What it actually costs us
The QR and barcode generators run entirely in your browser. There is no backend that has to scale with users. Hosting the site is roughly the cost of a small VPS — under USD $10/month. Once that bill is covered, the next user costs us nothing.
Most paid "free" QR sites are expensive because their codes route through their own redirect server. That server has to stay up forever for the codes to keep working, which is genuinely expensive at scale. We don't do that — see below.
What we don't do
- No signup wall.Generate, download, leave. No email, no account, no "upgrade to remove watermark."
- No watermark.The PNG and SVG you download are clean. We don't add a logo, a corner badge, or hidden tracking.
- No expiry. Our QR codes are static — the URL or data is encoded directly into the dot pattern. There is no server in the loop, so there is nothing for us to switch off. The code you download today still works in 10 years.
- No scan-time ads.Some "free" sites generate dynamic QR codes that show an interstitial ad before redirecting. We don't. The code goes straight to the destination you encoded.
- No auto-charging. We do not collect payment information and have no way to charge you.
How we plan to pay for it
Once the site has enough content to qualify, we'll add display ads on content pages — the blog, the comparison pages, the industry guides. The generator pages themselves will stay ad-free, because ads on the generator would slow it down and hurt the experience.
We may also offer a paid dynamic QR + analytics tier later for people who specifically need editable codes and scan tracking. The static, free side will always remain free.
Compared to others
Several well-known generators (Bitly QR, QRCode Generator, and others) offer "free" codes that route through their redirect server. When you stop paying or they change their pricing, the codes you already printed stop working — which has happened to enough people that it's a recurring complaint thread on Reddit. We avoid this by not operating a redirect server at all.
See our comparison pages for a feature-by-feature breakdown vs the most-searched alternatives.
Trust by design
Everything we do runs in your browser. Your QR data — including WiFi passwords, contact details, and private notes — never leaves your device. The site has no database of your codes because there is nothing to store. See the privacy policy for the full picture.