UseQR vs qr-code-generator.com
One of the oldest names in the category, now trading as QRCG by Bitly — and carrying a 1.3★ Trustpilot score across more than nine thousand reviews.
Prices and claims verified 2026-08-23 from www.qr-code-generator.com. Vendors change pricing — check theirs before deciding.
What “free” means at qr-code-generator.com
There is no free tier for dynamic codes: they exist only on paid plans, fronted by a 14-day trial, so anything printed during that trial needs a subscription to keep resolving. Starter is $60 a year for 2 dynamic codes with scan tracking that stops at 10,000 scans — and $120 a year if you pay monthly instead. Its Trustpilot page sits at 1.3★ across 9,296 reviews.
Ten dynamic codes cost about $150/year there. On UseQR: $0, with no account and no scan cap.
Side by side
| Capability | qr-code-generator.com | UseQR |
|---|---|---|
| Price to keep a printed code alive | $60+ / year | $0, forever |
| Free tier | 14-day trial only | The whole product |
| Signup | Required | None, anywhere |
| Keyless API | No — account and key required | Yes, no key, no quota |
| MCP server for AI agents | No | Yes — keyless, styled, and it verifies |
| Scan-verified exports | No | Every download is decoded before it saves |
| Open source / self-host | No | MIT, one command |
| What happens when you stop paying | Dynamic codes are a paid feature — they need a live plan | Static codes depend on nothing we run |
| Scan tracking on the entry plan | Stops at 10,000 scans (Starter) | Nothing to meter — we never see the scan |
Patterns to know about before you print
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.”
Source: QRFY FAQ: what happens after the trialAnnual-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.
Source: QRFY pricingSign up before you can download
The generator works right up to the download button, which is where the account wall appears.
Source: QRFY signup flow
What qr-code-generator.com does better
- 22 QR code types, CSV bulk creation up to 500 codes at a time, and a metered static-code API — 3,000 requests a month on Advanced, 10,000 on Professional.
- A very polished editor with a large template library and long-standing brand recognition.
- Broad enterprise integrations and account management that a free project does not attempt.
What your codes would cost elsewhere
Dynamic, editable codes kept alive for a year.
- UseQR$0 / year
- Bitlyno published plan this large
- Flowcodeno published plan this large
- QRCodeKIT≈ $600 / year
- Uniqode≈ $588 / year
- qr-code-generator.com≈ $450 / year
- QR Tiger≈ $444 / year
- QRFY≈ $228 / year
- ME-QR≈ $192 / year
Cheapest published plan that covers this many codes, annualized. Prices verified 2026-08-23 — vendors change them; the linked pricing pages are the source of truth.
Questions
- Is UseQR really free compared to qr-code-generator.com?
- Yes. Every UseQR feature is free forever with no account: static codes, bulk generation, every export format, the API, and the MCP server. There is no free tier for dynamic codes: they exist only on paid plans, fronted by a 14-day trial, so anything printed during that trial needs a subscription to keep resolving. Starter is $60 a year for 2 dynamic codes with scan tracking that stops at 10,000 scans — and $120 a year if you pay monthly instead. Its Trustpilot page sits at 1.3★ across 9,296 reviews.
- Can I move my qr-code-generator.com codes to UseQR?
- Static codes need nothing — they encode your data directly, so they keep working. Dynamic codes point at that vendor's short domain, so they have to be re-created and re-printed; UseQR's migration importer and /autopsy tools land with the dynamic release.
- What does qr-code-generator.com do better?
- 22 QR code types, CSV bulk creation up to 500 codes at a time, and a metered static-code API — 3,000 requests a month on Advanced, 10,000 on Professional. A very polished editor with a large template library and long-standing brand recognition. Broad enterprise integrations and account management that a free project does not attempt.
Sources
qr-code-generator.com is a trademark of its owner. This page is an independent comparison, not an affiliation. Something out of date? Open an issue and we’ll correct it.