What an overlay actually is
An overlay (in the product sense) is a script and a toolbar added to the live site. Visitors get a widget. The vendor often markets it as making the site accessible without you touching templates.
That pitch skips the part that matters for a small store:
- Product photos still have no alt in the HTML.
- Form fields still have no label in the HTML.
- Heading structure is still whatever the theme emitted.
Overlays do not rewrite product photos, form labels, or heading structure. Assistive tech and search engines still see the markup the server sent. A toolbar on top is not the same as a label in the source.
What Plainscan does instead
Plainscan never sits on the live site. You paste a URL. The checker fetches what the server actually sends. You see what is wrong in English.
- Free: no account, severity totals, 1 to 2 sample findings with fixes redacted.
- $14 once: full copy-paste list (alt text, labels, contrast) plus a PDF for that scan. Not a monthly widget fee.
You (or whoever edits Shopify / WordPress) paste the fix into the real page. That is the work. It is slower than dropping a script tag. It is also the work that changes the document.
How it works is the fetch and the report. Pricing is free vs $14, with no subscription.
Not a lawsuit shield
This page would be dishonest if it implied that buying any tool, including this one, protects you in court.
- Plainscan is not a legal certification.
- An overlay is not a legal certification.
- A PDF from a $14 scan is not ADA compliance and not a WCAG certificate.
Automated scans catch a fraction of WCAG. Keyboard paths, screen reader UX, and a lot of AA still need a human. If a sales page told you a widget would "handle accessibility" so you never edit HTML, treat that as marketing, not as a repair. What a scan does not catch is the same honesty applied to Plainscan itself.
Not accessiBe. Not UserWay.
Those are overlay products. Plainscan is not a rebrand of them, not a cheaper widget, and not a partner badge.
If you already installed a toolbar, you can still run a checker on the URL. The toolbar does not make missing alt disappear from the markup. Scan the page. Read the list. Paste into the theme. Then decide whether you still want a widget for unrelated reasons. The checker job and the widget job are not the same job.
WAVE is also not an overlay in this sense. WAVE (WebAIM) is a visual overlay-on-the-page testing tool. Useful, different. WAVE vs Plainscan if you are choosing between two checkers rather than between a checker and a toolbar.
Who this is for
Small site owners who will paste a fix. You have a product grid, a contact form, a theme you can edit. You want the sentence, not a third-party UI on every visitor's screen.
If you wanted "set it and forget it" accessibility, this is the wrong product, and an overlay is still the wrong product for markup. The home scanner is the right next step if you want to see the HTML you actually shipped.
FAQ
Will Plainscan add a toolbar to my site?
No. It is a checker. You paste a URL. Nothing is injected for your visitors.
Do overlays fix alt text and labels for me?
They do not rewrite that HTML. Plainscan shows the issues in the markup so you can paste the fix yourself.
If I buy the $14 report, am I protected legally?
No. Not a certification, not a compliance stamp, not a lawsuit shield. Same as an overlay: a tool is not a legal result.