Comparison

PDF accessibility: providers compared

This overview is intended to help public administrations find their way: which tools check or repair PDF documents for accessibility, and which features do the vendors state publicly?

8 providers
20 features
38 sources
As of 10 October 2026

Try it free · Notes and methodology

As of 10 October 2026, information taken from publicly accessible vendor pages; errors and changes excepted. Please report any errors to kontakt@dokaudit.de – we will correct them promptly.

Where DokAudit stands out

Only fully documented for DokAudit, according to published vendor information (as of 10 October 2026). Other providers: with a restriction or not stated.

Repair until the check is passed
Accessible fillable forms

Functional scope compared

This counts the features in this overview that each provider offers according to its vendor source, and how many of them DokAudit also offers according to its own information. As of 10 October 2026.

Accessful: 11 features available according to the vendor source – DokAudit offers all 11
axes4: 4 features available according to the vendor source – DokAudit offers all 4
Adobe: 6 features available according to the vendor source – DokAudit offers all 6
PDFix: 7 features available according to the vendor source – DokAudit offers all 7
CommonLook: 4 features available according to the vendor source – DokAudit offers all 4
CIB ridmi: 8 features available according to the vendor source – DokAudit offers all 8

DokAudit at a glance

Our own information, as of 10 October 2026.

Checking and repair in one tool: Check, repair automatically and re-check in the same workflow – with a before/after result and a test report as proof.
Transparent checking: Checks follow PDF/UA-1 using veraPDF, and the name of the checking engine is stated openly in the report. DokAudit also checks against PDF/UA-2 and shows the WCAG 2.2 reference.
PDF/UA identifier only after a passed check: Automatic repair runs in a loop until the veraPDF check is passed. The PDF/UA identifier is only set once the check has been passed. On request, DokAudit creates a PDF/UA-2 version (PDF 2.0) from PDF/UA-1-compliant documents.
Forms (with AI): Flat application forms become accessible, fillable forms – even from scans, using AI.
Hosting in ISO/IEC 27001-certified data centres in Germany: Operated in data centres of Hetzner Online GmbH in Germany; Hetzner is certified to DIN ISO/IEC 27001:2022. Alternatively, DokAudit runs as a Docker container in your own data centre. [34]
Billing by pages, no user licences: Billing is in credits: 1 credit = 5 pages, with or without AI, with no surcharges and no user licence. The number of user accounts is unlimited; the public sector plan can be cancelled at any time.
From website scan to report in one tool (with AI): Website scan with PDF report, checking, repair with auto-tagging and AI structure recognition, AI alt text, OCR for scans, Word export and PDF compression that preserves the tags. On request, the document library (Hub) works fully automatically; via the REST API with API keys and webhooks, DokAudit can be connected to a CMS.
AI provider of your choice (with AI): The AI provider can be chosen, including Mistral (EU); your own or locally run models are possible as a pilot.
Clear for public administrations: German user interface; check results are explained in plain language with reference to BITV 2.0 (Germany’s federal accessibility ordinance for IT).

Features at a glance

Summary per group according to published vendor information (as of 10 October 2026); every entry with a source, DokAudit with its own information. One table per group: one row per provider, one column per feature.

Yes: available according to the vendor source
Partly: available with a restriction according to the vendor source (the restriction is stated in the cell)
Not stated: not stated by the vendor: not mentioned on the vendor pages checked – this does not mean that the feature is missing
(with AI): the feature uses AI (artificial intelligence) according to the vendor source or our own information; the marker is shown in addition to the status
Numbers in square brackets refer to the numbered sources at the end of the page.
Summary per group: “documented” = present or described; “not stated” is not counted as missing.

Product and language

Summary: DokAudit: 2 of 2 documented (1 present, 1 described); Accessful: 1 present, 1 described; axes4: 1 present, 1 described; Adobe: 1 present, 1 described; PDFix: 1 described, 1 not stated; CommonLook: 1 described, 1 not stated; CIB ridmi: 1 present, 1 described; PAVE 2.0: 1 described, 1 not stated.

