AI Alt Text Generator vs Toolbelt

AI Alt Text Generator writes clear, descriptive alt text for every image on your WordPress site — improving accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.2, ADA, Section 508, and the European Accessibility Act) and image SEO at the same time. It works out of the box: activate the plugin and start generating, no API key and no signup required. Every site gets 50 free images per month through the built-in managed credits service. That makes it a fit for small organizations that need accessible, legally compliant websites but don’t want to wrangle developer accounts or AI billing — nonprofits, churches, schools, clinics, and small businesses working toward WCAG / EU Accessibility Act compliance. Alt text is required for accessible, legally compliant websites, and it helps search engines understand your images. But writing it by hand across an entire media library rarely happens — so this plugin does it for you, in bulk or automatically on upload. It produces concise, WCAG-aligned descriptions (no “image of…” filler, sensible length) and can fold in the page context and your SEO focus keyphrase for sharper, more relevant alt text. It pairs perfectly with accessibility audit tools that flag missing alt text — this is the plugin that fills the gaps. How it works — two ways to generate: Managed credits (default, recommended) — No API key, no signup. The plugin connects to the AI Alt Text Generator managed service automatically and gives every site 50 free images per month. Need more? Affordable paid credit plans are available. This uses an external, account-based service (see the disclosure below) and is optional beyond the free tier. Bring your own API key (advanced) — Prefer to run on your own OpenAI or Anthropic account? Add your own API key in the Advanced settings and generation runs at-cost, directly with your provider, with no per-image fees or vendor lock-in. You choose the provider and model. Key Features: – Works out of the box: no API key needed — 50 free images per month on every site – Accessibility & compliance: WCAG-aligned output to support ADA, EAA, and Section 508 requirements – SEO keyphrase integration: automatically weaves in focus keyphrases from Yoast SEO, Rank Math, and SEOPress (without keyword stuffing) – Page-context aware: uses the page/post the image belongs to for more relevant descriptions – Bring your own key (optional): advanced users can plug in their own OpenAI or Anthropic key — any vision-capable model, no lock-in – Bulk Processing: generate alt text for your whole library at once, or automatically on upload – Custom Prompts: tailor the AI prompt to your brand and needs – Multi-Language Support: generate alt text in many languages – Testing Feature: preview prompts before applying them to images – WP-CLI Support: bulk-generate from the command line – Developer-friendly: extensible via action/filter hooks for custom integrations and add-ons WP-CLI: The plugin registers a wp ai-alt-text command suite, making it easy to automate alt text generation across one or many sites. # Bulk-generate alt text for all images missing it (uses managed credits by default) wp ai-alt-text generate # Optional: configure your own provider and API key (advanced) wp ai-alt-text activate --provider=openai --key=sk-xxxxxxxx # Regenerate alt text for specific attachments wp ai-alt-text generate --ids=12,34,56 --force # Preview what would be processed without calling the API wp ai-alt-text generate --limit=20 --dry-run # Show current configuration and coverage wp ai-alt-text status A typical install-and-generate workflow needs no key at all: wp plugin install ai-alt-text-generator --activate wp ai-alt-text generate --yes New in Latest Version: – Managed credits are now the default: generate alt text with no API key and no signup — 50 free images per month on every site – Bring-your-own OpenAI/Anthropic key moved to an “Advanced” option for users who prefer to run on their own account – WCAG-aligned output, SEO focus-keyphrase integration (Yoast / Rank Math / SEOPress), and page-context awareness – Optionally set the image Title, Caption, and Description from the generated alt text – Future-proof model handling (no hard-coded model versions; configurable defaults) Important: This plugin uses an external AI service to generate alt text — either the optional managed-credit service (account-based, free tier plus paid plans) or your own OpenAI/Anthropic key. See the External Service Usage Disclosure below. AI Alt Text Generator Pro (optional upgrade) Need automation at scale? The optional Pro add-on builds on this free plugin with: – WooCommerce product context for commerce-aware, SEO-rich alt text – Scheduled background scans that describe new and existing images automatically – A coverage analytics dashboard to track your progress toward 100% – Automatic updates and priority support Learn more about Pro — the free plugin remains fully functional on its own. External Service Usage Disclosure This plugin relies on external AI services to generate alt text. In all cases, data (images and their metadata) is sent to an external service for processing. The plugin does not store your images or generated alt text on our servers beyond what is needed to return your result. Managed credits service (default) By default the plugin uses the AI Alt Text Generator managed credits service so it works with no API key. On activation, the plugin automatically connects your site to obtain a free account (50 images per month) — this registers your site with the external service and requires an account. Images to be described are sent to this service for processing. Use beyond the free monthly tier requires a paid credit plan. The service is operated via https://store.lessbutmore.ai?utm_source=plugin&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=disclosure — please review the site for its terms and privacy policy. You can disable managed credits in the plugin settings and use your own API key instead. Bring-your-own-key providers (optional, advanced) If you add your own API key, images are sent to the provider you select: – OpenAI: For more information, please review the OpenAI Terms of Use and Privacy Policy – Anthropic: For more information, please review the Anthropic Terms of Service and Privacy Policy You choose which path to use and are only required to agree to the terms of the service you actually use. Support For support, feature requests, or bug reports, please contact us through the WordPress plugin support forum.

