How to start a Accessibility Audits for Open-Source and Self-Hosted Projects business: plan and growth
A developer of free Nextcloud Android apps admits accessibility is checked last if at all, and suspects that's true across most of the self-hosted community.
An owner can start “Accessibility Audits for Open-Source and Self-Hosted Projects” from a complaint people already posted. The offer, in one line: Affordable automated plus expert a11y audits with a prioritized fix plan for low-budget OSS projects. It is for open-source maintainers. Charge a done-for-you service, and test a price at $200 a month or more. Begin in more than one country. Buyers already talk about this in r/selfhosted. One thread gathered 45 votes and 13 replies across Sep 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026. Use that room to meet the first twenty buyers. Do not export it, and do not republish the posts. The idea, the evidence, and the market estimate on this page are free to read. Two paid prompts finish the job: one drafts the offer, the price, and a ninety-day calendar; the other drafts a month of conversations and proof. One credit unlocks both. A software specification is not on this site. When the company is the product itself, a single link further down opens the founder library.
If you have a disability and selfhost or want to…r/selfhosted · Sep 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026 · 45 votes · 13 replies · Open the thread
Who would pay
Open-source maintainers. Start in more than one country, and charge a done-for-you service, testing a price at $200 a month or more.
The thread above is the public complaint this business can learn from. Verbatim quotes are not invented. Further sources, when a later report adds them, stay with the evidence.
What buyers use today
- axe DevTools
- Lighthouse
- Agency audits
The offer, in our words
An automated + expert accessibility audit service tailored to budget-limited open-source/self-hosted projects, with a clear report and prioritized fix plan.
Score 2.60, Simmering. Pain, willingness to pay, demand, and the gap in current options drive it. We are not scoring how fast you can code.
Market size
An estimate, built from the bottom up: real customer counts × a realistic price. It shows the size of the prize, not a forecast.
TAM Total addressable
$7.5M a year
2,500 projects · 50% of commercially backed open-source and self-hosted projects (assumption)
SAM Serviceable
$2.3M a year
750 projects · projects with a paying sponsor or company
SOM Obtainable in 3 years
$45K a year
15 projects · 2% of the reachable segment in three years
What that means
15 projects a year × ~$3,000 = $45K a year in revenue
Low confidence · estimated Oct 2026
How we estimated this
- Base: 5,000 commercially backed open-source and self-hosted projects (assumption).
- Has the problem: 50% (assume half need an accessibility audit a year).
- Revenue per project: $3,000 per year (~$3,000 per audit).
- Reachable: 30% (projects with a paying sponsor or company).
- Three-year capture: 2% of the reachable segment.
TAM is customers with the problem × revenue per customer. SAM is the part a new business can reach. SOM is a cautious three-year share of SAM. The bars use a log scale. A share marked “assume” is our judgment, not a measurement.
There is no public count for this audience, so the base is our assumption. Read it as an order of magnitude.
The business-plan prompt
The offer, the price, and a ninety-day calendar, written for an agent. 1 credit unlocks both prompts for this idea: this plan and the growth playbook below.
# Business plan prompt: Accessibility Audits for Open-Source and Self-Hosted Projects You are writing a practical plan for one owner who will sell this as a business. Do not write a software specification, a venture memo, or a feature list. Use short sentences. Where a number is unknown, give a range and say what to measure. ## The business Working name: Accessibility Audits for Open-Source and Self-Hosted Projects What the customer gets: Affordable automated plus expert a11y audits with a prioritized fix plan for low-budget OSS projects. Who pays: Open-source maintainers
Locked · the first lines are above
Unlock both prompts for this idea · 1 credit ($9.99)
One credit opens the business plan and the growth playbook together, for good. Credits work on both businessideastobuild.com and realstartupideas.com.
Sign in once with your Real Startup Ideas account; the same credits work on both sites.
The growth playbook
Thirty weekdays of conversations and proof. Not an ad plan. Included with the plan above, on the same credit.
# Growth prompt: Accessibility Audits for Open-Source and Self-Hosted Projects You are planning thirty days of distribution for a business that already has an offer. The offer: Affordable automated plus expert a11y audits with a prioritized fix plan for low-budget OSS projects. The buyer: open-source maintainers. Price band: at $200 a month or more. Do not propose ads, a viral loop, or a rebrand. Propose conversations, proof, and a repeatable weekly rhythm. ## Starting point A public thread in r/selfhosted drew 45 votes and 13 replies. The pain, in the owner's words: A developer of free Nextcloud Android apps admits accessibility is checked last if at all, and suspects that's true across most of the self-hosted community.
Locked · the first lines are above
Unlock both prompts for this idea · 1 credit ($9.99)
One credit opens the business plan and the growth playbook together, for good. Credits work on both businessideastobuild.com and realstartupideas.com.
Sign in once with your Real Startup Ideas account; the same credits work on both sites.
Questions
How much money do I need to start?
Enough to talk to buyers and deliver the offer once. A service version can start with a written process and a way to take payment. A software version is a larger bet and is not required to test the price. The band to test is $200 and up.
How should I price it?
Test a price at $200 a month or more, charged as a done-for-you service. Raise it after three paid pilots, not before the first conversation.
Where do the first customers come from?
r/selfhosted is the clue. A related thread gathered 45 votes and 13 replies. Show up there, follow the room's rules, and ask for conversations. Do not scrape it.
Do I need to write code?
No. The prompts on this page draft a plan and a month of growth. Code is a later choice. The founder site linked once below is where the build document lives, if you want it.
A separate site sells the agent build document and can build the product. Have this built
A two-week build starts at $10,000 on that site, after a $1,000 scoping fee.
Plans and growth playbooks
One credit opens both prompts for this business.
The idea, the evidence, and the market estimate stay free. The business plan and the thirty-day growth playbook for Accessibility Audits for Open-Source and Self-Hosted Projects cost one credit, together, and stay unlocked.
Credits work on both businessideastobuild.com and realstartupideas.com. Sign in once with your Real Startup Ideas account; it is the same wallet.