Product and language: features according to vendor information, as of 10 October 2026
Provider	Product type	German-language product page
DokAudit – own information	Web application (SaaS), REST API, Docker container for running it yourself	Yes – German user interface
Accessful – Accessful Hub, Accessful Scan	Web app, API, on-premises; service [1]	Yes [1]
axes4 – PAC, axesPDF, axesCheck, axesPAC	Desktop software, web checker, checking API; service [9, 11, 13, 14]	Yes [9]
Adobe – Acrobat Pro, PDF Services API	Desktop software with cloud feature; cloud API [20, 22]	Yes [24]
PDFix – Desktop, SDK	Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), SDK; service [26, 27, 28]	Not stated [26]
CommonLook – Allyant	Browser or desktop application, Office add-in; service [30, 31]	Not stated [30]
CIB ridmi – CIB software GmbH	Cloud service or on-premises [33]	Yes [33]
PAVE 2.0 – ZHAW (Zurich University of Applied Sciences)	Web tool from a university project [35, 38]	Not stated [38]

Checking

Summary: DokAudit: 4 of 4 documented (3 present, 1 described); Accessful: 3 present, 1 not stated; axes4: 2 present, 1 described, 1 not stated; Adobe: 2 present, 1 described, 1 not stated; PDFix: 3 present, 1 described; CommonLook: 2 present, 1 described, 1 not stated; CIB ridmi: 2 present, 1 described, 1 not stated; PAVE 2.0: 4 not stated.

Checking: features according to vendor information, as of 10 October 2026
Provider	PDF/UA-1 check	PDF/UA-2 check	WCAG reference of the check	Checking engine publicly named
DokAudit – own information	Yes – with veraPDF	Yes	Yes – WCAG 2.2, shown in the report	veraPDF
Accessful – Accessful Hub, Accessful Scan	Yes [4]	Yes [4]	Yes – WCAG 2.2 [4]	Not stated [4, 7]
axes4 – PAC, axesPDF, axesCheck, axesPAC	Yes – PDF/UA according to the Matterhorn Protocol (axesCheck); ISO 14289 (PAC) [13, 17]	Not stated [13, 17]	Yes – WCAG 2.2 AA (PAC 2026) [17]	own PAC engine [11]
Adobe – Acrobat Pro, PDF Services API	Yes – PDF/UA, version not stated [20]	Not stated [20, 22]	Yes – WCAG 2.0 (Acrobat) [20]	Adobe’s own checker [20]
PDFix – Desktop, SDK	Yes [27]	Yes [27]	Yes – WCAG 2.2 [27]	veraPDF [26, 27]
CommonLook – Allyant	Yes – PDF/UA, version not stated [31]	Not stated [31]	Yes – Version not stated [31]	own validator [30, 31]
CIB ridmi – CIB software GmbH	Yes – PDF/UA, version not stated [33]	Not stated [33]	Yes – WCAG 2.1 [33]	PAC as the quality assurance reference [33]
PAVE 2.0 – ZHAW (Zurich University of Applied Sciences)	Not stated [35, 38]	Not stated [35, 38]	Not stated [35, 38]	Not stated [35, 38]

Repair and AI

Summary: DokAudit: 4 of 4 documented; Accessful: 3 present, 1 not stated; axes4: 1 partly, 3 not stated; Adobe: 1 present, 3 not stated; PDFix: 2 present, 2 not stated; CommonLook: 1 present, 3 not stated; CIB ridmi: 2 present, 2 not stated; PAVE 2.0: 1 partly, 3 not stated.

