Auto Featured Image Plugin Review: Get Auto-Generated Images Instantly

Creating fresh content requires time. But wait, there’s more! You also need eye-catching images for every post. And you can’t ignore the importance of grabbing attention with visually appealing posts In this age of content overload.

Crafting engaging featured images can be a great hassle for busy bloggers and website owners. Here’s where Auto Featured Image (Auto Generated) steps in. This innovative plugin automates image creation and goes beyond simple text overlays. Let’s delve into its features and see if it lives up to the promise of generating unique and effective featured images.

This Auto Featured Image plugin review will explain whether it is your next blogging sidekick or just another average plugin. Keep reading to know our verdict. Start with its performance according to our automated blind test at WP Hive.

Auto Featured Image Plugin Review: WP Hive’s Analysis

WP Hive shines with its testing process. It conducts the tests in a controlled environment with clear details about the hardware and software used. We evaluate all plugins on the same battlefield to ensure a fair and consistent evaluation for each contender. You can know the details from WP Hive FAQs.

Auto Featured Image passed all WP Hive tests with flying colors. The plugin uses less memory than 92% of plugins and loads faster than 99% of plugins. Here’s a breakdown of the key takeaways for our readers:

• Performance: The plugin seems lightweight and shouldn’t slow down your website.
• Compatibility: It works well with the latest versions of WordPress (6.5.3) and PHP (8.1.12).
• Stability: No errors or unexpected behavior were found during testing.
• Security: The plugin seems secure with no reported vulnerabilities.

Overall, these test results paint a very positive picture of Auto Featured Image. It seems like a reliable and well-developed plugin.

What Makes Auto Featured Image (Auto Generated) Special

Auto Featured Image (Auto Generated) goes beyond basic automation. It provides tools for creating unique and visually engaging featured images that directly complement your content and branding strategy. Here are the key features:

1. Bulk Image Generation

Emphasize the time-saving benefit of bulk-generating featured images for multiple posts at once. This is ideal for bloggers who manage large websites or publish frequently.

2. Conditional Logic

Briefly mention the ability to configure the plugin to restrict its functionality to specific categories, tags, or post types. This caters to users who might not want featured images generated for all their content.

3. Ability to Use Layers

You can upload multiple layers to the library. The plugin will randomly select one layer for the background and another for the foreground, or users can choose to use only the foreground or background layer. This feature is particularly useful as the foreground layer appears above the text, while the background layer appears behind the text.

This gives you greater control over the composition of their images, allowing you to create unique and customized visual effects to highlight the content of their posts further.

4. AI-Focused Features

Dall-E and Stable Diffusion Integration: It lets you leverage cutting-edge AI services like Dall-E 3 and Stable Diffusion for generating truly unique and creative featured images.

Dynamic Prompts: You have the flexibility of using various elements like categories, custom fields (native and ACF), and titles within prompts for AI image generation. This empowers users to create highly relevant and specific visuals that directly tie into their content.

5. Support for Custom Fields

Whether utilizing existing fields or integrating Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), you can personalize prompts for AI-generated images. This aspect indicates the plugin’s adaptability and user-centric approach. It allows you to create images that align with your branding and content preferences.

Choosing the Auto Featured Image Plugin: Free vs. Pro Version

Let’s have a look at the functionalities of both the free and pro versions of the plugin and choose the suitable one for your needs.

Free Version:

• Write Your Post: Create your blog post content as usual.
• Automatic Generation: The plugin will automatically generate a featured image based on your chosen settings (e.g., post title overlay).
• Preview and Edit (Optional): You can preview the generated image and make manual adjustments if needed. For example, you could reposition the text or choose a different background image from your media library (free version).
• Publish Your Post: With your featured image set, you can publish your blog post.

Pro Version (Additional Features):

• Content Selection: Choose specific elements like title, category, or excerpt to display in the featured image (instead of just text overlays).
• AI Image Generation: Utilize AI services like Dall-E 3 or Stable Diffusion to generate unique featured images based on prompts. You can even personalize prompts using dynamic elements and custom fields.
• Layer Support: Create more visually engaging compositions by using foreground and background layers in your featured images.
• Bulk Generation: Generate featured images for multiple posts at once.

