In March 2024, a three-location pizza restaurant in Ohio received a demand letter from a serial plaintiff law firm: their website violated the ADA because images lacked alt text, forms had no labels, and the menu PDF was unreadable by screen readers. Settlement demand: $15,000. The owner had never heard of WCAG. Their web developer had used a template with zero accessibility consideration. This is happening to 4,600+ businesses per year, and the number is climbing 20% annually.
The accessibility market is projected to reach $700M by 2028. AccessiBe raised $58M but their overlay widget approach is increasingly criticized and legally challenged — the National Federation of the Blind actually testified against overlay widgets. Real compliance requires actual code fixes, not a JavaScript band-aid. Deque Systems (axe-core) is the gold standard but enterprise-only ($5,000+/year). SiteImprove charges $400+/mo. For a small business that just needs to know 'what's broken and how to fix it,' there's nothing affordable.
A $15-39/mo scanner that tests against WCAG 2.1, generates plain-English reports with copy-paste code fixes, and provides ongoing monitoring is the missing tool. Position it as 'accessibility insurance' — $15/mo is trivial compared to a $15,000 ADA lawsuit settlement. With 30M+ small business websites in the US alone, the TAM is enormous.
💰 Revenue Blueprint
Three-tier value ladder to monetize from day one
Scan any URL for WCAG violations — instant compliance score with top 5 issues identified
Full site scan (up to 100 pages), WCAG 2.1 AA testing, prioritized fix list with code snippets, monthly re-scans
Unlimited pages, 5 sites, weekly scans, team dashboard, CI/CD integration, PDF compliance reports, white-label
Why Now?
ADA lawsuits at all-time highs (4,605 in 2023). DOJ formally recognized websites under ADA Title III. EU's European Accessibility Act takes effect June 2025. Overlay widgets getting backlash, creating demand for real accessibility tools.
📊 Market Evidence
The Market Gap
AccessiBe ($49/mo) uses controversial overlay approach. Deque (axe) is enterprise ($5K+/yr). SiteImprove ($400+/mo) targets large companies. No affordable automated scanner exists at $15-39/mo that provides actual fix suggestions.
Revenue Examples
Raised $58M, serves 200K+ websites. Revenue estimated from pricing and customer count.
600+ enterprise clients. Revenue from public headcount and enterprise pricing.
🏆 Competitor Landscape
How existing players stack up in this market
| Competitor | Pricing | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AccessiBe | $49/mo | Controversial overlay widget approach. Raised $58M but facing legal challenges. |
| Deque Systems (axe) | $5,000+/yr | Gold standard for accessibility testing. Enterprise-only. |
| SiteImprove | $400+/mo | Enterprise website quality platform with accessibility features. |
| WAVE (WebAIM) | Free | Free single-page scanner. No monitoring, no fix suggestions, no multi-page crawling. |
Controversial overlay widget approach. Raised $58M but facing legal challenges.
Gold standard for accessibility testing. Enterprise-only.
Enterprise website quality platform with accessibility features.
Free single-page scanner. No monitoring, no fix suggestions, no multi-page crawling.
Launch Strategy
1) Free accessibility audit tool as lead magnet (massive SEO potential: 'website accessibility checker' gets 15K+ searches/mo). 2) Content marketing: 'ADA website lawsuits: how to protect your business for $15/mo.' 3) Partner with web agencies (offer white-label reports). 4) Launch on Product Hunt. 5) Direct outreach to businesses in industries with high lawsuit rates (restaurants, retail, hospitality).
🛠️ Recommended Tech Stack
Suggested tools and technologies to build this idea
Why this stack: axe-core is the industry standard for accessibility testing. Puppeteer renders pages server-side to run scans. AWS Lambda handles compute-heavy scanning jobs.
Strengths
- ✓Fear-driven purchase: ADA lawsuits averaging $15K make $15/mo 'accessibility insurance' an easy sell
- ✓Regulatory tailwinds — new accessibility laws in EU (2025), Canada, Australia creating global demand
- ✓Social good angle creates positive brand sentiment, press coverage, and word-of-mouth
Risks
- ⚠Automated scanning catches only ~30-40% of WCAG issues — manual testing is still needed for full compliance
- ⚠AccessiBe has massive market share despite controversy, and could pivot to real scanning
Score Breakdown
High demand, proven revenue, low competition — a strong opportunity
Market (20%) + Revenue (20%) + Trend (15%) + Competition (15%) + Build (15%) + Pricing (15%)
8 — AccessiBe raised $58M. ADA lawsuits at record highs. Regulatory demand is undeniable.
7 — AccessiBe at $3M+ MRR proves willingness to pay. But bootstrapped examples in affordable tier are fewer.
9 — ADA lawsuits up 300% since 2018. EU Accessibility Act in 2025. Strongest regulatory tailwind of any idea.
6 — AccessiBe dominates low-end but with controversial approach. Deque and SiteImprove are enterprise. Room at $15-39/mo.
7 — axe-core does the heavy lifting, but crawling and reporting need real engineering. 4-5 weeks.
8 — $15/mo as 'lawsuit insurance' is trivially cheap. Clear value proposition against $15K lawsuit risk.
🚀 Start Building
Copy a prompt into your favorite AI coding tool and start building this idea right now.
Build a SaaS product called "Website Accessibility Checker". ## Product Overview Scan your website for ADA/WCAG violations and fix them before you get sued ## Problem ADA web accessibility lawsuits hit a record 4,605 in 2023 — up 300% from 2018. Small businesses are the primary targets because they're easy wins for serial plaintiff law firms. The average settlement is $5,000-25,000, and most businesses have no idea their website is non-compliant. Meanwhile, 1.3 billion people globally live with disabilities, and inaccessible websites exclude 15% of potential customers. ## Solution An automated scanner that crawls your website, tests against WCAG 2.1 AA standards (the legal benchmark), and generates a prioritized report with specific code fixes. Includes a dashboard showing compliance score over time, scheduled re-scans, and a developer-friendly API for CI/CD integration. Not an overlay widget (those are getting sued too) — actual fixes. ## Target Audience Small business websites, e-commerce stores, SaaS companies, web agencies responsible for client site compliance, and any business serving US customers ## Tech Stack - Next.js 15 (App Router) with TypeScript - Tailwind CSS v4 for styling - Supabase for auth, database, and storage - Vercel for deployment - shadcn/ui for UI components - Framer Motion for animations ## MVP Features to Build 1. Landing page with clear value proposition 2. User authentication (sign up, sign in, forgot password) 3. Core product functionality based on the solution above 4. Dashboard for users to manage their data 5. Pricing page with at least 2 tiers (free + paid) 6. Basic settings/profile page ## Known Competitors AccessiBe, Deque Systems (axe), SiteImprove, WAVE (WebAIM) ## Key Risks to Address Automated scanning catches only ~30-40% of WCAG issues — manual testing is still needed for full compliance AccessiBe has massive market share despite controversy, and could pivot to real scanning ## Deployment 1. Set up Supabase project and configure environment variables 2. Deploy to Vercel with `npx vercel --prod` 3. Set up custom domain 4. Configure Supabase RLS policies for security ## Instructions Start by creating the project structure, then build the landing page first. Use server components where possible. Make it mobile-responsive from the start. Focus on getting the core value loop working before adding polish.