Honest Comparison
LEWCA vs AudioEye
A side-by-side look at permanent code-level fixes vs JavaScript overlay injection, with sourced claims and verified pricing.
At a Glance
Who Each Product Is Best For
LEWCA is best for
WordPress site owners who want permanent, code-level accessibility fixes they can review before applying. Teams that need a scanner, toolbar, and remediation workflow inside their WordPress dashboard, with no external dependencies or traffic-based pricing.
AudioEye is best for
Businesses on any platform looking for a managed accessibility service with human expert support. Enterprise organizations that want a fully hands-off approach and are comfortable with runtime JavaScript fixes that require an ongoing subscription.
Pricing
Pricing Snapshot
Pricing as of March 2026 per audioeye.com/plans-and-pricing. AudioEye uses page-view-based pricing, so costs scale with your traffic. Verify current pricing on each product’s website.
| LEWCA | AudioEye | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes: full toolbar + scanning + AI fixes | No (14-day trial only) |
| Starting price | $249/yr (1 site, flat rate) | From $49/mo (~$588/yr) for up to 10K page views |
| Mid-tier | $599/yr (3 sites) | $199/mo (~$2,388/yr) for up to 100K page views |
| Enterprise | $1,499/yr (10 sites) | Custom pricing (unlimited page views) |
| Pricing model | Flat per-site rate; price doesn’t change with traffic | Per-page-view; costs increase as traffic grows |
| Lifetime option | $599 one-time payment | No |
| After cancellation | After the 30-day guarantee period, fixes are permanently written into the plugin with no server dependency needed | All fixes disappear immediately |
The Key Difference
The Core Difference: Permanent Code Fixes vs Runtime Overlay
This is the most important distinction between LEWCA and AudioEye, and it has real consequences for your site’s accessibility, SEO, and legal posture.
LEWCA: Code-Level
LEWCA scans your actual WordPress content for WCAG issues and uses AI to generate specific fixes: alt text, heading hierarchy, link text, ARIA attributes, form labels, and more. You review each fix with a before/after preview, then apply it. After the 30-day guarantee period, each fix is written directly into the plugin, so it survives Pro deactivation and no longer needs server dependencies.
AudioEye: JavaScript Overlay
AudioEye loads a ~100KB JavaScript file from their CDN on every page load. The script reads the DOM, runs 400+ automated tests, then modifies the rendered page in the visitor’s browser. These fixes are session-based: if the script is blocked by an ad blocker, fails to load, or your subscription lapses, every fix disappears instantly. Your actual source code is never changed.
AudioEye’s own Basic plan addresses only approximately 50% of accessibility barriers according to their marketing. Their Managed tier adds human experts who write custom JavaScript fixes, but these are still runtime patches, not source code changes.
Why It Matters
The Overlay Approach Has a Track Record
AudioEye is part of the overlay industry: the same category of tools that courts, regulators, and the accessibility community have consistently criticized. Over 1,000 accessibility professionals have signed the Overlay Fact Sheet, which states that overlays “do not repair the underlying markup” and “are not a valid substitute for accessible design and development.”
In a 2021 federal settlement, San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind sued ADP TotalSource for accessibility failures despite ADP using AudioEye’s overlay. The settlement explicitly stated: “Overlay solutions such as those currently provided by companies such as AudioEye and AccessiBe will not suffice to achieve Accessibility.”
In January 2025, the FTC fined accessiBe $1 million for misrepresenting that its AI-powered overlay could make any website WCAG compliant. The FTC’s reasoning, that automated overlays cannot deliver the compliance they promise, applies equally to AudioEye’s similar approach.
LEWCA takes the approach recommended by accessibility experts: fix the actual code. When LEWCA applies a fix, after the 30-day guarantee period it’s permanently written directly into the plugin, with no server dependency. There’s no JavaScript layer that can fail, no external dependency that can go down, and no runtime adjustments that disappear when a visitor’s browser blocks the script.
Legal Reality
AudioEye’s Legal History
AudioEye (NASDAQ: AEYE) has a documented history of legal action, both as a plaintiff and as the solution behind defendants who were sued.
