantly at a11yfix.dev/audit. It takes seconds and requires no signup.

When you are ready for a comprehensive, compliance-ready report with prioritized fixes, code examples, and an executive summary, you can order a professional WCAG 2.2 audit report at a11yfix.dev/report. Reports start at $149 and are delivered as a professionally formatted PDF within 24 hours.

Accessibility compliance is not optional anymore. The EAA is being enforced. ADA lawsuits are rising. The sooner you understand your compliance status, the sooner you can take action. Start with an audit report.