Only fully documented for DokAudit: Repair until the check is passed

Repair and AI: features according to vendor information, as of 10 October 2026
Provider	Create a PDF/UA-2 version	Automatic tagging	Repeated repair until the check is passed; PDF/UA identifier only after a passed check	AI-generated alt text (with AI)
DokAudit – own information	Yes – PDF 2.0, from PDF/UA-1-compliant documents	Yes (with AI) – Auto-tagging; AI structure recognition for multi-column layouts and tables	Yes – Conformance loop until the veraPDF check is passed; identifier set only afterwards	Yes (with AI)
Accessful – Accessful Hub, Accessful Scan	Yes – Result according to the vendor: “accessible PDF according to PDF/UA-2” [3]	Yes (with AI) – AI-assisted [3]	Not stated [3]	Yes (with AI) [3]
axes4 – PAC, axesPDF, axesCheck, axesPAC	Not stated – according to the vendor, axesService delivers a PDF/UA-1-compliant document [14]	Partly – Tagging on export from Word/PowerPoint or via templates; axesPDF for manual correction with automated work steps [9, 10, 12]	Not stated [10]	Not stated [10, 18]
Adobe – Acrobat Pro, PDF Services API	Not stated [21, 22]	Yes [21, 22]	Not stated [20, 21]	Not stated [20]
PDFix – Desktop, SDK	Not stated [27]	Yes [27]	Not stated [27]	Yes (with AI) – via actions in the Actions Marketplace [28, 29]
CommonLook – Allyant	Not stated [31]	Yes (with AI) – AI-assisted [31]	Not stated [31]	Not stated [31]
CIB ridmi – CIB software GmbH	Not stated [33]	Yes (with AI) – AI/LLM-assisted [33]	Not stated [33]	Yes (with AI) – Image alternative texts, AI/LLM-assisted [33]
PAVE 2.0 – ZHAW (Zurich University of Applied Sciences)	Not stated [35, 38]	Partly – recognises text sections and headings automatically; further tagging by hand in the browser [35, 37]	Not stated [35, 38]	Not stated [35, 38]

Forms and scans

Summary: DokAudit: 2 of 2 documented; Accessful: 2 not stated; axes4: 1 partly, 1 not stated; Adobe: 1 present, 1 partly; PDFix: 1 present, 1 not stated; CommonLook: 1 partly, 1 not stated; CIB ridmi: 1 present, 1 not stated; PAVE 2.0: 2 not stated.

Only fully documented for DokAudit: Accessible fillable forms

Forms and scans: features according to vendor information, as of 10 October 2026
Provider	OCR for scanned documents	Accessible fillable forms
DokAudit – own information	Yes	Yes (with AI) – also from scans, using AI
Accessful – Accessful Hub, Accessful Scan	Not stated – Processing of scans “depends on the individual case” [3]	Not stated [3]
axes4 – PAC, axesPDF, axesCheck, axesPAC	Not stated [9, 10]	Partly – from Word with axesWord [9]
Adobe – Acrobat Pro, PDF Services API	Yes – “Scan & OCR” in Acrobat; Auto-Tag API processes scanned PDFs [20, 22]	Partly – tag form fields, maintain tooltips [20]
PDFix – Desktop, SDK	Yes – via an Amazon Textract action (cloud) [27, 28]	Not stated [27, 28]
CommonLook – Allyant	Not stated [31]	Partly (with AI) – according to the vendor, AI tagging covers forms [31]
CIB ridmi – CIB software GmbH	Yes – in combination with CIB doXisafe and CIB deepER [33]	Not stated [33]
PAVE 2.0 – ZHAW (Zurich University of Applied Sciences)	Not stated [35, 38]	Not stated [35, 38]

Integration

Summary: DokAudit: 3 of 3 documented; Accessful: 3 present; axes4: 1 present, 2 not stated; Adobe: 1 present, 2 not stated; PDFix: 1 described, 2 not stated; CommonLook: 1 present, 2 not stated; CIB ridmi: 1 present, 2 not stated; PAVE 2.0: 3 not stated.

