Free forever · no account · no watermark
A Bitly QR alternative with nothing between your code and your page.
Bitly QR codes route every scan through Bitly's servers. Users report free codes disabled in bulk weeks after printing, interstitial ads appearing on codes already in the field, and billing that only comes in annual flavour. A static code has none of those failure modes, because it has no middleman at all.
Try it now: point your phone camera at the preview.
This code is pure data. It carries your content directly instead of a link through our servers, so it can't expire and we couldn't turn it off if we wanted to.
It cannot expire
Static codes are pure data. There is no timer, no scan limit and no trial, so there is nothing that can run out.
It never touches our servers
The code is generated in your browser. We never see your content, so we have nothing to hold hostage.
No account, no watermark
Download PNG, SVG or print-ready PDF and use it commercially, without signing anything.
The redirect is the product, and the leash
Everything people complain about with Bitly QR codes comes from one architectural fact: the code contains a bit.ly link, not your link. That redirect is what enables editing and analytics — and it is also what lets a pricing change disable your printed codes, or an 'engagement' feature put an ad page between the scan and your site. Bitly's own QR product, qr-code-generator.com, sits at 1.5 out of 5 on Trustpilot across more than nine thousand reviews, most telling the same story: free codes dead after the trial, printed material worthless, refunds refused.
The codes from this site contain your URL directly. Scan one and look at what opens: your address, not a shortener. There is no server of ours in the path, which means no ads, no expiry, and no upgrade email that can hold your prints hostage.
What to use when, with a straight face
If your destination is stable, a static code is simply the better instrument: free, permanent, private, and immune to other people's business models. If you genuinely need to re-point printed codes or count scans, you need a dynamic code and it will rightly cost money — the honest version costs single-digit dollars per month, cancellable monthly, with the price published before you print. That is the paid product this site is preparing. Until it launches, we only offer what can be given away honestly.
Questions, answered plainly
- Will these codes survive if I stop visiting this site, or if the site dies?
- Yes. The code carries your URL in the pixels themselves. Once downloaded, it needs nothing from us — no account, no renewal, no server. It is exactly as durable as whatever you print it on.
- Can ads ever appear when someone scans my code?
- No. Interstitial ads require a redirect server that the code passes through. These codes go straight from the camera to your URL, so there is no place in the path where an ad could be inserted, by us or anyone.
- I have Bitly QR codes already printed. Can I rescue them?
- Printed codes containing bit.ly links can only be controlled from your Bitly account, so keep that subscription alive as long as those prints matter. For everything you print next, generate static codes so the problem cannot recur.
- Does this site do link shortening too?
- No, and on purpose: a shortener in the code would recreate exactly the dependency you are escaping. Your full URL goes into the code. If the URL is long, the code gets a little denser — print it a touch larger and it scans fine.
- What about scan analytics?
- Static codes can't be tracked, which is the flip side of their independence. If you need scan counts, that is a dynamic-code job: ours is in preparation at a plain monthly price, honestly labelled, cancellable monthly.