WAVE alternatives: from one-page checks to continuous monitoring

WAVE is a respected free evaluation tool for checking one page at a time by hand. Its limit is scope: it answers 'does this page pass right now' and nothing about the other templates, next week, or who changed what. The alternative for a running store is continuous monitoring with per-template scoring over time, so status is always current and always on record.

Where one-page tools stop

A Shopify store is dozens of templates plus app-injected components, changing weekly. Checking the home page monthly tells you about the home page, monthly. Product, cart, search, and account templates fail independently, and a clean check last month says nothing after the next theme update. Manual spot checks also leave no dated evidence trail, which is the thing a dispute actually asks for.

What monitoring adds

Full-store scans on a schedule, per-template scores tracked as a trend, alerts when anything regresses, and a monthly report that documents the program. The score becomes a number with a history instead of a snapshot, which is what insurers and counsel ask for. Your first scorecard comes from the free accessibility audit.