How to Use the Auto Featured Image Plugin

Here are the simple steps to using the Auto Featured Image plugin:

1. Install and Activate the Plugin

Like any other WordPress plugin, you need to activate this plugin on your website to use it. Visit Auto Featured Image’s website or go to WordPress.org to get your plugin. You can get this plugin by searching it in the plugin search bar or by downloading it from the repository. Then install and activate the plugin to generate featured images for blog posts automatically.

Follow this guide if you need help 👉🏼 How to Install a WordPress Plugin

2. Navigate to Auto Featured Image Functions

Upon successful activation, you’ll see the Auto Featured Image menu in the WordPress admin panel. Click on it to open the settings page. Currently, it lets you configure the image settings in the following four levels:

• Text
• Image
• Advance, and
• System

You can explore each tab and apply all changes to the featured images. Let’s have a look at how we used this plugin for testing purposes.

3. Complete the Text Settings

This plugin lets you print texts on the image based on post titles, categories, excerpts, and more. You can choose the font size, font color, font family, and text style from this section.

Define the color and opacity level of the text highlight and overlay background. You can also fix the text position and alignment from here.

Each settings page has two additional sections on the right side: PREVIEW and BULK GENERATE. The preview part lets you see the result of the changes you made. And, you can create images for all posts that don’t have a featured image by using the bulk generate functionality.

4. Configure the Image Settings

Go to the Image tab and choose the source, query, and activate other relevant functions including Use Post Title as Filename.

If you have access to external services like Pixabay, Unsplash, OpenAI, Getimg, and Stabile Diffusion, this is the section where you can enter the API key and generate the images through AI Prompts. One of the most important aspects of a featured image is its dimensions. You can fix the image sizes in this section.

5. Enable Layers from the Advance Settings

The Advance settings come with more flexibility allowing you to create featured images for both posts and pages. You can also define the post status as the basis of image creation. Don’t forget to add the Custom Solid Color. This will be used as the image source if you choose “Custom Solid Color” in the image settings.

Most importantly, the Auto Featured Image plugin allows you to enable layers as background or foreground of the images.

In a later section, we’ll show you how to use the Enable Layers feature.

6. Finish the Configurations and See a Preview

The last settings tab is System. It shows you an overview of the enabled and disabled status of each system. Hit the SAVE button to store the changes. You’re all done!

Now, let’s see the preview image and check if the output matches your expectations. Choose the post name from the dropdown menu. This dropdown menu shows only the posts without a featured image. Click on the PREVIEW button to generate the featured image.

This section also has a Debug notice. It informs users about how the image was generated. You can learn about the errors (if any) from here as well.

7. Upload Your Layers and Use Them

If you want to improve the design of your blog post, you can use this feature of the Auto Featured Image plugin. It will make the images more visually appealing than other images that feature only a solid background color and some text imprinted on it.

Upload an image as a layer. Navigate to Media > Add New Media File and select the image from your computer.

Click on the image from the Library after uploading it. You’ll see two additional menus in this page if you have the plugin installed beforehand. Mark your reqquired fileds from the below options:

• Use as Layer (Back)
• Use as Layer (Front)

Now, let’s put the plugin to the test. Add a new post to your website to see if the plugin works perfectly. Give a suitable title, and save the changes. If everything is okay, you’ll see an image automatically created under the Featured image section of your Post.

The image will appear on the single blog post page depending on your theme and template. In our case, the auto-generated featured image looked like the following one:

The Verdict: Auto Featured Image (Auto Generated)

This plugin shines with its time-saving capabilities. By automating featured image creation, it frees you to focus on writing engaging content. This is a major win for bloggers who publish frequently and juggle multiple tasks.

Even the free version offers a surprising amount of control. You can personalize your featured images with a variety of fonts, colors, and text positions. This allows for basic customization and branding even without upgrading.

The ability to generate images from various sources like post titles, categories, and excerpts adds a layer of flexibility. This ensures you can tailor your featured images based on the specific content of your blog posts.

The Final Call:

The free version provides a solid foundation, and the pro version unlocks advanced options for even more customization. I recommend this plugin to bloggers and website owners who:

• Value their time and appreciate features that save them effort.
• Enjoy customizing the look and feel of their featured images and also want to save time.
• Don’t mind text-based featured images (free version).

If you need more control over content selection, custom post type support, or AI-generated images, consider upgrading to the pro version.