ShortPixel AI Alt Text Generator
Active Installs
80+
Last Updated
October 9, 2026
First Released
June 13, 2026
Download History (Last one month)
Contributors
🤖 AI-Powered Image SEO for WordPress
⚡ Automatically generate ALT text, captions, titles, and descriptions for every image on your site — powered by AI, in seconds.
🆕 New! SEO-friendly filenames, generated by AI
- AI SEO-Friendly Filenames – Let AI rename your images with descriptive, SEO-friendly filenames, with controls for the length, extra context and text to always add before or after the name. Renaming applies only to newly uploaded images or to images not yet used in any published content, so no existing links can break. Reverting the AI data also restores the previous filename.
- Links Updated Everywhere – When an image is renamed, every thumbnail is renamed with it and the links inside your posts, pages and page-builder content are updated.
- Full WPML & Polylang Compatibility – Every language version of an image gets its own AI Image SEO data, in the right language, and a shared file is renamed only once for all languages.
- Full Offload Media Compatibility – AI renaming works with WP Offload Media, even for images stored only in the cloud, and keeps the access permissions of your files.
- Before / After Text – Add fixed text before or after the generated ALT tag, caption, description, title and filename for full consistency across your site.
Poor or missing image SEO data hurts your SEO rankings, degrades accessibility, and costs you visitors. The ShortPixel AI Alt Text Generator solves all of this in one lightweight, install-and-forget WordPress plugin.
Whether you’re running a blog, an online store, or a large media-heavy website, this plugin analyses your images with AI and generates accurate, SEO-optimised image data, automatically on upload, or in bulk for your entire library.
💡 Why ShortPixel AI Alt Text Generator?
🧠 AI-Powered Image SEO
- Automatically generate ALT tags – The AI analyses each image and writes a relevant, descriptive ALT text, improving both SEO and screen-reader accessibility.
- Generate image captions – Create human-readable captions for every image without any manual effort.
- Generate image descriptions – Produce rich, contextual descriptions stored in WordPress’s native description field.
- Update image titles with SEO-friendly ones – Automatically replace generic image titles with SEO-friendly alternatives.
- SEO-friendly filenames – Optionally rename image files to an AI-generated, descriptive name; every thumbnail and the links inside your posts, pages and page-builder data are updated, and existing links stay safe.
⚙️ Smart Settings & Control
- Generate image SEO data on upload – Automatically trigger AI generation the moment an image is uploaded to your Media Library, based on your configured settings.
- Preserve existing Image SEO data – When enabled, all existing ALT tags, captions, and descriptions are retained. Disabling this option allows AI-generated data to overwrite existing metadata.
- Use parent Post / Page title for image SEO data – Optionally pass the title of the image’s parent post or page to the AI model for more accurate, context-aware results.
- General site context – Provide a detailed description of your website to give the AI model additional context, resulting in more relevant and targeted metadata.
🌍 Multilingual Support
- 100+ languages supported – Select the output language for all generated metadata. The AI will produce ALT texts, captions, and descriptions in the language of your choice, making it ideal for multilingual websites.
📦 Bulk Mode
- Generate AI Image SEO in bulk for your entire library – Process all images in your WordPress Media Library at once.
- Preview mode – Test and fine-tune AI results before applying new ALT texts and descriptions in bulk. Review what the AI generates for a sample of images before committing to a full library update.
🛒 WooCommerce Support
- Seamless support for WooCommerce product images.
- AI-generated ALT text and descriptions for product gallery images improve product discoverability in search engines.
♿ Accessibility
- Improve website accessibility by ensuring all images have properly generated ALT text and metadata.
- Helps your website comply with WCAG accessibility guidelines.
External services
This plugin connects to ShortPixel services to validate your API key, check your available quota, generate AI-based image SEO data, and optionally create a ShortPixel account or send deactivation feedback when you choose those actions.
ShortPixel API and AI service
Service: https://api.shortpixel.com/ and https://capi-gpt.shortpixel.com/
Used for: validating your API key, checking available quota, and generating AI image SEO data such as ALT text, captions, titles, and descriptions.
