How Octopus Scanner Compares

About Octopus Scanner

A general comparison between Octopus Scanner and the main types of automated accessibility testing tool, describing where it differs, where it is stronger and where another type of tool may suit you better.

No specific products are named or assessed. Each type of tool varies, and individual products may differ from the general descriptions here.

Octopus Scanner is a tool to support your work, not to replace your judgement. No single tool covers everything, so the best results come from combining several and using whichever suits each job.

The common foundation

Most automated accessibility tools share the same underlying approach, so the differences lie in what surrounds it.

  • A shared rules engine: Octopus Scanner uses axe-core, an open-source rules engine that is also used by many other accessibility tools. For the same page, in the same state, the same rules produce the same results.
  • Where tools differ: The differences are in which pages are reached, which states of each page are tested, where the data goes, how results are reported and how the tool fits into your work.
  • The same limits apply to every tool: No automated tool, whatever its type or cost, can establish full accessibility or compliance on its own. See Scope of Automated Testing for detail.

1. The main types of tool

  • Browser extensions: Test the page currently open in your browser. They are quick and convenient for checking a single page or component during development, but each page and each state must be visited and tested by hand.
  • Cloud platforms: Hosted services that crawl sites from their own servers, usually with an account, a subscription, dashboards and scheduled monitoring. They suit organisations tracking many sites over time.
  • Developer libraries and command-line tools: Run tests from code, in automated test suites or in build pipelines. They suit catching regressions before release, but they require development work to set up and maintain.
  • Octopus Scanner: A desktop application that crawls and audits whole sites locally, on your own machine, through a visual interface, with no account and no code.
    • Where data goes: No scan data leaves the device unless you turn on the optional Local LLM Review, which sends page details only to an LLM server you run on your own computer or local network.
    • What it contacts on its own: Only update checks and the component safety check, which Offline Mode turns off.

2. Where Octopus Scanner differs

The areas where Octopus Scanner is designed to go further than typical tools of each type.

Privacy and data

  • Everything stays on your device: Unlike cloud platforms, scanning, analysis and reporting happen locally, with no account, telemetry or analytics. The optional Local LLM Review is the only exception, and works only with a model you run on your own computer or local network. Data, Privacy & Security sets out exactly what is stored and transmitted.
  • Internal and pre-release sites: Because scanning runs on your machine, development, staging and intranet sites can be audited from inside your own network, without opening them to an outside service.
  • No subscription: The application is free to use, with no paid tiers, per-seat pricing or features held back behind payment. Donations are optional.

Coverage

  • Whole sites, not single pages: Unlike browser extensions, it crawls from a single page to a full domain, with sitemap ingestion, URL lists, multi-domain discovery and single-page application route capture.
  • More states of each page: Many tools test a page only as it first loads. Octopus Scanner can also expand tabs, accordions and disclosure widgets, test both expanded and collapsed states, reveal deferred content and re-scan in dark mode when a page responds to the system dark mode preference. How Octopus Scanner extends coverage explains the limits.
  • Several screen sizes at once: Mobile and desktop layouts are scanned in the same run by default, and Scan All Viewports adds tablet and a larger desktop size.
  • Signed-in areas without code: Sign-ins and user journeys, such as checkouts, are recorded by using the browser rather than written as scripts. Steps marked Sensitive Value, such as passwords, are never saved.
  • Difficult sites: Crawler trap avoidance, duplicate detection, adaptive crawl delays and handling of bot protection keep large or defensive sites scannable, and every skipped page is recorded with its reason.

Reporting

  • Self-contained, accessible reports: Reports are normally single HTML files that open in any browser, without the application or an account, and make no outbound requests. They are designed to work with assistive technology, rather than being exported as PDFs or held behind a sign-in.
  • Review built in: Needs Review findings can be approved or removed, and violations hidden or moved to another severity, with counts, charts and summaries updating to match, so the report you hand over reflects your own judgement. See Report Anatomy.
  • Evidence and tickets: Screenshots can be stamped with the issue ID, the rule description, the recommended fix and the failing HTML, and any finding can be opened as a structured ticket ready to paste into a tracker. HTML reports also come with a complete CSV of every instance.

3. Where another tool may suit you better

Octopus Scanner isn't the right tool for every job. These are the cases where another type of tool is likely to be a better fit, or a useful addition.

  • Checking one component while you build it: A browser extension is quicker for testing a single page or component during development.
  • Testing on every build: Octopus Scanner has no command-line mode or build pipeline integration. Developer libraries are better suited to catching regressions automatically before release.
  • Scheduled monitoring and trends: Scans are started by hand, and reports aren't compared with one another automatically. Cloud platforms offer scheduled scans, history and trend dashboards across many sites.
  • Team collaboration: Reports and configurations are shared as files. There are no shared workspaces, user roles or direct integrations with issue trackers or messaging tools.
  • Linux and mobile apps: The application runs on macOS and Windows only, and audits websites rather than native mobile or desktop applications.
  • Guided manual testing and support: Some commercial tools include guided manual testing, training or a support contract. Octopus Scanner is developed independently by a single developer, with support by email.

4. Choosing a tool

  • Tools work best together: Many teams use a browser extension while building, automated tests in their pipeline and a full-site scan before release or during an audit. Octopus Scanner is designed for that full-site audit.
  • Manual testing is always needed: Whichever tools you use, a complete audit also needs manual testing with a keyboard and assistive technology, and ideally testing with disabled people.

Send questions about this page to support@octopusscanner.com, or use Report Bug in the scanning interface.

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