Auto Alt Text is a WordPress plugin built for site owners who want images in their media library to carry descriptive alt text without writing it by hand for every upload.
It fills in alt text automatically whenever a new image is added, and it can also process images that are already sitting in the library, which makes it useful for anyone trying to catch up on accessibility or SEO gaps across an existing site.
The alt text can be produced by an AI service of your choice: OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini or Microsoft Azure’s Computer Vision. Each of these requires an account and an API key from that provider, entered on the plugin’s options page, and the provider may charge for the requests it processes.
If you prefer not to use AI, the plugin can instead simply copy the image title or the title of the post the image is attached to. Generated text is written directly into the alt text field of the media library entry, and results or errors are visible from the WordPress admin area.
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Key Features of Auto Alt Text
Alt Text Generation Methods
Multiple AI providers. Choose OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini or Azure Computer Vision to describe uploaded images, with the model list for OpenAI and Google refreshed automatically once an API key is saved.
Non-AI fallback options. Skip external services entirely by generating alt text from the image title or from the title of the article the image is uploaded into, useful when an API key is not available.
Automatic model fallback. If a selected model is retired by its provider, the plugin switches to the least expensive available model and shows an admin notice so uploads are never blocked.
Custom prompts. For AI-based methods, you can set your own prompt to guide how the description is written.
Bulk And Automated Processing
Automatic generation on upload. Every image added to the media library gets an alt text set immediately, based on whichever generation method is configured.
Bulk action in the media library. Select multiple images in list view and apply the Generate Alt Text bulk action, or generate one image at a time from grid view.
WP-CLI support. Process large media libraries from the command line with the wp auto-alt-text generate command, which avoids web server timeouts, shows a progress bar, supports batching with limit and offset, and can be resumed or run as a dry run.
Existing alt text protection. A Keep Existing Alt Text option leaves images that already have descriptions untouched, while a force flag in WP-CLI or the single-image button can regenerate them on demand.
Display And Reliability
Automatic alt text rendering in content. An optional setting fills in missing alt attributes directly in the rendered HTML of posts and pages using the alt text stored in the media library, without altering the saved content itself.
Error logging. Failed API calls are recorded with their error message on the Auto Alt Text Error Log page, so image uploads continue even when a generation request fails.
How to Install Auto Alt Text
Step 1: Install and activate. In the WordPress dashboard go to Plugins > Add New Plugin, search for Auto Alt Text, then click Install Now followed by Activate.
Step 2: Open the plugin menu. Click the Auto Alt Text menu item that appears in the WordPress admin after activation.
Step 3: Choose a generation method. On the options page, select whether alt text should come from OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Azure, the image title or the article title.
Step 4: Connect your API key. If you picked an AI provider, enter its API key (and, for Azure, the Computer Vision endpoint and optional Translator details for other languages), then save so available models load.
Step 5: Pick a model and prompt. Select which model to use and, for AI methods, enter a prompt describing how you want images described.
Step 6: Generate for existing images. Use the Generate Alt Text bulk action or single-image button in the media library, or run the wp auto-alt-text generate WP-CLI command for larger libraries.
Good to Know About Auto Alt Text
The developer notes that using AI generation requires an account and API key with the chosen provider, and that each request is billed by that provider according to its own pricing, so testing a small batch before processing a full library is advisable. Supported AI services accept only certain image file types, so some formats may be skipped depending on the provider.
The plugin does not collect data from provider accounts itself; it mainly sends the image file and the configured prompt to the selected service. It stores API keys encrypted, and the developer recommends defining dedicated encryption constants in wp-config.php so stored keys remain valid if WordPress authentication salts ever change.
Download Auto Alt Text on WordPress.org