Integration: features according to vendor information, as of 10 October 2026
Provider	Website scan (find and check the PDFs on a website)	REST API	Webhooks
DokAudit – own information	Yes – with PDF report	Yes – with API keys	Yes
Accessful – Accessful Hub, Accessful Scan	Yes – Accessful Scan [6]	Yes [8]	Yes – with HMAC-SHA256 signature [8]
axes4 – PAC, axesPDF, axesCheck, axesPAC	Not stated [9]	Yes – axesPAC (checking); axesFlip as SDK/CLI [11, 12]	Not stated [11]
Adobe – Acrobat Pro, PDF Services API	Not stated [20, 22]	Yes – PDF Services API [22]	Not stated [22]
PDFix – Desktop, SDK	Not stated [26, 27]	SDK and CLI [28]	Not stated [28]
CommonLook – Allyant	Yes – Clarity, with ongoing monitoring [32]	Not stated [30, 31]	Not stated [30]
CIB ridmi – CIB software GmbH	Not stated [33]	Yes – plus connection to DMS/ECM [33]	Not stated [33]
PAVE 2.0 – ZHAW (Zurich University of Applied Sciences)	Not stated [35, 38]	Not stated [35, 38]	Not stated [35, 38]

Operation and data protection

Summary: DokAudit: 2 of 2 documented (1 present, 1 described); Accessful: 1 present, 1 described; axes4: 1 described, 1 not stated; Adobe: 2 described; PDFix: 1 present, 1 described; CommonLook: 2 not stated; CIB ridmi: 1 present, 1 described; PAVE 2.0: 1 described, 1 not stated.

Operation and data protection: features according to vendor information, as of 10 October 2026
Provider	Operation in your own data centre (on-premises)	Location of cloud processing
DokAudit – own information	Yes – Docker container in your own data centre, on request (Operation: Cloud or on-premises (Docker))	Hetzner data centres in Germany; Hetzner Online GmbH is certified to DIN ISO/IEC 27001:2022 (Data centre: ISO/IEC 27001 · Germany) [34]
Accessful – Accessful Hub, Accessful Scan	Yes – also without a network connection (air-gapped) [5]	Germany; ISO/IEC 27001-certified data centres of the hosting partner [5]
axes4 – PAC, axesPDF, axesCheck, axesPAC	Desktop software works locally [10, 18]	Not stated [9, 13]
Adobe – Acrobat Pro, PDF Services API	Acrobat as desktop software; PDF Services as cloud API [20, 22]	PDF Services: USA by default, EU region (Ireland) selectable [23]
PDFix – Desktop, SDK	Yes – Desktop and SDK “fully on-premises” [26]	Desktop and SDK without cloud upload; optional cloud AI actions send data to external models [26, 29]
CommonLook – Allyant	Not stated [30]	Not stated [30]
CIB ridmi – CIB software GmbH	Yes – Container, dedicated server [33]	Data centre in Frankfurt [33]
PAVE 2.0 – ZHAW (Zurich University of Applied Sciences)	Not stated [35, 38]	PAVE server; documents remain stored for up to three weeks unless deleted earlier [36]

Prices and getting started

Summary: DokAudit: 3 of 3 documented (3 described); Accessful: 3 described; axes4: 3 described; Adobe: 3 described; PDFix: 3 described; CommonLook: 1 described, 2 not stated; CIB ridmi: 2 described, 1 not stated; PAVE 2.0: 2 described, 1 not stated.

