Answers

How do I fix missing alt text and low contrast on a WordPress site automatically?

Alt text can be largely automated: a plugin can reuse the description saved in the Media Library wherever an image appears, and AI can suggest new descriptions for a person to check. Low contrast mostly can't be fixed safely by a tool: it needs a change to the theme's colours, which WordPress's editor warns about but never changes for you. Both are common: in WebAIM's 2026 check of a million home pages, 83.9% had low-contrast text and 53.1% had images without alt text.

We make Fixlight, a free WordPress accessibility plugin, so we're not neutral. Every number below has its source, and facts about other products come from their own pages.

Alt text

Start in the Media Library. Alt text saved there is used wherever you insert the image. In the Image block you can also mark an image as decorative. W3C's alt decision tree helps decide what to write.
Reuse it in old pages. Images inserted before you wrote the description keep an empty alt. Fixlight (ours) fills those in from the Media Library as pages are sent.
Let AI draft, then check. WordPress's own AI plugin (experimental, 60,000+ installs) suggests alt text using an AI provider you connect and pay. Plugins such as Alt Text AI (25 free credits, then from $49 a year) or AI Alt Text Generator (50 images a month free) use their own service. Fixlight suggests 50 a month free. No AI knows why an image is on the page, so read each suggestion.
Filenames aren't descriptions. Some plugins copy the filename into alt text, including one with 100,000+ installs. "IMG_4471" or "hero-banner-2" tells a screen reader user nothing.

Contrast

The rule (WCAG 1.4.3, level AA): text needs at least 4.5:1 against its background; large text (18 pt, or 14 pt bold) at least 3:1. The ratios aren't rounded: 4.49:1 fails.
The fix: change the colours in your theme's settings (Appearance → Editor → Styles, or the Customizer), then check them with the free WebAIM Contrast Checker. The block editor warns when a colour pair may be hard to read, but leaves the choice to you.
Contrast switches: WCAG allows a control that switches the page to enough contrast, but only if the control itself has enough contrast and the switched version meets every other requirement too (W3C technique G174).
Fixlight finds contrast problems and shows where they are; it doesn't change your colours.

Sources

Checked on October 25, 2026.

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