Free QR code generator

What makes these codes different

Most “free” QR generators hand you a code that quietly points at their own server, which then redirects to your link. It works beautifully until the free trial ends, and then every code you printed goes dead at once. That business model is why so many people have discovered a poster or a business card that stopped scanning.

The codes here are static. Your content is encoded directly into the black and white pattern. Nothing points at us, so nothing depends on us — the code will scan exactly the same in ten years, whether or not this site still exists.

Being precise about “never expires”

It is worth separating two things that get muddled together. The code never expires: it is just an encoding, and it will always decode to the same content. The destination can absolutely expire — if you encode a link and later delete that page, the code still works perfectly and still produces that address, which now leads nowhere.

So for anything going to print, point the code at an address you control and intend to keep. That, rather than the code itself, is what determines whether it still works next year. Our comparison of static and dynamic codes covers when a redirect service is genuinely the right choice — sometimes it is.

Before you print

Two things account for most codes that fail in the real world, and both are easy to avoid.

• Size. A code needs to be large enough for the distance people will scan it from. The rough rule is a tenth of the scanning distance — see the size guide for a calculator and the numbers for posters, business cards and signage.
• Contrast and quiet zone. Dark code on a light background, with clear space around all four edges. Inverted codes and low-contrast colour schemes look striking and fail on a lot of phones.

If you customise the colours, add a logo or change the module shapes, this site decodes the finished image and tells you whether it still reads before letting you download it. Scan the result with your own phone too — it takes five seconds and it is the only test that counts.

Common questions