A collection of simple addons that provide every day functionality with privacy and speed. There’s very few options, and no unnecessary filler. It does exactly what it needs to do and nothing else. Toolbelt takes a privacy first approach to adding features. Everything happens on your server. No data is sent to third party servers without your explicit consent. No data is loaded from third parties (for example social sharing scripts). Taking inspiration from Jetpack I want to rebuild the features I use the most and make them as simple and fast as possible. Toolbelt has been featured on The WordPress Tavern in an interview with me. You can read more about the creation of the plugin and my desire for a more private internet. Gutenberg Blocks Some of the Toolbelt modules include blocks to make working with the generated content easier. The available blocks are: Contact Form – The simplest way to have people get in touch. Works with the spam module. Post Categories – A category content list for magazine and newspaper themes. Simple Slider – A fast, CSS powered slider. No JavaScript and easy to edit. Projects Grid – to list a collection of projects. These can be filtered by project category. Testimonials Grid – to list a group of testimonials. Great for showing off! 🙂 Markdown – for those who like a simpler writing experience. Sitemap – Easily list all posts, pages, Categories and Projects. Star Rating – Rate things with a simple visual interface. Breadcrumbs – for full site editing. Related posts – for full site editing. All Features Toolbelt has a lot of features. The complete list is below. Admin Interface Tweaks – Small CSS changes to make the interface nicer to use. Avatars – Algorithmicly generated private avatars that are consistent across websites. Breadcrumbs Contact Form – Gutenberg compatible & private. Supports the spam blocker module. Cookie Banner CSP Header Disable Comment Urls – Removes comments urls from your site. Disable REST API – Disable the REST API from public usage. Fast 404 – Stops WordPress from loading the full 404 page for images and other content. Reduces server usage. Footnotes Get Image – Find a featured image for posts that do not have one assigned. Heading Anchors – Add anchor names to headings so that they can be linked to. Iframe Privacy Shield – Remove iframes and add a clickable screen so that they load when the user wants to see them. Infinite Scroll Jetpack Dev Mode – Disable Jetpacks connection so that only local functions are enabled. Lazy Loading Layout Grid – A nicer columns block. Markdown Monetization – Enable Coil Web Monetization. OEmbed – Add additional OEmbed providers. Optimization – Remove WordPress features that are rarely used. Portfolio – Portfolio custom post type and blocks. Post Category – A post category block. Random Redirection – Randomly redirect to a blog post. Related Posts Remove IP Addresses – Remove IP addresses from comments for user privacy (spam protection still works). Responsive Videos Search Redirect – If there’s a single search result redirect to it instead of displaying the restuls. Sitemap – Sitemap block. Slider – JavaScript free CSS slider block. Social Menu – Replace social links with icons in navigation blocks. Spam Blocker – Privacy focused spam blocker. Static Social Sharing – Link to social sharing pages, and don’t load social network content on your site. Stats – Enable privacy focused analytics providers like Fathom. Testimonials – Testimonials Custom post types and blocks. Tidy Notifications – Move plugin and theme notifications to a sidebar. Typographic Widows – Remove widows in post titles. Widget Display – Set rules for widget visibility. Toolbelt is Private Every week there’s a new story about Facebook (or Google, or Amazon, or whoever) tracking people inappropriately, or selling user details. Or some security breach that leaks users passwords or credit card info. Privacy is a big topic and frankly, it’s scary how much big corporations like Google, Facebook, and Twitter know. To ensure Toolbelt is as privacy focused as possible it: Does not phone out. No data is shared with third parties. Does not use standard social sharing javascripts (loaded from social networks servers). Does not track your usage of the plugin. Does not add generator comments, or secret promotional comments to your site html. Toolbelt is Fast Slow websites make me sad. I don’t want to add anything to Toolbelt that will impact site load speed. My Google Pagespeed score should not move from 100. Why? Faster sites are shown to increase conversions and time on site. Google loves fast sites and improves their search rankings. In addition fast sites are great for people with slower internet access, or on mobile data, and use less resources to generate the page. So many benefits! To be fast Toolbelt: Doesn’t use jQuery or any other javascript framework. All javascript is vanilla js, and minified. Minifies all assets (JS and CSS). Loads all assets inline. They are already small, and loading them directly on the page means there are no server requests. Only loads things when they are needed. JS and CSS are only loaded for activated modules. Very few options. There’s one main database option, an array that stores what modules are active. And another that stores settings for some modules. Uses the minimum code possible. Minimum Javascript and PHP. Less code means more speed, and fewer bugs. All options are disabled by default. You enable only the ones you need. Built for developers Toolbelt is built with developers in mind. It has a collection of hooks and filters to enable you to make the modules work the way you want. If you’re intersted to jump in the project, there are opportunities for developers at all levels to help out. Contribute to Toolbelt on GitHub and join the party. 🎉 The code can be found on Github Documentation with code examples can be found on the wiki You can reach out to me with questions or problems on Twitter