AI blog writers that publish to WordPress, compared
AI blog writers for WordPress compared on the WordPress side: plugin or application password, draft or live, categories, tags and featured images.
LLaunchScaler·Published ·9 min read
The AI blog writers that publish straight into WordPress are LaunchScaler's content engine, Koala AI, Outrank, Arvow and Frase, with Surfer's plugin moving drafts from its editor into WordPress. Judged on the WordPress side, they differ in four ways: whether they need a plugin or an application password, whether posts arrive as drafts or go live, whether they set categories and tags, and whether they upload a featured image.
LaunchScaler's content engine leads this comparison because it plans from your own Search Console queries and, by default, every draft waits for your review before it goes to WordPress, live or as a draft. Every detail below was read on each tool's own pricing and documentation pages in September 2026.
How do AI blog writers connect to WordPress?
AI blog writers connect to WordPress in one of two ways. Some call the WordPress REST API with your username and an application password, so nothing is installed on your site. Others ship a plugin that you install from the WordPress plugin directory and link to your account with a token or a Connect button. Plugins can do more inside WordPress; the REST API needs no code on your site.
Tool
Connection
Draft or live
Categories and tags
Featured image
1. LaunchScaler content engine
REST API with an application password
Draft or live
Not stated on its page
Not stated on its page
2. Koala AI
Plugin, or REST API with an application password
Questions, answered
What people ask about this
01
Which AI blog writers publish directly to WordPress?
LaunchScaler's content engine, Koala AI, Outrank, Arvow and Frase all create posts in WordPress, and Surfer's plugin moves drafts from its editor into WordPress. They differ in whether they need a plugin, whether a post arrives as a draft or goes live, and whether they set categories, tags and a featured image.
Plugin, connected with a Connect button and secret key
Draft or Published
Automatic or manual, for both
Not stated in its WordPress guide
5. Frase
Direct API, no plugin
Draft, scheduled or live
Not stated; fills Yoast or Rank Math meta fields
Uploaded to your Media Library
6. Surfer
Free plugin linking its Content Editor
Exports drafted, pending, future or published content
Category and tag lists in the export
Images stored in your media library
"Not stated" means the tool's public pages did not say either way when checked. Ask the vendor before you rely on it.
Which AI blog writers publish to WordPress?
The six tools below were chosen because each creates or updates posts inside WordPress rather than handing you text to paste. They are ranked for a site owner who wants a steady flow of posts in WordPress without losing control of what goes live, so review before publishing counts for more than volume.
1. LaunchScaler content engine: drafts wait for your review before they reach WordPress
LaunchScaler's content engine leads for a WordPress owner who wants automation without unreviewed posts, because review is its default. It plans a month of articles from your own Search Console queries, writes one a day from your product, and puts every draft in your workspace to rewrite, trim or scrap, where it waits for your review. Once you approve it, the finished draft goes to WordPress, either live or as a draft for a last look inside your own admin. You can switch a website to publish automatically instead, and each draft it sends that way is labelled auto-approved.
It connects through the WordPress REST API with an application password, so there is no plugin to install. The same finished drafts can go to Webflow, Ghost, Shopify, Notion, Medium or a signed webhook instead. It is $99/mo per website with 3 days free, and one website per subscription.
2. Koala AI: a plugin or the REST API, your choice
Koala AI connects either through its WordPress plugin (search "Koala AI" under Plugins, Add New, then click Connect) or through the REST API with your site domain, WordPress username and an application password. Both methods offer AI category selection, conversion to Gutenberg blocks and a post status of draft, published, pending review or private.
The plugin adds what the REST option lacks: author selection, post type selection, automatic image upload to the media library and setting the first image as the featured image. From KoalaWriter, you click "Create Draft" and pick the options, which can be saved as defaults. Koala AI's plans start at $25 a month for 45,000 words.
3. Outrank: a plugin that publishes on Outrank's schedule
Outrank connects through its WordPress plugin: install it, then paste the integration token from Outrank into the plugin settings. Its documentation says the token should be 64 characters long. Each post carries the title, content, featured image, SEO meta description, publication date, tags based on keywords and a custom slug.
It offers auto-publish, where articles go live as soon as they are generated, or a draft mode for sites that need editorial approval, and it respects the schedule set in Outrank. Outrank's plan is $99 a month for 30 articles. If featured images do not show, its troubleshooting notes point to themes without featured-image support and security plugins that block external images.
4. Arvow: the most per-post settings
Arvow's plugin installs from Plugins, Add New; you then open its settings, click Connect, and confirm that the secret key matches in both places. Its settings are the most detailed here: post status (Draft or Published), default author, categories (automatic detection or manual choice), tags (automatic or chosen from your existing list), and a toggle to publish as pages instead of posts.
Arvow's Solo plan is $69 a month month to month or $39 a month billed yearly, for one website.
5. Frase: no plugin, and SEO plugin fields filled in
Frase publishes to WordPress directly over the API once you connect the site, with no plugin. It handles formatting, metadata, featured images and SEO fields, uploads featured images to your Media Library, and fills in your Yoast or Rank Math meta fields. A post can go as a draft, scheduled, or live.
