How to Create a QR Code for Free

A QR code is a picture of some text. Usually that text is a web address, and every phone camera made in the last several years reads one without an app.

That is genuinely all there is to it. The code carries the address; there is no account behind it and nothing to keep paying for.

Static and dynamic codes

This distinction is worth understanding before you print anything.

A static code contains your address directly. It works forever, needs no service behind it, and cannot be changed once printed. That is what this tool makes.

A dynamic code contains a short link belonging to a provider, which then redirects to wherever you point it. You can change the destination later, and you can see scan counts. In exchange, the code stops working entirely if that provider disappears or you stop paying.

For most business use, a static code pointing at a page you control is the better trade: if the destination needs to change, change what is at that address.

How to create one

1. 1

   Paste the destination

   Include https://. A code containing example.com with no protocol is read as plain text by some phones and does nothing.

2. 2

   Tag it if it is a campaign

   Print traffic is invisible in analytics unless you label it. Build a tagged link with utm_medium=qr first, then encode that.

3. 3

   Pick a size and download

   PNG for a screen or a quick print. SVG for anything that will be scaled, because it stays sharp at any size.

4. 4

   Scan it before you print it

   With more than one phone if you can. This takes thirty seconds and has saved a great many reprints.

Making it scannable in the real world

• Size it for the reading distance. A rough rule: the code should be about a tenth of the distance it is scanned from. Two metres away means around 20cm across.
• Leave the quiet zone. The blank margin around the code is part of the code. Text or a border pressed up against it stops it scanning.
• Keep it dark on light. Inverted codes fail on many phones. So do low-contrast pairs.
• Do not print it on a curve. Bottles, cups and folded leaflets distort the pattern.
• Say what it is for. "Scan for the menu" gets scanned. A bare square does not.

Common mistakes

• Printing a code nobody scanned first.
• Pointing it at a page that is not usable on a phone. Everybody who scans is on one.
• Using a free dynamic code service for print. When the trial ends, the poster stops working.
• Placing it out of reach, or somewhere with no signal. Both are common in car parks and on the upper half of large posters.
• Encoding a long tagged URL and then wondering why the code will not scan across a room.