Conformly vs WAVE
Conformly is a European alternative to WAVE: same developer tools use case, headquartered in France and governed by EU GDPR, while WAVE (WebAIM) is based in the United States.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Scheduled RGAA and WCAG accessibility scans with regression alerts, timestamped evidence reports and a CI command that blocks failing releases.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- Primary privacy law
- EU GDPR
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- Yes
Drop a URL into WAVE and it overlays every accessibility error it can detect on the page itself, a workflow WCAG testers have leaned on since 2001. The online checker and browser extensions are free; only the API for automated scanning at scale carries a price. There is no vendor in the usual sense: WAVE is run by WebAIM, a nonprofit institute based in Logan, Utah, at Utah State University.
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
Conformly vs WAVE at a glance
| Conformly | WAVE | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | France | United States |
| Data jurisdiction | EU / EEA | United States |
| Primary privacy law | EU GDPR | Requires DPA + transfer assessment |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | Yes |
| Best for | Teams that need developer tools built for European data-protection requirements | Teams already invested in the WebAIM ecosystem |
Choose Conformly if…
- You want a provider governed by a European privacy regime
- GDPR or public-sector data-protection requirements apply to you
- You want to start free and scale up later
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with WAVE if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the WebAIM ecosystem
- Your organisation has no EU data-residency constraints
- Migration costs outweigh the jurisdiction benefits for now
About Conformly
Conformly monitors website accessibility continuously instead of as a one-off audit, scanning on a schedule or on every deployment and alerting your team when the accessibility score drops after a release. Results are measured against RGAA 4.1.2, the French public-sector method aligned with WCAG 2.1 level AA, which makes it relevant for teams preparing for the European Accessibility Act.
Scans run on axe-core plus additional tests, using smart sampling that checks one representative page per template. Every scan is kept as timestamped evidence, with screenshots and PDF reports carrying SHA-256 fingerprints. Developers can add the open source command line tool to their pipeline with a single npx command and a score threshold, or use the GitHub Action and webhook, so regressions fail the build before they ship.
Key benefits:
- Regression alerts by email when a release lowers your accessibility score
- Timestamped evidence with screenshots and fingerprinted PDF reports for audits
- CI integration through an MIT-licensed CLI, a GitHub Action and an API
- RGAA 4.1.2 mapping aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA, versioned by standard
- Accessibility statement and badge you can publish from the dashboard
- Free plan covering one site with weekly scans of up to 10 pages
Conformly is published by BAKCHICH SAS, a French simplified joint-stock company registered in Marseille, France. The application runs on Contabo servers in Munich, Germany, and the database, authentication and evidence storage are hosted by Supabase in the EU. The privacy policy states that Cloudflare, Resend (email delivery) and consent-based Google Analytics may process some data in the United States.
Paid plans start at 29 euros a month excluding VAT, with Pro and Agency tiers adding daily and authenticated scans, the API and white-label client portfolios.
Why choose Conformly over WAVE?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. WAVE is headquartered in the United States, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes: the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Conformly removes that overhead. As a France-based provider, it operates under EU GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors such as health, public administration, and finance, that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.