# MotionSpec vs MotionScore, MotionLint, Lighthouse, axe, stylelint-a11y

Canonical: https://motionspec.dev/compare

How MotionSpec compares with motion.dev MotionScore, MotionLint, Lighthouse/axe, stylelint-a11y and Impeccable on reduced-motion, WCAG 2.2.2, flashing and runtime motion — as of 2026-09-03.

Comparison · as of 2026-09-03. What each tool measures about UI motion — reduced-motion guards, WCAG 2.2.2 pause paths, flashing, runtime JavaScript — with prices and reach as we found them on 3 September 2026. Written by the MotionSpec team; read it as one vendor's honest inventory, not a neutral review.

**The short version.** Nobody covers all of motion accessibility, and the tools overlap less than their names suggest. Linters catch a missing prefers-reduced-motion block in CSS. Runtime tools measure what actually moves in a browser. General accessibility engines such as axe and Lighthouse barely look at motion at all. MotionSpec sits in a narrow spot: a static scan of somebody else's live site that returns a score, a badge and a dated report, plus a compiler whose output carries the reduced-motion fallback and a pause path by construction. Where a tool below does something MotionSpec does not, the table says so.

## Side by side

| Tool | Detects a missing reduced-motion guard (WCAG 2.3.3 lane) | Pause / Stop / Hide (WCAG 2.2.2) | Flashing (WCAG 2.3.1) | Runtime JavaScript motion | Price (2026-09-03) | Reach (2026-09-03) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MotionSpec (https://motionspec.dev/) | static CSS scan (declarations outside a prefers-reduced-motion guard) | yes — reports infinite/long CSS animation without a pause path | no — not checked (the report says so) | static only — runtime libraries are disclosed as “not audited”, an external bundle without a trace in the HTML is not detected | MIT core $0 · Motion Report $29 one-time · Dev Key $39/mo · Agency $249/mo | npm 213 downloads/week · GitHub 0 stars |
| MotionLint (https://www.npmjs.com/package/motionlint) | yes — at runtime (Playwright/CDP frame measurement) | — | — | yes — measures real frames | $0 (MIT, since 04/2026; MCP registry since 2026-07-27) | npm 241 downloads/month · GitHub 0 stars |
| Impeccable (https://github.com/pbakaus/impeccable) | yes — as an audit playbook for coding agents | — | yes | — | $0 | GitHub 65.3k stars |
| motion.dev MotionScore Code Audit (Motion+) (https://motion.dev/) | yes | — | yes | yes | part of Motion+ (paid) | “2,000 indie devs” (their claim) |
| axe-core 4.13 / Lighthouse (https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core) | no | only blink and <marquee> | no | no | $0 · axe DevTools Pro roughly $79–99/mo (secondary source) | npm 68.9M downloads/week (axe-core) |
| stylelint-a11y (two forks) (https://www.npmjs.com/package/stylelint-a11y) | yes — media-prefers-reduced-motion rule | no | no | no | $0 | npm 41k downloads/week |
| Anthropic plugin frontend-design | an instruction (“reduced motion respected”), not a check | — | — | — | $0 | official Claude Code marketplace (291 plugins) |

"—" = we did not establish this in our 2026-09-03 check; the absence of a mark is not a claim that the tool lacks it. Prices and download counts are as published on that date and change.

## Where MotionSpec is alone — and where it is not

- Alone: a static scan of a third-party live URL that returns a score, a badge and a dated, WCAG-cited report; a deterministic compiler whose output carries the prefers-reduced-motion fallback; explicit reporting of WCAG 2.2.2 pause paths for looping motion.

    - Not alone, or not there: detecting a missing reduced-motion guard (stylelint-a11y, Impeccable, MotionScore and MotionLint all do it, in CSS or at runtime); flashing analysis (Impeccable and MotionScore cover it, MotionSpec does not); runtime measurement (MotionLint measures real frames, MotionSpec only discloses that a runtime library is present — and misses one that arrives in an external bundle).

    - Everyone: none of these tools makes a site WCAG-, EAA- or ADA-compliant, and none replaces a full accessibility audit. Each covers a slice; the slices are listed above.

## Which one to reach for

- You lint your own CSS in CI — stylelint-a11y gives you the reduced-motion rule for free; add MotionSpec’s motion audit if you also want the 2.2.2 pause-path check and a score.

    - You want to know what actually moves in a browser — MotionLint measures frames at runtime; MotionSpec’s static scan cannot.

    - You direct a coding agent — Impeccable’s playbook and the Anthropic frontend-design plugin instruct the model; MotionSpec’s MCP tools validate and compile the result against a reviewed catalog.

    - You ship other people’s sites and need paper — the free check for the pre-flight, the Motion Report for the client file, the Agency plan for ten domains at once.

    - You already run Lighthouse or axe — keep them; neither evaluates animation, prefers-reduced-motion, autoplay or an unpausable loop, so a motion tool sits beside them rather than replacing them. What the Lighthouse score does and does not tell you →

## A note on MotionSpec’s own numbers

MotionSpec currently reports two scores for the same findings: the website’s free check and the Motion Report use scoring v2 (severity weights per root cause, log-dampened by occurrences, per-category caps); npx motionspec audit (v1.2.7) and the MCP tools still report scoring v1 (a flat deduction per finding). Same findings, different weighting — the same URL can show two numbers today. A unified score is planned. The reach figures for MotionSpec above are our own: 213 npm downloads a week and 0 GitHub stars on 2026-09-03.

## How this table was made

Each row comes from the tool’s own documentation, source or npm/GitHub page as read on 2026-09-03, plus a run of the tool where one was possible. Prices are the published list prices on that day; where we only had a secondary source (axe DevTools Pro), the table says so. We will correct any cell a maintainer shows to be wrong — write to hello@motionspec.dev and the change lands with a date.

Run the free motion check: https://motionspec.dev/motion-check · Docs: https://motionspec.dev/docs · Agency plan: https://motionspec.dev/for/agencies#offer · Lighthouse guide: https://motionspec.dev/blog/lighthouse-accessibility-motion

MotionSpec checks and compiles UI animation for AI-generated web apps — it does not generate AI video. Product names belong to their owners; this page is not endorsed by any of them. © 2026 Fröba Sales Solutions UG (haftungsbeschränkt).