Honest comparison
reala11y vs UserWay
UserWay is one of the most widely installed accessibility overlay widgets. Like other overlays, it adds a JavaScript layer on top of your site rather than changing the underlying HTML. reala11y takes the opposite approach: it fixes the code your visitors actually receive. Here is an honest, sourced comparison.
| Feature | reala11y Free (Pro from $10/mo for agencies) | UserWay widget Free tier; Pro ~$49/mo (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Modifies your source HTML Critical for screen-reader users | ✓ | — |
| Floating overlay widget | — | ✓ |
| Changes visible to crawlers & audits Overlay adjustments are client-side only | ✓ | — |
| WCAG 2.2 AA scanner | ✓ | Limited |
| Code-level auto-fixes Overlays adjust at runtime, not in code | 10 | 0 |
| BYOK AI — you own the key We never resell AI quota | ✓ | — |
| WordPress.org free version | Yes | Widget free tier |
| Open source / GPL | ✓ | — |
| Entry price reala11y Pro starts at $10/mo, for agency multisite networks | Free | ~$49/mo (approx.) |
Sources: Overlay Fact Sheet (overlayfactsheet.com); UserWay public product and pricing pages. Competitor pricing is approximate and may change — verify on the vendor's site. Checked May 2026.
The key difference: where the fix lives
UserWay injects a JavaScript widget that attempts to adjust accessibility issues in the browser, after the page has rendered. Screen readers, search-engine crawlers, and accessibility audit tools generally see the original HTML — the page as your server sent it. Runtime adjustments do not reliably propagate into the accessibility tree that assistive technology depends on.
reala11y modifies the HTML before it leaves your server. Skip links, focus outlines, landmark roles, target-size padding, and noopener attributes are written into the actual page. Every visitor — sighted or not, with or without JavaScript — receives the corrected output.
What the accessibility community says about overlays
The Overlay Fact Sheet, signed by more than 800 accessibility practitioners, recommends against overlay widgets as a means of achieving conformance. Their core argument is the one above: a client-side layer cannot substitute for accessible markup. We agree, which is why reala11y is not an overlay and never ships a floating widget.
Where overlays can still help
Overlay-style preference controls — text resizing, contrast toggles — can be genuinely useful to some visitors. But those are user preferences layered on top of a page, not fixes to the page itself. reala11y focuses on the underlying code; pairing it with a good theme and manual review does more for real conformance than a widget can.
FAQ
Why does reala11y compare itself to UserWay?
UserWay is one of the most widely installed accessibility overlay widgets, so site owners often weigh the two. They take fundamentally different approaches: UserWay adds a JavaScript layer on top of your site, while reala11y changes the underlying HTML. This page explains the difference honestly.
Do overlay widgets help accessibility at all?
They can offer user-preference controls some visitors find useful, such as font sizing or contrast toggles. But more than 800 accessibility practitioners have signed the Overlay Fact Sheet recommending against overlays as a conformance solution, because the adjustments are applied client-side and do not change the page that screen readers, crawlers, and audit tools actually receive.
Can I run reala11y alongside UserWay?
Technically yes, but we do not recommend it. The two tools operate at different layers and combining them tends to introduce conflicts. We suggest choosing one approach. If you want fixes written into your actual HTML, that is what reala11y does.
Does reala11y make my site WCAG compliant?
No automated tool can. By criteria, automated tooling detects roughly 30–40% of WCAG failures. reala11y fixes common code-level issues and helps you prepare documentation; full conformance still requires manual review. We never claim "WCAG compliant" or "100% accessible".