About this plugin
WordPress stores alt text in three unrelated places, and most plugins only fix one of them.
- Attachment metadata ( _wp_attachment_image_alt ) – what the Media Library edits.
- Baked into post content – when an editor inserts an image, WordPress copies the alt attribute literally into the post HTML. Fixing the Media Library afterwards does not change it. Your visitor still gets alt="".
- Images that are not attachments – theme-hardcoded, external, or offloaded to a CDN. There is no attachment metadata to fix.
AltShield handles all three, and shows you which layer each image needs fixing at, so the report matches what an accessibility checker actually sees on your pages.
What it does for free
Everything below runs on your own server, needs no account, and has no limit:
- Scan and audit every image – Media Library, post and page content, featured images, WooCommerce galleries and ACF fields.
- Classify each one as missing, needs improvement, or properly described, with the reason (filename as alt text, stray symbols, over 120 characters, generic placeholder).
- Used vs unused – see which images actually appear on your site, so you can skip the uploads nobody sees.
- Write alt text from metadata – built from the title, caption and filename. Unlimited, instant, no network request.
- Fix rendered pages without editing your content. Alt text is injected at render time, so your posts are never rewritten and deactivating the plugin restores the previous behaviour exactly.
- Review before anything is written. Every suggestion is shown next to the image and is fully editable.
- Undo. Every change is logged with its original value and any run can be reversed in one click.
- Never overwrites human-written alt text, unless you turn that guard off.
- Decorative images are left alone. A spacer, divider or icon should have empty alt – describing it makes screen readers worse, not better.
Optional: AI descriptions
Metadata can only describe what WordPress already knows. For a photograph, the filename tells you nothing, so the plugin can optionally send the image to our hosted service to be described.
This is entirely optional. The plugin is fully functional without it, and nothing is sent anywhere until you press Connect this site and agree.
External services
This plugin can connect to SmartAlt Gen AI, a service operated by EcomBack, to generate alt text by looking at your images. This only happens if you choose to connect, and only when you press Generate with the AI option selected.
com/alt-text-pro-wp/api/wp
What is sent when you press “Connect this site”:
- Your site address
- The email address of the administrator connecting
- Your WordPress version, plugin version, and site language
This is used to create your account, issue a licence key, and count usage against your plan.
What is sent when you generate AI alt text:
- A small thumbnail of the image (typically the medium_large size), or its URL if your media is offloaded to a CDN
- The image filename and its own title field
- The title of the post it is uploaded to in the Media Library, if any
- Your chosen language, maximum length, and any extra instructions you have set
The image is held in memory only for the length of one description request and then discarded.
What the service stores: your site address, administrator email, plan and usage counters. It does not store image files, the alt text produced, or any of your page content.
com/eb-altix-terms-of-service
com/eb-altix-pro-privacy-policy
Generating alt text with AI is a metered service. A free allowance is included; beyond that it requires a paid plan. Scanning, auditing, metadata-based alt text, applying and undoing are always free and never require an account.