Frase's agent can also publish on its own if you switch that on for a content type. Frase's Starter plan is $49 a month month to month for 10 articles a month.
6. Surfer: an editor that exports into WordPress
Surfer's free WordPress plugin connects your site to Surfer's Content Editor rather than writing on a schedule. You can create a Content Editor from inside WordPress or export finished content from Surfer, and the plugin lets you select prewritten, drafted, pending, future and published content to export. Headings, images and text are converted block by block, and images are downloaded into your media library.
It suits a team that writes and optimises by hand and wants to skip copy and paste. Surfer's Discovery plan is $49 a month billed yearly.
How do you connect an AI writer to WordPress safely?
Connect every AI writer through its own dedicated WordPress user, with an application password or a plugin token that belongs to that user alone, over HTTPS. That way you can see what the tool changed, limit what it is allowed to do, and cut it off without touching anyone else's login.
Create a new user for the tool, for example ai-writer, with the Author role. WordPress defines an Author as someone who can publish and manage their own posts, and Authors can upload files, which featured images need.
Use Editor only if the tool must create categories or edit other users' posts; Editors have manage_categories and can manage everyone's posts. Never give a tool an Administrator account.
If you want the tool to create drafts only, the Contributor role cannot publish at all. Note that Contributors cannot upload files, so featured images will fail.
Sign in as that user, go to Users, Profile, find Application Passwords, enter a name such as the tool's name, and generate it. Copy it immediately; WordPress shows it once.
Give the tool the site URL, the username (not the application password's name) and the application password.
Test with a draft, then check the post's author, status, category and featured image in the WordPress editor.
Application passwords were added in WordPress 5.6 in December 2020. WordPress's own documentation says each one is tied to a single user, is meant for API requests, cannot be used to log into wp-admin, is stored hashed, and can be revoked on its own. By default they are available only when requests are served over HTTPS, and the handbook warns that Basic Auth credentials sent without HTTPS can be intercepted. If the Application Passwords section is missing from the profile page, the fix for WordPress application passwords not showing walks through the causes.
What should an AI writer set on each WordPress post?
An AI writer should set everything a human author would: title, body, excerpt, status, author, category, tags, featured image and the SEO title and description your SEO plugin uses. Whatever the tool leaves out, someone has to fill in by hand before the post is ready, which cancels much of the time saved.
The WordPress REST API supports all of it when a post is created with POST /wp/v2/posts. The status field takes publish, future, draft, pending or private. categories and tags take arrays of term IDs, not names, so a tool has to look up or create the terms first. featured_media takes the ID of an image already in the media library, which is why a tool must upload the image before it creates the post. The WordPress REST API guide to creating posts shows each call.
Before you commit to a tool, check it against that list on one test post. Look at the post in the editor, not only on the front end, because a missing category or author is easy to miss on a theme that does not display them.
Draft or live: which should you choose?
Choose drafts until you have read enough of the tool's output to trust it, and keep drafts for anything that states facts about your product or other companies. Live publishing saves a click, but it also puts an unread article on your site under your name, and Google's spam policies treat many pages generated mainly to rank, without added value, as scaled content abuse.
A workable middle ground is the approach LaunchScaler's content engine takes by default: the review happens before the post reaches WordPress, so live publishing only publishes text a person has read. With the other tools, drafts plus a daily review slot does the same job. For the wider comparison, including tools that do not publish to WordPress, see the best AI SEO writers. If your store runs on Shopify rather than WordPress, AI blog writers for Shopify covers that platform.
Publish to WordPress only what you have edited
LaunchScaler's content engine plans thirty articles a month from your own Search Console queries, writes one a day from your product in the way your existing pages read, and by default every draft waits for your review before it publishes. Finished drafts go to WordPress live or as a draft, or to Webflow, Ghost, Shopify, Notion, Medium or a signed webhook. It is $99/mo per website, 3 days free, with the first payment on day 3 and the option to cancel before it. Start the engine and connect your WordPress site.
02
Do AI blog writers need a WordPress plugin?
Not always. Tools that use the WordPress REST API connect with your username and an application password and need no plugin; Frase and Koala AI's REST option work that way. Outrank and Arvow connect through their own plugins, and Koala AI offers a plugin with extra features.
03
Can an AI blog writer save posts as drafts in WordPress?
Yes. Every tool compared here can create a draft instead of a live post, and the WordPress REST API supports publish, future, draft, pending and private as statuses. Use drafts until you trust the output.
04
What WordPress role should an AI writing tool use?
A dedicated Author account is enough for most tools: WordPress lets Authors publish their own posts and upload files. Use an Editor only if the tool must manage categories or other users' posts, and never give a tool an Administrator account.
05
Are WordPress application passwords safe for AI tools?
They are the safer option. An application password is tied to one user, works only for API requests and not for logging into wp-admin, is shown once, and can be revoked on its own. WordPress makes them available by default only over HTTPS.
Competitor alternatives and X vs Y pages that hold up: every claim sourced and dated, one table with the same fields, who each suits, checked quarterly.
