About this plugin
You ran an accessibility check, or a client did, and hundreds of images came back with no alt text. Writing them by hand is a day of work nobody has.
This plugin adds alt text generation to the Media Library you already use. Pick images, generate, done.
What it does
- Fixes a whole library in one pass – select images in the Media list and use the Generate Alt Text bulk action. No separate screen to learn.
- Leaves alt text people wrote alone – a bulk run only fills images that have none. Images that already have alt text are skipped, counted in the summary, and cost no credits.
- Shows you what is missing – a new Media Library column marks every image without alt text, so you can see the size of the problem before you start.
- Reaches posts you already published – WordPress copies alt text into a post when an image is inserted, so alt text added later never reaches older posts on its own. This plugin fills the gap as each post is displayed.
- Handles new uploads on its own – turn on auto-generate and images get alt text shortly after they are added, in the background, so uploads stay fast and the backlog never rebuilds.
How it works
- Install and paste your API key in Settings.
- Select images in the Media Library and choose Generate Alt Text.
- Review and edit anything you want to change. The text is saved in WordPress.
Where the text goes
Generated text is saved to _wp_attachment_image_alt, the same field WordPress core uses for alt text. That has consequences worth knowing:
- Featured images, galleries, product images, and anything else a theme or page builder displays from the Media Library use it straight away.
- Images already inside a post are different. The block editor and the classic editor both copy alt text into the post when the image is inserted, so a post that went out with none still has none after you fix the Media Library. With Existing posts switched on (the default), the plugin fills each such image from the Media Library as the post is displayed. Alt text an author wrote in a post is never changed, and nothing is written to your posts.
- Your Media Library alt text stays in your database. Deactivate or delete the plugin and it is still there.
- You can edit it anywhere WordPress lets you edit alt text. This plugin is not a separate store.
Four writing styles, or your own
The same photo needs different alt text on a gallery and on a product page. Pick one of four styles, or write your own instruction:
- Standard – a plain description of what is visible, under 125 characters.
- Concise – under 80 characters, for dense listings.
- SEO – keyword-aware, 10 to 15 words.
- E-commerce – product, colour, key features.
- Custom – up to 500 characters of your own guidance, e.g. “These are handmade ceramics. Mention glaze colour and shape.” It steers the writing; it cannot change what the service does.
28 languages
Alt text is written in the language you choose, not translated after the fact: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, Turkish, Indonesian, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Greek, Hebrew, Vietnamese and Thai.
What it sends
Generating alt text sends the image to the DescribeImg API, which needs an account and an API key. The image itself is not kept: it is deleted once its alt text is written. What the service does keep, and who else sees the image, is under External services below.
Nothing is sent until you ask for a generation, or until you switch on auto-generate.
Pricing
The plugin is free. The service it calls has a free tier and paid plans:
- Free – 25 images, no card required
- Starter – $5/month, 150 images
- Pro – $19/month, 600 images
- Business – $49/month, 2,000 images
- Agency – $89/month, 6,000 images
Unused credits carry forward to the next month.
Requirements
- WordPress 6.2 or later
- PHP 7.4 or later
- A DescribeImg API key (free tier available)
- Outbound HTTPS from your server to describeimg.com
External services
com. It is what writes the alt text, so the plugin does nothing without it.
What is sent, and when:
- When you generate alt text – one image, the bulk action, or auto-generate after an upload – the plugin sends the image file (a web-sized copy where WordPress has made one), its attachment ID and filename, and your API key.
- When you verify your key, and each time the settings page loads – your API key only, to check it and to show your plan and remaining credits.
What happens to it:
- The image is sent on to OpenAI, which writes the alt text, and is deleted by DescribeImg once that is done.
- DescribeImg keeps the attachment ID, the filename, the alt text it wrote and a timestamp as your account’s generation history, for 12 months.
DescribeImg Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.