Data sent:
- Your ShortPixel API key
- The plugin version, and during API key validation the WordPress and PHP versions
- A plugin source identifier used by ShortPixel to route plugin-originated AI requests
- The image URL that should be analyzed
- The ShortPixel remote request ID when retrieving generated results
- The generation settings you selected, such as requested fields, selected language, retry flag, and optional site context / parent title data when enabled
- For API key validation and quota checks, the site URL, site host/domain, and, when configured by the site owner, HTTP authentication credentials needed to access protected images
When sent:
- When you save or validate an API key
- When the plugin refreshes account/quota data needed to operate
- When you manually request AI generation, enable automatic generation on upload, or run bulk generation
Why it is needed:
- The plugin cannot validate your account or generate AI-based image SEO data without contacting ShortPixel’s remote services
ShortPixel account sign-up service
Service: https://shortpixel.com/free-sign-up-plugin
Used for: creating a ShortPixel account and issuing an API key when you explicitly request one from the plugin.
Data sent:
- Your email address
- The plugin version
- Your IP address
When sent:
- Only when you submit the “request new key” action from the plugin settings
Why it is needed:
- ShortPixel must create your account and return an API key
ShortPixel deactivation feedback service
Service: https://api.shortpixel.com/v2/feedback.php
Used for: sending feedback if you choose to submit a deactivation reason.
Data sent:
- The plugin name and version
- The selected deactivation reason
- Any feedback text you enter
- Your email address and name only if you explicitly choose the non-anonymous feedback option
When sent:
- Only when you submit the deactivation feedback form
Why it is needed:
- To deliver the feedback you explicitly chose to send to ShortPixel
Terms of Service: https://shortpixel.com/tos
Privacy Policy: https://shortpixel.com/privacy
- Upload the
shortpixel-ai-alt-text-generator-textfolder to the/wp-content/plugins/directory, or install directly through the WordPress plugin directory. - Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress.
- Go to Settings ShortPixel AI Alt Text Generator and enter your ShortPixel API Key or create an account.
- Configure which metadata fields to generate (ALT tag, caption, description, title).
- Optionally add a general site context description to improve AI output.
- Choose your preferred output language.
- Enable Generate image SEO data on upload to start generating metadata automatically, or use Bulk Mode to process your existing library.
Don’t have an API key? Get one for free!.
Screenshot Gallery
Yes, you would need a ShortPixel API Key. You can create a free account and get started immediately.
Only if you allow it to. The Preserve existing Image SEO data setting ensures that any existing ALT tags, captions, and descriptions are kept intact. Note that WordPress always stores an image title, so the title field may still be updated even when preservation is enabled.
Yes. Use Preview mode to test and fine-tune AI results on a sample of images before running a bulk update across your full Media Library.
The plugin supports over 100 languages. You can select your preferred output language from the settings page under the Language dropdown.
Yes. The plugin seamlessly handles WooCommerce product images, including product gallery images.
Yes. Bulk mode is designed to process large libraries efficiently. For best results, combine bulk mode with preview mode to validate output before committing to a full run.
The AI-generated SEO data will overwrite any existing ALT tags, captions, and descriptions. Use this option carefully if you have manually written metadata you want to keep.
Links inside your site are safe: when an image is renamed, every thumbnail is renamed with it and the links in your posts, pages and page-builder content are updated. To avoid breaking anything else, the AI renames only newly uploaded images or images that are not yet used in any published content. Links from outside your site – search engine results, other websites, cached copies – still point at the old filename, because no redirect is created. Reverting the AI data with “Revert AI SEO data” also restores the previous filename, the metadata and the links inside your site, but it cannot restore external links either, for the same reason. Read more about renaming.
No. All AI processing is performed via the ShortPixel Cloud, so your hosting resources are unaffected.
Changelog
2.0.0
🏷️ The SEO Filenames & Multilingual Update
Release Date: October 9, 2026
✨ New Features
- AI SEO-Friendly Filenames: The plugin can now rename your images using descriptive, SEO-friendly filenames generated by AI, with controls for the character limit, additional context, text to always add before or after the name, and keeping the current filename when it already describes the image. To keep your site safe, renaming applies only to newly uploaded images or to images that are not yet used in any published content, so no existing links can break.
