Honest comparison
reala11y vs accessiBe
accessiBe is the most-discussed overlay accessibility widget. On April 21, 2025, the FTC ordered accessiBe to pay $1,000,000 and imposed a 20-year reporting requirement for marketing claims that its automated AI overlay made websites WCAG-compliant. Here is an honest, sourced comparison.
| Feature | reala11y $69/yr Starter | accessiBe accessWidget ~$59/mo (~$708/yr) entry |
|---|---|---|
| Modifies underlying HTML Critical for screen-reader users | ✓ | — |
| Floating overlay widget | — | ✓ |
| WCAG 2.2 AA scanner | ✓ | Limited |
| Auto-fixes via WordPress filters | 18 | 0 |
| AI alt-text (BYOK) You bring your own API key | ✓ | — |
| WordPress.org listing | Free tier | Yes |
| FTC penalty for compliance claims | — | $1M (April 21, 2025) |
| Entry-tier annual price | $69 | ~$708 |
| Open source / GPL | ✓ | — |
Sources: FTC v. accessiBe final order (April 21, 2025); accessiBe pricing page; WordPress.org plugin directory. Verified May 2026.
The key difference: where the fix lives
accessiBe injects a JavaScript layer into your site that attempts to patch accessibility issues client-side, after the page has rendered. Screen readers, search-engine crawlers, and accessibility audit tools see the original HTML — the unfixed page. The widget's adjustments do not propagate into the DOM in a way assistive technology consistently understands.
reala11y registers WordPress filters that modify the HTML before it leaves your server. Skip links, focus styles, language attributes, label associations, target-size padding, and noopener attributes are added to the actual page. Every visitor — sighted or not, with or without JavaScript — gets the corrected output.
What about the FTC ruling?
The April 21, 2025 final order does three things: (1) imposes a $1 million penalty; (2) requires accessiBe to provide 20 years of compliance reporting; (3) prohibits accessiBe from claiming its automated tool makes any website WCAG compliant unless it has competent and reliable evidence supporting the claim.
This does not make overlays illegal. It does make absolute compliance marketing legally risky for anyone in the space. We built reala11y with this in mind. We never claim "WCAG compliant" or "100% accessible."
FAQ
Why is reala11y positioned against accessiBe?
The Federal Trade Commission ordered accessiBe to pay $1,000,000 on April 21, 2025 for marketing claims that its AI-powered overlay made websites WCAG-compliant. The order requires 20 years of compliance reporting and prohibits future absolute conformance claims. Multiple US courts have likewise ruled that overlay widgets do not constitute compliance.
Does the FTC ruling mean overlays are illegal?
No. Overlays themselves are not illegal. The order prohibits accessiBe specifically from claiming the tool makes websites WCAG-compliant unless they have evidence supporting the claim. Overlay tools may still be useful as user preference layers, but they should not be sold as compliance solutions.
Can I run reala11y alongside accessiBe?
Technically yes. We do not recommend it. The two tools attempt to do different things at different layers, and combining them often introduces conflicts. We recommend choosing one approach and committing.