Prices and getting started: features according to vendor information, as of 10 October 2026
Provider	Public prices	Billing	Free entry point
DokAudit – own information	Pilot €0 (20 credits = 100 pages); public sector plan €150/month plus VAT (60 credits = 300 pages); page packs from €390 (780 pages); districts/joint associations individually	by pages, in credits: 1 credit = 5 pages (rounded up per document), with or without AI, re-checks included; in the public sector plan from approx. €0.50 per page; no user licences (unlimited user accounts), public sector plan can be cancelled at any time	Pilot, 20 credits (100 pages) – checking and repair
Accessful – Accessful Hub, Accessful Scan	Prepaid page quotas: 780 pages €1,950, 2,200 pages €4,950, 4,950 pages €9,900 (net); Enterprise and on-premises individually [2]	per PDF page (prepaid, no user licences, no minimum term) [2]	check in the scanner free of charge [6]
axes4 – PAC, axesPDF, axesCheck, axesPAC	axesPDF Team €549 per user per year; axesPAC and axesService on request [15]	licence per user per year (axesPDF) [15]	PAC and axesCheck free of charge [16, 13]
Adobe – Acrobat Pro, PDF Services API	Acrobat Pro for teams €23.99/month per licence excl. VAT; paid API tiers not publicly priced [24, 25]	licence per month (Acrobat); API by Document Transactions, Auto-Tag 10 per page [24, 25]	PDF Services Free Tier: 500 Document Transactions/month [25]
PDFix – Desktop, SDK	Desktop Pro €350, Enterprise €1,000 per user per year; SDK on request [26]	licence per user per year [26]	Desktop Lite (checking) free of charge [26]
CommonLook – Allyant	Not stated [30, 31]	Not stated [30]	7-day trial [30, 31]
CIB ridmi – CIB software GmbH	“Individual, by agreement” [33]	individual, by agreement [33]	Not stated [33]
PAVE 2.0 – ZHAW (Zurich University of Applied Sciences)	free for personal use [36]	Not stated [35, 38]	free to use (personal) [36]

Prices and billing units (document, page, user licence, API transaction) are not directly comparable, so we do not convert them into one another. Which unit works out cheaper for you depends on the number of pages, the volume of documents and the number of people working on them.

Good to know

DokAudit is software – we do not offer remediation by specialists as a service.
Operation in your own data centre (on-premises) on request.
During the pilot phase, billing is by invoice.

Free entry points

If you would like to start checking at no cost, several providers offer a free entry point. A second checker is also useful for cross-checking.

PAC (axes4): PAC (PDF Accessibility Checker), published by axes4, is free and runs locally on Windows; PAC is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. [16, 18, 19]
axes4: axesCheck from axes4 checks PDFs free of charge in the browser. [13]
PDFix: PDFix Desktop Lite is a free checker using veraPDF. [26, 27]
Accessful: Accessful offers a free check in its scanner. [6]
Adobe: The Adobe PDF Services API has a Free Tier with 500 Document Transactions per month. [25]
CommonLook (Allyant): CommonLook offers a 7-day trial. [30, 31]
DokAudit: pilot with 20 credits (100 pages), no credit card – covers not only checking but also automatic repair, the Hub and the form tool.
ZHAW / PAVE: PAVE 2.0 from ZHAW is free for personal use: upload a PDF, check it, generate the structure semi-automatically and refine it in the browser. [35, 36]

Notes and methodology

For the other providers, the table reflects only what is stated on their own vendor pages – every entry with a source. The information on DokAudit is our own, as of the same date.

Some of the products are built for different purposes (for example a desktop editor, a free checker, a cloud service). The overview is therefore no substitute for your own evaluation for your use case. The selection of providers is not exhaustive.

Legend

Yes: available according to the vendor source
Partly: available with a restriction according to the vendor source (the restriction is stated in the cell)
Not stated: not stated by the vendor: not mentioned on the vendor pages checked – this does not mean that the feature is missing
(with AI): the feature uses AI (artificial intelligence) according to the vendor source or our own information; the marker is shown in addition to the status.
The numbers in square brackets refer to the source list below.

Sources (38)

All sources retrieved on 10 October 2026. The information on DokAudit is our own.

