Gridsome is a Vue.js static site generator with a GraphQL data layer and 8.5K+ GitHub stars — powerful for data-driven static sites — but as a static site generator in maintenance mode it has no built-in WCAG accessibility audit, no Core Web Vitals scoring, and no post-deployment health monitoring. PageGuard audits the live deployed URL of any Gridsome site externally — free, no source code needed, results in 30 seconds.
ADA Title II Deadline: April 24, 2026
State and local government websites must meet WCAG 2.1 AA by April 24, 2026. Government agencies, nonprofits, and educational institutions using Gridsome to publish public-facing portals face compliance obligations. Because Gridsome is in maintenance mode, its Vue 2 component ecosystem and starter themes may not reflect current ARIA best practices. GraphQL-sourced content from CMS platforms can introduce missing alt text or heading hierarchy issues, and Vue Router page transitions can create focus management problems that only surface in the deployed HTML. PageGuard provides continuous post-deployment accessibility monitoring without modifying your Gridsome configuration or Vue component code.
| Feature | PageGuard | Gridsome |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | External website health monitor — scans any URL for performance, accessibility, SEO, and best practices | Vue.js static site generator powered by GraphQL — a 'data layer' approach inspired by Gatsby where any data source (CMS, APIs, Markdown, CSV) is queried via GraphQL at build time and rendered into pre-built HTML + Vue 3 components; generates Progressive Web Apps (PWA) by default with prefetching, lazy loading, and offline support; 8.5K+ GitHub stars; officially in maintenance mode since 2022 |
| Free tier | ✓ Yes — unlimited one-off scans, no signup required | Free and open source (MIT license); no SaaS pricing — install via npm, define GraphQL data sources in gridsome.config.js, write Vue SFC components in src/pages/, run gridsome develop or gridsome build, deploy the static /dist output to any CDN, Netlify, Vercel, or Cloudflare Pages |
| Accessibility audit (WCAG / ADA) | ✓ Yes — WCAG 2.1 AA scored 0–100 with specific issue list | No — Gridsome generates static HTML from Vue components and GraphQL data but has no built-in WCAG or ADA accessibility auditing; accessibility quality depends entirely on the Vue SFC components in src/pages/ and src/templates/, the chosen Gridsome starter theme, and any third-party Vue components pulled from npm; the generated HTML and client-side hydration must be verified externally for ARIA roles, keyboard navigation, and focus management |
| Technical SEO audit | ✓ Yes — meta tags, headings, canonical, structured data | No — Gridsome has a vue-meta integration for per-page title, description, and Open Graph tags, and generates a sitemap via gridsome-plugin-sitemap; but provides no SEO audit scores, canonical validation, structured data completeness checks, or heading hierarchy analysis for the rendered output of each generated page |
| Performance audit (Core Web Vitals) | ✓ Yes — LCP, CLS, FCP scored 0–100 per scan | No — Gridsome pre-renders pages and prefetches linked routes for fast navigation, but Core Web Vitals depend on the Vue SFC component tree, image handling, third-party scripts, and GraphQL-sourced content rendering; no built-in CWV measurement or scoring for deployed Gridsome sites |
| Static site generator with GraphQL data layer | No — PageGuard is a monitoring tool, not a site generator |
✓ Yes — Gridsome's core innovation is a unified GraphQL data layer: define sources (contentful, filesystem, WordPress REST API, etc.) in gridsome.config.js and query them with GraphQL in |
| Vue component ecosystem | No — PageGuard is a standalone monitoring service | ✓ Yes — Gridsome is built on Vue 2 (with Vue Router and Vuex) and supports the full Vue 2 component ecosystem; src/pages/ directory maps to URL routes, src/templates/ creates individual pages for GraphQL collection nodes; supports Vue SFC single-file components with scoped CSS, transitions, and the Options API; layouts in src/layouts/ wrap page components with shared header/footer |
| Automated website monitoring | ✓ Yes — weekly or daily scans with email alerts on score drop | No — Gridsome is a static site generator; it has no post-deployment health monitoring, accessibility regression alerts, or uptime checking for the sites it generates; the project is in maintenance mode with no active feature development |
| AI-generated plain-English report | ✓ Yes — explains issues in non-technical language | No — no AI health report for sites built with Gridsome |
| ADA Title II compliance monitoring | ✓ Yes — WCAG audit + alert on accessibility regression | No — Gridsome does not audit or alert on WCAG compliance; common accessibility issues in Gridsome sites include missing ARIA labels on navigation components, insufficient color contrast in starter themes, keyboard focus management gaps during Vue Router client-side page transitions, missing alt text on images sourced from GraphQL data (e.g., featured images from WordPress or Contentful), and improper heading hierarchy in template components — all requiring external runtime validation on the deployed site |
| Works on any platform | ✓ Yes — scans any URL on any front-end or platform | No — Gridsome builds your own static site only; it does not audit sites built by others or sites using different frameworks |
| Independent external audit | ✓ Yes — third-party scan, shareable URL for clients/stakeholders | No — no built-in tool to generate a shareable external health report for a Gridsome-generated site |
| Instant on-demand scan | ✓ Yes — results in 30 seconds, no code changes needed | No — no on-demand health scan; external auditing of Gridsome sites requires separate tools like Lighthouse or axe after deployment |
| Multi-site dashboard | ✓ Yes — 1–50 sites depending on plan | Gridsome generates individual static sites; there is no health monitoring dashboard showing accessibility, SEO, and performance scores across multiple Gridsome deployments |
| Pricing for health monitoring | ✓ Free + from $9/mo for automated monitoring | Health monitoring not available — Gridsome is a static site generator, not a website health monitoring tool |
Get the WCAG accessibility score and Core Web Vitals for your deployed Gridsome static site. Results in 30 seconds. No Node.js, Gridsome installation, or GraphQL schema access required.
Results in ~30 seconds. 4 scores: Performance, Accessibility, SEO, Best Practices.
Yes — PageGuard scans the live deployed URL of any Gridsome-generated site hosted on Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages, GitHub Pages, or a self-managed CDN. Enter the public URL and receive a full health report in ~30 seconds covering Core Web Vitals, WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility, technical SEO, and best practices. No Node.js, Gridsome installation, or GraphQL schema access is required.
No — Gridsome generates static HTML from Vue 2 components and GraphQL data with no WCAG compliance checking. Common issues include missing ARIA labels on starter theme navigation components, insufficient color contrast in theme CSS variables, keyboard focus gaps during Vue Router page transitions, missing alt text on GraphQL-sourced images from CMS platforms, and improper heading hierarchy in Vue template components. PageGuard audits your live Gridsome site and provides a WCAG 2.1 AA score with specific issues to fix.
Gridsome is in maintenance mode, meaning its Vue 2 component ecosystem and starter themes may not have received recent accessibility updates required for ADA Title II compliance by April 24, 2026. GraphQL-sourced content from CMS platforms can introduce missing alt text or heading hierarchy problems that only appear in the deployed HTML. Vue Router transitions can cause focus management issues. PageGuard provides continuous post-deployment monitoring without requiring changes to your Gridsome configuration or Vue component code.
No — they serve completely different purposes. Gridsome is a Vue 2-powered static site generator with a unified GraphQL data layer for querying multiple CMS and API sources at build time, generating pre-rendered HTML and PWA output. PageGuard is an external quality monitoring tool for the deployed output of those static sites. Organizations running Gridsome sites should use PageGuard to continuously monitor accessibility, SEO, and performance without modifying their existing Vue component code or GraphQL data sources.