Free that stays free
A QR code printed on a menu, a packaging run, or a shop window is infrastructure: it has to keep working. Most “free” QR tools attach a clock, a counter, or an advertisement to that promise. This page catalogs the patterns, with sources, so you can check any vendor — including this one — before you print.
Sources checked 2026-08-23.
The patterns
The trial ends and your printed code dies
Dynamic codes created during a free trial stop redirecting when the trial lapses — including codes already printed on menus, packaging, and signage. QRFY's own FAQ: your codes are kept for three months, but “you will not be able to access them until you contract one of our plans.”
Seen at: QRFY, qr-code-generator.com, Scanova, Uniqode · QRFY FAQ: what happens after the trial
A scan cap switches the code off
Free-tier codes stop working — or stop reporting — after a fixed number of scans. QR Tiger caps free codes at 500 scans each and QRCodeKIT at 100 scans per code per month. The more successful your campaign, the sooner it breaks.
Seen at: QR Tiger, Flowcode, QRCodeKIT · QR Tiger pricing
An ad sits between the scan and the destination
The redirect passes through an advertising interstitial, so the person who scanned your code sees someone else's marketing first. ME-QR's free plan is listed as “all QR codes with ads”; removing them is a paid feature.
Seen at: ME-QR · ME-QR pricing (ad removal sold as a paid feature)
Editing the destination is metered
Changing where an existing code points counts against a monthly quota, so fixing a typo costs quota — or money. Bitly allows no redirects at all on Free, 5 a month on Core, 20 on Growth, and 110 on Premium.
Seen at: Bitly · Bitly pricing
Your scan history is a pricing tier
How far back your analytics go is set by what you pay: 30 days on Bitly Core, four months on Growth, a year on Premium; 60 days on Uniqode Essential rising to 180 on Plus. The data is the same data — the window is the product.
Seen at: Bitly, Uniqode, Scanova · Uniqode pricing
A custom domain costs more than the product
Branded short domains are sold as a premium add-on priced far above what a domain name costs. Uniqode's FAQ prices one at $2,000 per domain per year, on top of a plan.
Seen at: Uniqode · Uniqode pricing FAQ
Annual-only billing
Monthly billing is removed or surcharged, so the real entry price is a year (or a quarter) up front. QRFY's shortest term is three months. Uniqode bills every QR plan yearly. qr-code-generator.com charges $10 a month monthly against $5 a month annually, and only sells its two upper plans annually.
Seen at: Uniqode, QRFY, qr-code-generator.com · QRFY pricing
Sign up before you can download
The generator works right up to the download button, which is where the account wall appears.
Seen at: QRFY, Flowcode, Bitly, qr-code-generator.com · QRFY signup flow
What UseQR commits to instead
- No trial, no expiry, no scan cap, no metered edits, no retention tier — ever.
- No ads and no interstitial between a scan and its destination.
- No account, anywhere. Static codes never leave your browser.
- MIT-licensed and self-hostable, so the tool survives us: the whole thing is on GitHub.
- A written Permanence Pledge — 12-month sunset notice, open redirect-map escrow — lands with the dynamic-code release. Until then, every code UseQR makes is static, which means it depends on nothing we run.
How this is funded and why it’s sustainable → · Vendor-by-vendor comparisons →