Is the plugin free? Yes — the free plugin on WordPress.org is a complete auto-blogging pipeline. You need an API key from an AI provider; Google Gemini has a free tier, so you can run real campaigns without paying anything. AI Content Writer Pro adds more providers, AI images, the SEO Pack, drip scheduling, and more.
Do you charge for the AI usage? No. You bring your own API keys and pay your provider directly at their prices — the plugin adds zero markup and your keys never leave your server.
Is the content unique? Keyword and Autopilot campaigns (Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, OpenRouter) write every article from scratch, so the text is generated fresh for you. Scraped campaigns (Articles, RSS) rewrite source material — use them with the source-citation option (Pro) and your own editorial judgment.
Do I have to come up with keywords? No — that’s what the Autopilot campaign type is for. Pick an AI provider and Autopilot reads your existing published posts, works out your niche and audience, and proposes new on-theme topics itself. You need at least 5 published posts for it to have something to learn from.
Can I review posts before they go live? Yes — set the campaign’s completed-post status to Draft, use the review queue (Approve / Regenerate / Delete) on the campaign screen, and with Pro let the SEO score gate hold low-scoring posts automatically.
Campaigns
My campaign isn’t generating anything. Check in order: ① the campaign status is Active; ② the provider for that campaign type has a valid API key (use Test Connection); ③ AI Content Writer → Logs — API errors are logged with the provider’s exact message; ④ WP-Cron works on your host — low-traffic sites should hook wp-cron to a system cron; ⑤ the campaign target isn’t already reached.
Posts are stuck as “pending”. Those are pipeline posts still being processed — each run advances one step (title → content → image → publish). If one is stuck for hours, open Logs for the error; content that fails twice is discarded and retried with a fresh title automatically.
Why did a post publish as a draft? Either the campaign’s completed-post status is Draft, or (Pro) the SEO score gate held it — the log entry states the score.
Why is a post scheduled in the future? Pro’s drip scheduling is on — posts are spaced out inside your publishing window. That’s the feature working; see Settings → Automation.
Can I use my own titles? Yes — paste them into the campaign’s Import Titles box, one per line. Duplicates are skipped.
My Autopilot campaign says it needs more published posts. Autopilot requires at least 5 published posts before it will run — below that there isn’t enough material to describe your site’s niche, so it skips the run and logs a warning rather than writing generic filler. Publish a few posts yourself, or run a short keyword campaign first, then let Autopilot take over.
How does Autopilot decide what to write about? On its first run it samples your 30 most recent published posts plus your top categories and tags, and has the AI distill them into a short profile of your niche, audience, and style. That profile is cached on the campaign and refreshed weekly. Each run, the profile and your existing titles go back to the AI with instructions to propose new topics that fit — and don’t overlap what you’ve already published.
Can I steer an Autopilot campaign? Indirectly, and that’s by design — it follows your site. Use the content language and writing tone settings to shape the writing, and set the completed-post status to Draft for the first batch so you can see its choices before anything goes live. If you want to control exact topics, use a keyword campaign or Import Titles instead.
Providers & keys
“API key not valid” but the key is correct. Keys display masked after saving — if you edited the masked value partially, re-paste the full key. Also confirm billing is active on the provider (OpenAI and Anthropic require a payment method even for small usage).
I updated the plugin but the new AI models aren’t in the dropdown. Model lists are cached for 24 hours so the settings page stays fast. Go to Settings → API Settings, click Test Connection next to that provider’s key — this bypasses the cache and fetches the current list — then reload the page. The dropdown is built when the page loads, so the new models show up on the next load.
A model I was using has disappeared from the dropdown. Providers retire models, and the plugin only lists ones your key can currently access. Your campaigns keep using the model saved in their settings, so nothing breaks immediately — but pick a current model before the provider fully removes the old one, or generation will start failing with an “unknown model” error in the logs.
Which model should I pick? Start with Gemini 2.5 Flash (free tier, fast, good quality). For the best writing, Claude models (Pro) are widely considered the strongest. For high volume on a budget, DeepSeek (Pro) is dramatically cheaper.
Rate limits / quota errors in the logs. Free tiers have per-minute and per-day caps. Lower the campaign frequency, reduce the target, or upgrade the provider plan.
SEO
The SEO fields aren’t appearing in my SEO plugin. Confirm the plugin is one of the four supported (Yoast SEO, Rank Math, All in One SEO, SEOPress) and shows as detected under Settings → General → SEO Integration; confirm the campaign’s Write SEO Meta box is ticked. Data is written at publish time — posts published before you installed the SEO plugin keep their data in _aicw_seo meta but aren’t back-filled automatically.
Will Google penalize AI content? Google’s guidance targets unhelpful content, however it’s produced. Use the quality levers: good keywords, the right model, the SEO score gate, the review queue, and drip scheduling — and publish content that genuinely serves your readers.
Pro
Do I need the free plugin? Yes — Pro is an add-on. Run free v2.4.0+ and Pro together.
My license won’t activate. See License Activation — the common causes are copy/paste whitespace and used-up site activations.
Still stuck?
Open a support ticket with your WordPress version, plugin versions, the campaign type, and the relevant lines from AI Content Writer → Logs. We read every ticket.