Lighthouse accessibility score vs a WCAG report with the fixes
Lighthouse and Rampa run the same engine (axe-core). What the free score leaves out: other pages, the phone, the corrected code and the manual half of WCAG.
Facts checked on
What Lighthouse is
Lighthouse is the free audit built into Chrome (and PageSpeed Insights). Its accessibility score runs axe-core, the same open-source engine Rampa uses, on one page at a time.
What Lighthouse does not do
- One page, one viewport, one moment: the demand letter cites the checkout, not the home page.
- The score is a weighted average: on the pages we tested it gave 92 to a page with 12 unreadable texts and 50 to one with 33 undescribed images.
- It names the error and links to documentation; it does not write the fix or test it.
- It lists about 10 "manual checks" with no instructions and no pass criterion.
Where it is fair to say it helps
Lighthouse is free, honest about its limits and a good first look. If it gives you 100 on every page that matters, on desktop and phone, you still have the manual half to check, but you are in good shape.
What changes with Rampa
- Scans every page that matters (up to 100 per site), on desktop and on a phone, with axe-core in a real Chromium browser.
- Writes the corrected HTML for each failure, tests it in an isolated browser, and gives it to your developer with a copy button. Your code changes; the visitor's browser does not have to.
- Explains every finding twice: for the owner, in plain words, and for the developer, with the WCAG criterion and the fix.
- Gives you the manual half of WCAG as 7 one-minute tests with a pass criterion, and re-scans every week so a new plugin or theme does not undo the work.
Short version
Lighthouse changes what the visitor sees. Rampa changes the code. Only one of those survives a demand letter, a re-scan and the next theme update.
Questions people ask
- Does Lighthouse protect me from an ADA lawsuit?
- No tool can promise that. What lawyers look for is whether the code fails WCAG and whether you are fixing it. An overlay leaves the code as it was; lawsuit trackers count hundreds of cases per year against sites with an overlay installed.
- Can I keep Lighthouse and use Rampa too?
- Yes. Rampa audits the underlying code, not the widget. Many sites remove the widget once the code is fixed because the fixes make it redundant.
- Is Rampa a widget?
- No. Rampa does not add anything to your page. It gives you a report, the corrected code and a public accessibility statement. There is an optional temporary patch that applies only the fixes we verified, element by element, while your developer moves them into the source.
Sources
Lighthouse is a trademark of its owner. Rampa is not affiliated with it. Statements about third-party products come from the public sources listed above, on the date shown; if something has changed, write to us and we will correct it.