Frequently asked questions

Yes. Every code you make here is free, permanent, and has no watermark. You do not need an account to generate or download one. The site is paid for by the ads shown around the tool, not by charging for the codes.

No. A plain QR code encodes your text or URL directly into the pattern, so it does not depend on this site at all. It keeps working even if this site disappears. Only the optional tracked short links depend on our servers.

Because they give you a dynamic code, which contains a short link to their server rather than your destination. That lets them charge a subscription to keep the redirect alive. Stop paying and the printed code stops working. The download button here always produces a static code.

No. A static QR code is just a pattern; nothing counts or meters scans. Tracked links do record scans, but there is no cap on them either.

Yes. QR code technology is patent-free and the codes you generate are yours. Put them on products, packaging, menus, business cards, or signage without attribution or a licence fee. "QR Code" is a registered trademark of Denso Wave, which does not restrict generating or displaying codes.

Almost always one of four things: low contrast between foreground and background, an inverted code (light pattern on a dark background), no quiet zone around the edges, or printing it too small for the distance it is read from. Try dark-on-light at a larger size first.

The working rule of thumb is 10:1 — the code should be about one tenth as wide as the distance it is scanned from. A code read at arm’s length needs about 3 cm; a poster read from three metres needs about 30 cm. Denser codes need more size than that minimum.

You can, but you should not for anything printed or public. A light pattern on a dark background is backwards from what the specification describes. Modern phone cameras usually cope; older scanners, dedicated readers, and many in-app scanners do not.

Yes, in principle — a logo is deliberate damage, and error correction is what pays for it. You need level H, which tolerates about 30% loss, and you should keep the logo under roughly a fifth of the width. This generator does not yet embed logos.

The empty margin around the code, at least four modules wide on every side. Scanners need it to find the code’s edges. Codes fail constantly because a designer cropped them flush to a coloured block or laid them over a photograph. Every code downloaded here includes one.

The largest QR code (version 40, error correction level L) holds up to 7,089 numeric digits, 4,296 alphanumeric characters, or 2,953 bytes. In practice keep it far shorter, because more data means a denser pattern that is harder for cameras to read.

Level L recovers from about 7% damage, M about 15%, Q about 25%, and H about 30%. More resilience means more modules, so a level H code is physically larger than a level L code holding the same content. This tool uses M, the general-purpose default.

Use a URL code for anything on the web — it is the shortest payload and you can change the destination without reprinting. Use a specific format (Wi-Fi, vCard, calendar) when the action should happen without a web page in between. The QR types page lists all of them.

No. The generator runs entirely in your browser and the text you type is never sent to our servers. We only store data if you sign in and deliberately create a tracked short link.

Not for anything on the generator pages. An account is only needed for tracked links with scan analytics, which is a deliberately separate, optional feature.

When someone scans a tracked code, we log the time, IP address, browser user-agent, referring page, and the country the request appears to come from. That produces the scan counts and breakdowns on your dashboard. The privacy policy spells this out in full.

Not yet — that is planned. For now a tracked link records scans but keeps its original destination.