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Accessibility Compliance Compliance Cost Estimator

The Accessibility Compliance Compliance Cost Estimator estimates an annual accessibility-compliance budget from remediation labor, testing, software or platform expense, and training. It helps digital, legal, and operations teams compare the cost of planned accessibility work before allocating resources. Because accessibility obligations and technical standards depend on the organization and jurisdiction, the calculator treats scope and cost assumptions as user inputs rather than claiming one universal compliance price. For U.S. state and local government web and mobile content, DOJ's Title II rule uses WCAG 2.1 Level AA for covered content, with compliance dates that depend on entity size.

Inputs

hr
$/hr
$
$
hr
staff
$/hr
Result
—
calculated result
Remediation labor—
Training labor—
Testing / audit—
Accessibility tools—

1. Scope remediation effort. Estimate the hours needed to repair the accessibility issues included in the plan.

2. Set the remediation rate. Use the loaded internal or contractor hourly rate that reflects your delivery model.

3. Add independent testing. Enter planned audit, assistive-technology testing, or external accessibility-review cost.

4. Add recurring tools. Include annual accessibility testing, monitoring, or workflow software assigned to this program.

5. Budget training time. Enter training hours, participant count, and the loaded hourly rate for participant time.

6. Review the total. Use the breakdown to separate remediation, testing, tools, and training when prioritizing the work plan.

Annual planning model:

Remediation labor = Remediation hours × Loaded remediation rate
Training labor = Training hours × Staff × Loaded training rate
Total = Remediation labor + Testing/audit + Accessibility tools + Training labor

The inputs represent a scoped work plan, not a universal cost of legal compliance. Recalculate when the number of properties, accessibility defects, content owners, or testing requirements changes.

What the result means

Use the result as a planning estimate based on the assumptions entered. Revisit the inputs when workload, legal scope, risk profile, staffing, or cost conditions change.

This tool provides general planning information and does not replace legal advice, a regulator-specific methodology, or an organization’s approved compliance procedures.

Given: 900 remediation hours at $95/hour, $30,000 external testing, $18,000 annual tools, and 35 staff completing 6 training hours at $70/hour.

Calculation: Remediation = 900 × $95 = $85,500. Training = 6 × 35 × $70 = $14,700. Total = $85,500 + $30,000 + $18,000 + $14,700 = $148,200.

Result: The modeled accessibility-compliance budget is $148,200 for this scope.

Should accessibility remediation and monitoring be budgeted separately?

Yes when the organization has a one-time backlog plus recurring governance costs. Separate scenarios make it easier to distinguish initial repair work from continuing testing, content review, and training.

Does the calculator assume a particular accessibility standard?

The cost formula itself does not. For covered U.S. state and local government web and mobile content, DOJ’s Title II rule uses WCAG 2.1 Level AA, but other organizations and jurisdictions may be governed differently.

How should automated scanning tools be budgeted?

Enter annual tool subscriptions in the tools field, but remember automated scans do not detect every accessibility issue. Budget manual and assistive-technology testing separately when it is part of the program.

Can design-system fixes reduce projected remediation cost?

Potentially. Shared components can resolve repeated defects across many pages, but the savings depend on architecture, deployment scope, and validation. Update remediation hours after technical scoping rather than assuming a fixed reduction.

What costs are not captured here?

Potential items include legal review, procurement changes, captioning or document remediation, product redesign, user research, governance staffing, and costs specific to physical accessibility or non-digital obligations.