Accessful: Home page – https://accessful.de/
Accessful: Pricing – https://accessful.de/preise/
Accessful: How it works – https://accessful.de/funktionsweise/
Accessful: PDF accessibility – https://accessful.de/pdf-barrierefreiheit/
Accessful: Security; On-premises – https://accessful.de/sicherheit/, https://accessful.de/on-premises/
Accessful: Accessful Scan (FAQ) – https://scan.accessful.de/
Accessful: Knowledge: PDF/UA – https://accessful.de/wissen/pdf-ua/
Accessful: API – https://accessful.de/api/
axes4: Home page; axesWord – https://www.axes4.com/de, https://www.axes4.com/de/desktop-software/axesword
axes4: axesPDF – https://www.axes4.com/de/desktop-software/axespdf
axes4: axesPAC – https://www.axes4.com/de/technologie/axespac
axes4: axesFlip – https://www.axes4.com/de/technologie/axesflip
axes4: axesCheck – https://check.axes4.com/de
axes4: axesService – https://www.axes4.com/de/axesservice
axes4: Buy axesPDF (prices) – https://www.axes4.com/en/desktop-software/axespdf/buy
PAC (axes4): Home page; Download – https://pac.pdf-accessibility.org/de, https://pac.pdf-accessibility.org/de/herunterladen
PAC (axes4): Introducing PDF Accessibility Checker 2026 – https://pac.pdf-accessibility.org/en/resources/quickstart-guide/introducing-pdf-accessibility-checker-2026
PAC (axes4): AI-assisted checks – https://pac.pdf-accessibility.org/de/ressourcen/ki-unterstuetzte-pruefungen
PAC (axes4): History – https://pac.pdf-accessibility.org/de/geschichte
Adobe: Acrobat: create and verify PDF accessibility – https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/create-verify-pdf-accessibility.html
Adobe: Acrobat: cloud auto-tagging – https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/cloud-auto-tagging-accessibility-pdfs.html
Adobe: PDF Accessibility Auto-Tag API – https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/apis/pdf-accessibility-auto-tag/
Adobe: PDF Services API: region – https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/docs/overview/pdf-services-api/howtos/service-region-configuration-for-apis
Adobe: Acrobat for business: pricing – https://www.adobe.com/de/acrobat/pricing/business.html
Adobe: PDF Services: limits; pay as you go – https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/docs/overview/limits, https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/pricing/pay-as-you-go
PDFix: Pricing – https://pdfix.net/pricing/
PDFix: PDFix Desktop – https://pdfix.net/products/pdfix-desktop/
PDFix: PDFix SDK – https://pdfix.net/products/pdfix-sdk/
PDFix: Actions Marketplace – https://pdfix.net/products/actions-marketplace/
CommonLook (Allyant): CommonLook Accessibility Suite – https://allyant.com/commonlook-accessibility-suite/
CommonLook (Allyant): CommonLook PDF – https://allyant.com/pdf-accessibility-software-solutions/commonlook-pdf/
CommonLook (Allyant): CommonLook Clarity – https://allyant.com/pdf-accessibility-testing-monitoring/commonlook-clarity/
CIB: CIB ridmi – https://www.cib.de/ridmi/
Hetzner (DokAudit’s hosting partner): Certification to DIN ISO/IEC 27001:2022 – https://www.hetzner.com/unternehmen/zertifizierung/
ZHAW / PAVE: Press release: enhanced web tool makes it easier to make PDFs accessible – https://www.zhaw.ch/de/ueber-uns/aktuell/news/detailansicht-news/event-news/weiterentwickeltes-webtool-macht-pdf-einfacher-barrierefrei
ZHAW / PAVE: Perkins eLearning: PAVE web tool (use, storage period) – https://www.perkinselearning.org/technology/digital-transitions/pave-web-tool-check-pdf-accessibility
ZHAW / PAVE: Study 2025: Step-by-Step PDF Remediation (PAVE 2.0) – https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.22216
ZHAW / PAVE: PAVE 2.0 home page – https://pave-pdf.org/

As of 10 October 2026, information taken from publicly accessible vendor pages; errors and changes excepted. Please report any errors to kontakt@dokaudit.de – we will correct them promptly.

Try it yourself

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