There are a couple older posts about this, but I'm going to shout it far and wide for any designers who missed it: Do NOT use QR Code Money or where its "Get Started Now" button directs--"QR Code Generator" I started a free trial with the latter, because my client mentioned needing to change the code's url after we'd be sending to print. This website would let me do just that.

The QR code that I printed in my client's ad is now being held hostage until I pay a flat fee of $191. Don't be fooled by the 15.99 monthly. They only bill yearly. To protect my clients, I'll be doing this, and as a small business owner I just have to eat the cost.

I'm usually quite savvy to this stuff, so today has been a bummer.

Looking for a free qrcode generator that won't expire. Their info says forever qrcodes but I'm afraid to use it for invites, anyone have experience with qrcode-monkey.com ?

They make it impossible to see your codes will be deactivated in 14 days, once you spent all your money on packaging, flyers, designs whatever with the QR code you made, you'll see on the site a trial ending timer, once that ends your code doesn't work anymore, the company forces you to pay a (YEARLY) not monthly fee so they can get the most money out of you for your mistake of not double checking, so you get stuck in a spot where you either pay the money for the code or you wasted all your money on whatever the code was printed on

I do graphic design and ordered thousands of dollars worth of packaging and stuff for multiple clients, now I am stuck with this bill or trying to give this insane explanation to my clients of why they need to give me (MORE) money so the QR code continues to work, even though with a quick google search they'll see QR codes are free, this is the WORST business practice I've ever seen and these people should be jailed for stealing.

They reply to everyone saying blah blah its legit premium services, but these garbage scammers know exactly what they're doing, sneakiest company I've seen still up and running STAY AWAY!

https://www.qr-code-generator.com/
How is qr-code-generator.com
https://www.qr-code-generator.com/ scam
Best qr generator sites

It seems like the QR code generators I see are free for a short trial of a few days after which you have to pay for them, which our nonprofit cannot afford. Does anyone know of really, truly free QR code services (for nonprofits)?

Thanks.

I googled "QR code generator" and tried the website at the top of the list, which is "www.qr-code-generator.com". On the title it says "Create Your Free QR Codes".

They have a QR code generator on the landing page and you can generate a QR code just by writing the url of the website. When i tried "https://www.reddit.com/", everything was normal. It gave me a preview of the QR code and when i checked, it was directly connecting me to "https://www.reddit.com/" with no redirected links in the middle.

There are buttons for downloading the QR code you've created and it requires you to login to their web app. I clicked the download button and logged in with my google account. The QR Code i had created was gone and I needed to create it again. This time however I realized it didn't generate a direct link to reddit.com, but a redirected link to it.

It was still writing "https://www.reddit.com/" with a big font size on the top but at the right side of it, redirected link was written as a small and grayed out text and there was another text "Active for 13 Days" which indicates it won't be active after that.

in summary, they say "Free" on the title, which you see on google but it's not free. if you print that QR Code on something, it won't work after 13 days and there are 2 options you have:

1. reprint the materials with a proper QR Code which is not redirected and can't be taken hostage.

2. Pay the monthly bill for QR code, which is actually something you can create for free from another QR code generator app.

You can generate safe QR codes by using Indesign, https://www.qrcode-monkey.com/ or Canva.

I'm launching my first product and I want a QR code insert in the packaging. However, I also want the ability to change where the link goes which isn't possible with static QR codes (or free ones made in Indesign).

So I signed up for QR Code Monkey because they have a new unlimited plan that costs $79. They claim you get unlimited Dynamic QR Codes (that let you redirect the link later if needed) and they also have something called Custom Domains where you can mask their redirect link so your own website shows up.

I'm having an incredibly hard time getting the Custom Domains to work. I've added a CNAME registry to my domain and that seems to be forwarding my subdomain to QR Code Monkey. I've confirmed through www.sslshopper.com that everything is setup correctly on my end. On QRCM's website, my domain says "active" so you'd think it's okay there too.

The problem is I can't get a certificate to approve the forwarding back to my domain. QR Code Monkey's support is awful which has me considering abandoning their service altogether but I've already done so much at this point.

Anyone know how to get them to fix this or is there another service that makes this much easier?

Got a client that needs to have dynamic QR codes on some collateral.

I'd be interested to hear who folks are using...I feel like there are so many 'scammy' ones out there.

Thanks!

Do not use this site!!!!!! They claim you have a free trial so you go ahead and create a QR code FOR A BUSINESS. Then they deactivate your QR code once trial ends and they also don't specify that they'll charge you $121 instead of $15 monthly. They'll have you use their stupid trial and once that's over and you've already printed your business card u won't be able to use that QR code again unless you pay that $121 or more! So freaking mad right now. That's stealing if you ask me!! Garbage companies are the ones that have fine print because they are money hungry for cash!!

