- Alt text generators at a glance
- Ten AI alt text generators
- Which alt text tool fits your site
- When the W3C says to leave alt text empty
- Writing alt text that helps people
- Questions to ask before you bulk-generate alt text
- Signs your images need alt text
- My plain advice on AI alt text
- Frequently asked questions
An AI alt text generator looks at an image and writes a short text description of it, which you add as the alt attribute so screen readers and search engines understand the picture. Some are web tools, some are WordPress or store plugins and some are apps that describe photos aloud. Ten options follow in no particular order.
A site with five hundred product photos and no alt text is a site where screen reader users hear the word image five hundred times.
AI alt text generators make it realistic to fix that in an afternoon. The ten tools below are listed alphabetically and in no particular order, and every description comes from the vendor's own website or plugin page, read this week. If you're new to the topic, my piece on the mistakes to avoid when you add alt text is a good place to start.
Alt text generators at a glance
I checked the free plan column on each tool's own website or store listing, as of Oct 2026. Yes means the page names a free plan, a free version, a free account, a free edition, an open source release or says the tool itself is free. Trial only means a time-limited trial. Not stated means the page I read named neither, even where there's a button inviting you to try it, so check the vendor's page before you sign up.
| Tool | Type | Good for | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alt Goblin | WordPress alt text plugin | WordPress sites with a monthly allowance | Yes |
| AltPilot | WordPress alt text plugin | Keyword-aware alt text in many languages | Trial only |
| AltText.ai | Alt text generator for images | Websites and shops of any size | Yes |
| AltTextLab | Alt text generator with integrations | Shops on Shopify, WooCommerce and more | Yes |
| AltTextPro | Online alt text tool | One-off images with no account | Not stated |
| IMG Alt Gen Pro | WordPress and WooCommerce plugin | Product images in WooCommerce | Not stated |
| ImgSEO | Alt text plugin and browser extension | Bulk alt text plus image renaming | Not stated |
| Microsoft 365 | Office suite with automatic alt text | Documents and slides, not websites | Not stated |
| Seeing AI | Visual assistant app | Hearing what a photo shows | Yes |
| Visionati | Image description service | Comparing descriptions from several AI models | Not stated |
Ten AI alt text generators
Alt Goblin
Best for: WordPress site owners who want alt text written on upload and in bulk, with a monthly allowance of free credits.
AltPilot
Best for: Multilingual WordPress sites that want alt text with chosen keywords added, starting with a free trial of images.
AltText.ai
Best for: Content teams who want an AI alt text generator they can use on single images or connect to their site.
AltTextLab
Best for: Ecommerce and agency teams who want automatic alt text plugged into their CMS, store or browser.
AltTextPro
Best for: Creators who just need SEO-friendly alt text for a single image now, with no account to set up first.
IMG Alt Gen Pro
Best for: WooCommerce stores that want bulk alt text for product images inside the WordPress admin.
ImgSEO
Best for: Site owners who want bulk alt text and AI image renaming through a WordPress plugin or browser extension.
Microsoft 365
Best for: Teams writing Word documents and PowerPoint decks who want automatic alt text suggestions and an accessibility checker.
Seeing AI
Best for: People who want a free phone app that narrates and describes photos, built with the blind and low vision community.
Visionati
Best for: Developers and analysts who want captions and descriptions from multiple AI models, by app, API or extension.
Which alt text tool fits your site
- WordPress with a free monthly allowance: Alt Goblin.
- Keywords and many languages: AltPilot.
- Any website or shop: AltText.ai or AltTextLab.
- One image, right now: AltTextPro.
- WooCommerce product images: IMG Alt Gen Pro.
- Alt text plus image renaming: ImgSEO.
- Word documents and slides: Microsoft 365.
- Hearing a photo described: Seeing AI.
- Comparing AI descriptions: Visionati.
When the W3C says to leave alt text empty
The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative's alt decision tree says that where an image contains text that is also present as real text nearby, you should use an empty alt attribute, because the image is decorative.
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That's the part generators can't decide for you. A tool will happily describe a decorative divider or a photo of a headline that's already written below it, which adds noise for screen reader users. Decide which images need a description first, then generate.
Writing alt text that helps people
Good alt text says what the image is for, not just what's in it. A photo of a red dress on a product page needs the colour and style. The same photo in a blog post about colour trends might only need the colour.
Keep it short, skip phrases like image of and leave out anything the surrounding text already says.
For product images, the details shoppers would ask about, such as colour, material or pattern, are worth more than a list of keywords.
Questions to ask before you bulk-generate alt text
- Which images are decorative and need no description?
- Can you review alt text before it goes live?
- Does it use page context, such as the product name?
- Does it overwrite alt text you've already written?
- Which languages does your site need?
- Does it work with your CMS or store platform?
Signs your images need alt text
- An audit flags missing alt text. Generate drafts in bulk.
- Product photos have file names as alt text. Replace them.
- Every alt says the same thing. Describe each image.
- Images rarely show in image search. Describe what's in them.
Do you make an AI alt text generator? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
My plain advice on AI alt text
Let the tool write the first draft for every image, then spend ten minutes reviewing your most important pages: the home page, top products and best-performing posts. That gets you most of the benefit without blindly trusting a robot.
Alt text is one part of making a site usable for everyone. My web accessibility guide covers the rest.
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI alt text generator?
It's a tool that analyses an image and writes a short description of it, which you can use as the alt attribute on a website or in a document.
Are there free AI alt text generators?
Yes. Several web tools and plugins have free plans or free monthly credits, and some offer a free trial. Check the free plan column above.
Is AI alt text good enough on its own?
It's a strong first draft, but it doesn't know why the image is on your page. Review the descriptions on your most important pages.
Does alt text help SEO?
It helps search engines understand your images, which can help them appear in image search. Its main job, though, is accessibility.
How long should alt text be?
Short: usually one sentence that says what matters about the image in context. Long descriptions belong in the page text.
Should every image have alt text?
Every meaningful image should. Purely decorative images, or images whose text already appears nearby, should have an empty alt attribute.