The SLAPP Suit Against Adrian Roselli (2023–2024)
In March 2023, AudioEye sued Adrian Roselli, a globally recognized accessibility expert with 30+ years of experience, for criticizing their overlay product. AudioEye hired major law firms Akin Gump and Phillips Lytle to bring the suit against an individual. The accessibility community widely condemned it as a SLAPP suit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation).
AudioEye dropped the lawsuit in January 2024, agreed to donate $10,000+ to the National Federation of the Blind, and acknowledged that Roselli’s statements were “merely expressions of opinion,” not statements of fact about their product.
AudioEye Customers Sued Despite Using AudioEye
ADP TotalSource was sued by SF Lighthouse for the Blind for accessibility failures despite actively using AudioEye’s overlay. The 2021 federal settlement explicitly named AudioEye as insufficient: “Overlay solutions such as those currently provided by companies such as AudioEye and AccessiBe will not suffice to achieve Accessibility.” Specific failures AudioEye couldn’t fix included form fields not conveyed to screen readers, missing text alternatives, and absent accessible names.
According to accessibility researcher Sheri Byrne-Haber, over 400 companies with accessibility overlays were sued in 2021 alone, growing to 800+ in 2023–2024. Multiple federal judges ruled that installing an overlay does not constitute a good-faith effort toward accessibility compliance.
The Visitor Experience
What Your Visitors Actually See
Both LEWCA and AudioEye offer a visitor-facing accessibility widget, but they work very differently under the hood.
LEWCA: Optional Accessibility Toolkit
- 38+ customizable buttons that are optional and enabled by most sites
- Two toolbar layouts: sidebar panel or bottom bar. Choose the style that fits your site
- Flexible placement: floating button, inline via shortcode, or embedded with a simple link
- 8 disability profiles (vision, motor, cognitive, seizure, ADHD, dyslexia, blind, keyboard)
- Text-to-speech with adjustable speed and voice
- Full page translation in 47 languages that translates your actual website content, not just toolbar labels (Pro)
- Font size, spacing, contrast, cursor adjustments
- Reading guide, focus mode, content highlighting
- Built-in search bar so visitors can find any toolbar feature instantly
- Complete drag-and-drop customization: reorder sections, show/hide individual buttons, and create custom groupings (Pro)
- Custom toolbar colors: set your own colors or let the toolbar auto-detect your WordPress theme colors (Pro)
- Self-hosted with no external scripts or CDN dependency
AudioEye: Visual Toolkit
- Floating blue icon (bottom-right corner, not repositionable)
- Big Cursor: enlarges cursor for low-vision users
- Focus highlight: draws colored boxes around interactive elements
- Contrast controls: sharpen, desaturate, or invert colors
- Text size and spacing adjustments
- Font override: switch to a more readable font
- Animation controls: disable moving/flashing content
- Independent testing found several features were non-functional; focus controls had no effect, text sizing only worked on navigation
- Requires external CDN and can be blocked by ad blockers
Head to Head
Feature Comparison
| Feature | LEWCA | AudioEye |
|---|---|---|
| How fixes work | AI-generated code fixes written into the plugin after 30-day guarantee period | JavaScript overlay modifies rendered DOM at runtime |
| Fix persistence | After the 30-day guarantee period, fixes are baked into the plugin with no server dependency and survive Pro deactivation | Session-based; disappears if script is blocked, fails, or subscription ends |
| Fix review | Before/after preview; nothing changes without your approval | Automatic, with no review step (Basic tier) |
| Self-hosted | Runs entirely on your server | Loads JavaScript from AudioEye CDN on every page load |
| Ad blocker safe | Yes, fixes are in the source HTML | No, ad blockers can block AudioEye’s script |
| Screen reader compatible | Fixes exist in source HTML before any rendering | Screen readers may parse DOM before overlay executes |
| SEO benefit | Yes, search engines crawl the fixed source HTML | No, Google crawls source code, not JS-modified DOM |
| Accessibility toolbar | 38+ features, two layout options (sidebar or bottom bar), drag-and-drop section customization with search bar, auto theme color detection (Pro), self-hosted | Visual Toolkit with basic adjustments, loaded from CDN |
| WCAG scanning | 11 categories in WordPress admin | 400+ automated tests (JavaScript-based) |
| Disability profiles | 8 configurable profiles | No dedicated profiles; individual feature toggles |
| Compliance documents | VPAT, ADA, EAA generation (Pro) | Audit reports; VPAT via separate paid service |
| Report exports | PDF and CSV (Pro) | Monthly audit and impact reports |
| Translation | Full page content translation in 47 languages (Pro) | No translation features; English-only product |
| Platform support | WordPress only | Any website (WordPress, Shopify, Wix, etc.) |
| WordPress plugin | Full-featured: scanning, fixes, toolbar, and settings all in WP admin | JS loader only (1,000+ installs, 3.3/5 stars), requires paid subscription |
| Pricing model | Flat per-site rate | Per-page-view usage-based; costs scale with traffic |
| Transparent codebase | Yes, reviewable code, WordPress-native | No, proprietary and closed-source |
| Lawsuit history | None | SLAPP suit against accessibility expert (dropped, paid $10K+ to NFB); customers sued despite using AudioEye |
Where Each Product Has the Edge
Where AudioEye Has the Edge
- Platform flexibility: AudioEye works on any website, including WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, and custom-built sites. LEWCA is WordPress-only.
