Preact is a fast 3kB alternative to React with 36K+ GitHub stars, hooks, signals for fine-grained reactivity, and Preact/compat for full React ecosystem compatibility — but as a UI library 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 Preact application 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. Preact’s minimal bundle size makes it popular for performance-critical government portals and public-facing apps. However, Preact’s size advantage does not guarantee accessibility compliance: ARIA attributes on interactive elements, keyboard navigation patterns, focus management during client-side routing transitions, and color contrast of dynamic content are all developer responsibilities. PageGuard audits your live Preact application after each deployment, alerting you to accessibility regressions before the April 24 deadline.
| Feature | PageGuard | Preact |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | External website health monitor — scans any URL for performance, accessibility, SEO, and best practices | Fast 3kB alternative to React with the same modern API — hooks, context, signals, virtual DOM, JSX, Preact/compat for full React ecosystem compatibility; 36K+ GitHub stars; used in high-performance web apps where React bundle size is a bottleneck |
| Free tier | ✓ Yes — unlimited one-off scans, no signup required | Free and open source (MIT license); no SaaS pricing — you bundle Preact into your application and host it yourself |
| Accessibility audit (WCAG / ADA) | ✓ Yes — WCAG 2.1 AA scored 0–100 with specific issue list | No — Preact builds user interfaces but has no built-in WCAG or ADA accessibility auditing of deployed output; while Preact renders semantic HTML, component accessibility depends entirely on what developers write |
| Technical SEO audit | ✓ Yes — meta tags, headings, canonical, structured data | No — Preact has no built-in SEO auditing; client-side rendered Preact apps require prerendering or SSR for SEO; meta tags and structured data must be managed with preact-helmet or similar |
| Performance audit (Core Web Vitals) | ✓ Yes — LCP, CLS, FCP scored 0–100 per scan | No — Preact does not measure Core Web Vitals on deployed applications; while Preact itself is ~3KB, total application bundle size, hydration timing, and layout shifts still affect LCP and CLS scores |
| React-compatible UI library | No — PageGuard is a monitoring tool, not a UI component library | ✓ Yes — Preact provides useState, useEffect, useContext, useRef, useReducer hooks; Signals for fine-grained reactivity; Preact/compat for drop-in React compatibility; JSX/TSX support; extremely fast render and update performance at ~3KB gzip |
| Signals (fine-grained reactivity) | No — PageGuard is a standalone monitoring service | ✓ Yes — @preact/signals provides fine-grained reactivity that updates only the exact DOM nodes that changed, bypassing virtual DOM diffing; signal() creates reactive state; computed() derives values; effect() runs side effects; significant performance advantage over useState for frequent updates |
| Automated website monitoring | ✓ Yes — weekly or daily scans with email alerts on score drop | No — Preact is a UI library; it has no post-deployment health monitoring, accessibility regression alerts, or uptime checking for applications using it |
| AI-generated plain-English report | ✓ Yes — explains issues in non-technical language | No — no AI health report for applications built with Preact |
| ADA Title II compliance monitoring | ✓ Yes — WCAG audit + alert on accessibility regression | No — Preact does not audit or alert on WCAG compliance; dynamic routing transitions, focus management after navigation, and ARIA live region updates in Preact apps are developer responsibilities not enforced by the library |
| Works on any platform | ✓ Yes — scans any URL on any front-end or platform | No — Preact builds your own application only; it does not audit sites built by others |
| 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 Preact application |
| Instant on-demand scan | ✓ Yes — results in 30 seconds, no code changes needed | No — no on-demand health scan; external auditing of Preact applications requires separate tools like Lighthouse or axe |
| Multi-site dashboard | ✓ Yes — 1–50 sites depending on plan | Preact builds individual applications; there is no health monitoring dashboard showing accessibility, SEO, and performance scores across multiple Preact deployments |
| Pricing for health monitoring | ✓ Free + from $9/mo for automated monitoring | Health monitoring not available — Preact is a UI library, not a website health monitoring tool |
Get the WCAG accessibility score and Core Web Vitals that Preact doesn’t provide for your deployed application. Results in 30 seconds. No npm packages, hooks configuration, or Signals setup required.
Results in ~30 seconds. 4 scores: Performance, Accessibility, SEO, Best Practices.
Yes — PageGuard scans the live deployed URL of any application built with Preact, whether hosted on Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages, or any 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 source code, npm packages, or Preact configuration is required.
No — Preact renders user interfaces but does not audit WCAG compliance of the deployed output. Component accessibility depends entirely on what developers write: ARIA attributes, keyboard handlers, focus management after routing transitions, and color contrast are developer responsibilities. PageGuard audits your live Preact application and provides a WCAG 2.1 AA score with specific issues to fix.
Preact handles the UI layer: fast virtual DOM, hooks, signals, and React-compatible component rendering at 3KB. PageGuard audits the production layer: (1) WCAG/ADA accessibility of the rendered HTML, (2) Core Web Vitals performance (LCP, CLS, FCP) of the deployed application, (3) technical SEO quality including structured data and meta tags, and (4) automated monitoring with email alerts when component updates introduce regressions — from $9/mo.
No — they serve completely different purposes. Preact is a fast, lightweight React alternative for building performant user interfaces. PageGuard is an external quality monitoring tool for your deployed front-end. Teams building applications with Preact should use both: Preact to build the UI efficiently, PageGuard to verify the production application meets accessibility compliance and performance standards after every deployment.