- Adjust a Generated Filename: When AI filenames are enabled, the Edit Media screen also lets you adjust the name of an image by hand, with the same safety rules and a link to the knowledge base explaining what renaming can and cannot do.
- Full WPML & Polylang Compatibility: Every language version of an image now gets its own AI-generated SEO data, text is never written into pages of another language, and a shared file is renamed only once for all languages.
- Full Offload Media Compatibility: File renaming (AI and manual) works with WP Offload Media, including images that are offloaded to the cloud only, and keeps the access permissions (ACL) of your files.
- “Always Add Before / After” Controls: Add fixed text before or after the generated ALT tag, caption, description, title and filename.
- Conflict Notice: When ShortPixel Image Optimizer is active, which already includes the same AI features, this plugin now explains why it switched itself off instead of disappearing silently.
⚙️ Improvements
- AI Content Replacement Control: A new setting lets you choose whether AI-generated SEO data should be added to images in your posts and pages only when it’s missing, overwrite the existing data, or leave your content untouched.
- Settings Screen: The ALT character limit, additional context and the new before/after fields are shown in both view modes and follow the “Generate image ALT tag” switch; the filename options have their own full-width card.
- Undo of Renames: “Revert AI SEO data” also restores the previous filename, the metadata and the links inside your site after an AI rename. External links are not restored, because no redirect is created in either direction.
- Edit Media Refresh: The Edit Media screen reloads after an AI rename, so the File URL field is always up to date.
- Content Updates via WordPress: Posts, pages and page-builder data changed by the content replacer are saved through WordPress’s own post update, so revisions, caches and save hooks behave as expected.
- Attachment Cleanup: Deleting an attachment also removes its AI record and queue entries.
- Multisite Settings: On multisite installations the network settings are stored and read as network options.
- Updated Interface & Texts: Clearer plan and credit wording, updated pricing links, and an “Unlimited AI” banner that lists the benefits that apply to this plugin.
- Comprehensive Automated Testing: The plugin now runs a comprehensive suite of automated tests (unit, integration, compatibility, multisite and end-to-end browser tests) on every change, on all the supported PHP versions, complemented by the relevant manual tests done by our engineering and testing teams.
🔒 Security
- HTTPS Only: The API key is no longer sent over plain HTTP after a single failed HTTPS call; the connection to the ShortPixel API stays on HTTPS.
- XSS Fix: Hardened the output escaping in the Bulk Processing log view, preventing a potential cross-site scripting issue.
- Hardened Content Replacement: The content replacer blocks PHP object instantiation when processing serialized data, preventing potential object injection through crafted content.
- Debug Parameter: Adding the debug parameter to a URL no longer causes a fatal error for visitors or administrators.
🛠️ Fixes
- Redo AI SEO Data: “Redo AI replacement”, for single images and in bulk, did nothing because the stored AI status was compared as text.
- Over-Quota Replies: An over-quota reply from the API is now reported instead of being retried indefinitely.
- Chained AI Actions: Follow-up AI actions are no longer skipped as “already queued”.
- Queue Reliability: Prevented a potential primary-key corruption on queue updates (unknown columns are now skipped) and fixed a retry bug in queue processing.
- Fresh Uploads: An AI rename of a freshly uploaded image is no longer refused because the image is already placed in a post.
- WPML Language Domains: Fixed file detection on WPML sites that use separate domains or directories per language.
- Safari Processing: Leaving a page mid-processing in Safari no longer shows a false “Load failed” error.
- Breakdance: Documents are updated with the save function signature of the installed Breakdance version.
- API Key Recovery: A corrupted API key entry in the database is rebuilt instead of causing an error.
- AI Preview: Excluded images are shown as such in the AI preview.
- Settings Types: Numbers and booleans in settings arrays keep their type.
- Free Sign-Up: The free sign-up request sends the same domain information as ShortPixel Image Optimizer.
- PHP 8 Compatibility: Fixed several PHP 8 deprecations and type warnings.
Update now to give your images SEO-friendly names, get AI SEO data in every language and enjoy a more secure and reliable plugin! 🚀
1.0.0
- Initial release.