- Managed service tier: AudioEye’s Maximum Protection plan includes human accessibility experts who write custom fixes and handle remediation for you. LEWCA’s AI generates fixes, but you review and apply them yourself.
- Enterprise scale: AudioEye offers unlimited page views, dedicated account managers, and legal consultation on their Enterprise tier. They serve Fortune 500 customers like Cigna, Samsung, and Ford.
- Broader automated scanning: AudioEye runs 400+ automated tests on the rendered page, which can catch issues in dynamically loaded content. LEWCA scans WordPress content directly (posts, pages, custom post types).
- Help desk: All AudioEye plans include a 24/7 Accessibility Help Desk where visitors can report issues directly. LEWCA does not include a visitor-facing support channel.
Where LEWCA Has the Edge
- Permanent code-level fixes: Every fix modifies your actual content. No JavaScript layer, no external dependency, no single point of failure. After the 30-day guarantee period, fixes are written into the plugin and survive Pro deactivation with no server dependency.
- Fix transparency: Review every AI-generated fix with a before/after comparison before it touches your site. Nothing changes without your approval.
- Free forever plan: Full toolbar (38+ features) with two layout options, built-in search, and drag-and-drop customization. Plus WCAG scanning (11 categories), AI fixes, and accessibility statement generation, all with no time limit and no credit card. Pro adds custom toolbar colors with auto theme detection. AudioEye offers only a 14-day trial.
- Flat pricing: $249/yr for one site regardless of traffic. AudioEye starts at $49/mo ($588/yr) for just 10K page views, and a site with 100K monthly views pays $199/mo ($2,388/yr).
- Lifetime option: $599 one-time payment. AudioEye has no lifetime option.
- Self-hosted and private: No external JavaScript, no third-party cookies, no CDN dependency. Your data stays on your server. AudioEye loads scripts from their CDN on every page load.
- Full page translation (Pro): LEWCA Pro translates your actual website content in 47 languages. AudioEye has no translation features at all; it is an English-only product.
- SEO benefit: Fixes are in the source HTML that search engines crawl. AudioEye’s runtime fixes are invisible to Google’s crawler.
- No legal baggage: AudioEye sued an accessibility expert for criticizing their product, then dropped the suit and paid $10K+ to NFB. LEWCA has no lawsuit history.
- Court-documented overlay failure: A federal settlement explicitly stated AudioEye’s approach “will not suffice to achieve Accessibility.”
Try LEWCA Free. No Credit Card Required.
Install the free plugin and start scanning and fixing your WordPress site today.
AI fixes for your entire site
38+ toolbar features
47 languages (Pro)
LEWCA helps identify and remediate many common accessibility issues, but no automated tool can guarantee full legal or standards compliance on its own. Manual review and ongoing accessibility practices remain important.
Competitor information reflects publicly available data as of March 2026. Features and pricing may change; verify at audioeye.com. AudioEye is a registered trademark of AudioEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: AEYE).