I had used a qr code maker online and now it won't work and you have to Pay to make it work. I found out you have to use a Static QR code. Anyone recommend a website. I saw canva had a QR code maker has anyone used it before

I had printed the qr code on the save the date. But now that it dosent work, I'm gonna print a new code on sticker paper and fix them. Hopefully my save the dates won't go to waste.

Solution: https://github.com/giandonatoinverso/PHP-Dynamic-Qr-code installed on an Ubuntu LAMP stack.

Thanks to u/RRikesh for suggesting I try it again

Any recommendations for good self-hosted QR code generators? I found QRCode Monkey as an online tool, which has the QR types I want and has some great customization options for free, but ideally I'd like it host it on my own server, for no reason other than I don't like filling contact details and such out in random websites.

Requirements:

• URL codes (Dynamic would be great, but I understand it might not be possible)

• VCard codes

• Social Media Codes (Facebook & Instagram)

• WiFi Codes

• I would also really like to style the code at least a little bit, specifically color and rounding the 'eye frame'

It would also be nice if the software stored a copy of generated codes and what they mean, but that is just a nice to have as it would be little extra effort to keep track of that manually.

Does anyone know of a legit free QR code generator that doesn't just last for a week trial? Made the mistake of buying 500 business cards and now I can't use any of them unless I pay $15/month to keep the code up and running and I'd rather not do that. Please let me know!

Is there a good app/ website that can generate QR codes which are editable? I need to get some signs printed with QR codes on them but don’t want to get them reprinted whenever I want to change where they take you. Any help would be appreciated!

I’m completely new to the world of QR codes and looking for a beginner-friendly way to make them. I need something simple that works for both personal and business use. I’ve been checking out tools like ViralQR, which seem easy enough to use, but I’m not sure where to start. Are there any step-by-step guides or tips you’d recommend for creating a QR code that people will actually scan?

I have a video of my grandparents dancing and I made an album (physical) with their photos as a gift for their anniversary. I wanted to print out a qr code that would let to the video. But I been struggling for a while trying to find a website where I don’t need to create an account and pay for it. Is there a website to do it easily, for free, without needing to register?

Update: thanks for all the answers, I really don’t know technology and I was able to figure out how to do it <3

Just a little rant that I wanted to convert a URL to a QR code. After going down the first page of results. Every single one of them needed an account to get my code. Like, its just a QR code, you don't need my data.

Thanos moment

Ill do it (kind of) myself.

ChatGPT give me a python script to do it.

I now have my QR code and my data hasn't been sold for png

Rant over

Does anyone know a free QR code generator that I can use to link all my socials, and website? Just Starting up, so was working on a low budget. If I can't do socials, then please suggest something just for a URL. I found some free ones, but they tend to stop working after the trial period expires.

Why YSK: the website which made the QR Code might be able to disable it and require payment to keep it working. Or if the company running the service goes out of business your link will break or will be purchased and redirected somewhere sketchy.

Many QR Codes are just a short little link or random text which first goes to a server to see where to send the user, then redirects them to that website (a URL shortener as pointed out by u/arrgobon32). If you are making QR Codes on a website just scanning it with your phone is a good test, but not sufficient for checking if there are any intermediate steps. This is crucial to know if you use a website to generate QR Codes because they frequently will route the QR Code through their servers and after a couple days make you sign up for a service for the QR Code to continue working.

Using an intermediate step can be nice if you want to change where the QR Code goes after printing, but you should know what you are signing up for when you create a code, and frequently services charge for this capability.

Example:

• I went to a big QR Code making website and signed up (for free)

• I entered this this URL to be made into a QR Code

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_cling

• but when I read the text in the QR Code they made it went here:

  • https://qrco.de/bfKx98

• Which does redirect to:

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_cling

• at any point they could make that QR Code not function

There are apps you can use to read the actual text from the QR Code to check where it pointing. If you are on Windows 11 the Snipping Tool can read codes from screenshots by clicking the button next to the crop button.

• https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2024/05/09/snipping-tool-and-paint-updates-begin-rolling-out-to-windows-insiders/

I was using a lot of QR Codes for work so I made a Windows app for creating and reading QR Codes called Simple QR Code Maker. It is free and Open source.

• https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9nch56g3rqfc

• https://github.com/TheJoeFin/Simple-QR-Code-Maker

Thanks for coming to my TED talk and be safe out there with your QR Codes