AODA consultants in Ontario: what they cost, what you actually need, and when a $99 package is enough

20–49 employees in Ontario

• Customer service policies, a service-animal and support-person practice, a feedback process, and a disruption notice (the four areas behind your one report question; see the customer service guide)
• Staff trained on accessible customer service and the Human Rights Code, with the free government modules
• The report filed by December 31, 2026, certified by a senior officer

Not needed: a website audit, a written accessibility policy, a multi-year plan, or training records (the records are wise, not required). Anyone selling a 20–49 organization a WCAG audit "for the AODA" is selling something the law does not ask of you.

50 or more employees in Ontario

• Everything above, documented, with notice to customers that the documents exist
• Written accessibility policies and statement of commitment; a posted multi-year accessibility plan; dated training records
• A public website meeting WCAG 2.0 Level AA, with the regulation's exceptions, required since January 1, 2021
• Accommodation language in hiring, written accommodation and return-to-work processes, individualized emergency information
• Public-spaces requirements for anything built or redeveloped since 2017
• The six-question report, certified

Where a specialist earns the fee: a large or transactional website that needs manual testing and developer time, or a public space built since 2017 that needs a built-environment review. Everything else on this list is documents and records, and the checklist by size names each one.

Before you sign anything

• Which question on the report does this deliverable answer? If they cannot map it to the form, it is not compliance work
• Does the law require this at our employee count? The honest answer at 20–49 is often "no" for most of a proposal
• Do we get the documents, or a subscription? Policies, plans and records are yours to keep; a monthly fee for a toolbar is not a document
• Who certifies the report? The only right answer is "your senior officer does." Nobody can certify on your behalf
• Is the website review automated, manual, or both, and against which standard? The regulation says WCAG 2.0 Level AA; automated tools alone catch roughly a third of it
• What does "compliant" mean in your contract? Nobody can guarantee compliance, and an honest firm says so in writing
• What happens if it turns out we do not have to file? A fair answer is a refund, not a pivot to another service
• Can we see a sample deliverable? A real policy, plan or fix list, not a brochure

The province's free toolkit

• The Accessibility Standards Checklist (ON00125): a self-assessment that branches by sector and employee count and tells you what applies
• Accessibility Policy Sample (ON00090): the policy, with blanks for your name
• Sample Multi-year Plan Template (ON00091): for 50+ organizations
• Accessibility Training Requirements Checklist (ON00092) and the free AccessForward modules that satisfy the training content
• Our free website checker: an instant read on your homepage and a six-page WCAG 2.0 AA report by email
• The report, question by question, so you know what you are answering before you open the portal

Honest assessment: the 20–49 set is a careful owner's weekend. The 50+ set is a few weeks of someone's attention plus a developer for the website. The templates give you the structure; the time goes into deciding what is true about your organization and writing it down.