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Reference · updated November 1, 2026Open the QR code generator
QR codes with no subscription, that never expire
Plenty of “free” QR codes stop working a week after they're printed. Here's why it happens, how to check whether your code depends on a subscription, what to do if it's already dead, and how to make static and dynamic codes that keep working without paying anything.
Create a QR code that keeps working
Static codes need no account and are made in your browser. Dynamic codes: up to 3 with a free account, no card, no trial.
Why “free” QR codes stop working
A QR code is just a picture of a piece of text. When that text is your web address, the code works for as long as your page exists, and nobody can switch it off. That's a static code.
A dynamic code holds a short link on the provider's domain instead, which then redirects to your page. That's what lets you change the destination after printing and count scans. It also means the provider decides, on every single scan, whether to send people on to your page.
The trap works in three steps:
- The generator makes a dynamic code by default, often without saying so, and lets you download it after a free sign-up.
- You print it on menus, flyers, packaging or business cards. Everything works.
- The trial ends. Unless you subscribe, the short link stops sending people to your page: they land on an error, an ad or a payment page, and every printed code is dead.
Nothing in the printed code has changed. What changed is the answer of the provider's server, which is why downloading the image again doesn't fix anything.
How to tell if your QR code depends on a subscription
It takes ten seconds and a phone:
- Scan the code but don't open the link yet: most camera apps show the address first. You can also decode a screenshot with a QR code reader.
- Look at the domain. If it's your own site, or the site you mean to reach, the code is static and will work for as long as that page exists.
- If it's a short link on the QR provider's domain, the code is dynamic. It works only while that provider keeps redirecting it, so read its terms to see what happens when a trial or a subscription ends.
Our QR code reader decodes a photo or a screenshot in your browser and shows the raw content without opening it.
Your printed QR code is dead: what you can do
The bad news first: the destination of a dynamic code is stored by the provider, not in the code. No other service can take over that short link, so only the provider that issued the code can bring it back.
Cover the old one
Print the new code on stickers at least as large as the old one and stick them over it. It's the cheapest fix for menus, posters and packaging that are already printed. Scan each sticker once it's on.
Pay just long enough
With thousands of codes in circulation, a month or two of subscription to bring them back while you reprint can cost less than the reprint itself. Check the refund and cancellation terms first.
Whatever you choose, test the new code on two different phones before printing, and keep a list of where each code is printed.
What we guarantee, and what can stop a code
Checked against our own code on November 1, 2026: this is how the redirect actually behaves, not a marketing promise. It also says honestly what can stop a code.
| Case | What happens |
|---|---|
| Static code | Made in your browser, nothing is sent to us. Your content is written into the code itself, so it works forever, even if AwesomeToolkit disappears. |
| Dynamic codes on a free account | Up to 3 codes, with no card, no trial and no time limit. You need a free account with a confirmed email address. |
| End of a trial or a plan | There's nothing to end. The redirect checks neither your plan nor a date: a free code never stops, and if you leave the Pro plan (coming soon, up to 100 codes) every code you created stays active. |
| Scans | No scan limit. There is only an anti-abuse cap on the number of requests per minute from a single connection. |
| Changing the destination | Any time, as often as you like, on every plan. The printed code stays the same. |
| Scan statistics | Scans and unique scanners of the last 7 days on every code, on the free plan. With Pro: up to 365 days, by country, device, system, browser and hour of day, with CSV export. Only aggregate counters are kept: no IP address, no cookie. |
| What stops a code | You delete the code, you delete your account (its codes go with it), the account is banned, or we disable the code because it's used for abuse such as phishing, malware or spam. A code reported by several people is paused until we review it. A stopped code shows a short page saying it has been disabled, never an ad. Files hosted for a code's page (PDF, menu, photos) are deleted with the code or the account, and are no longer shown while the code is disabled. |
| If AwesomeToolkit closed | Dynamic codes would stop with it, as with any dynamic QR service. For a code that must outlive every provider (a plaque, an engraving), use a static code pointing to a domain you own. |
Static or dynamic: which one?
Choose static when the content never changes: Wi-Fi access, a phone number, a permanent page on your own domain. No account, no dependency, and it works forever.
Choose dynamic for anything printed whose destination might change, like menus, flyers, packaging or campaigns, or when you want to count scans.
Our dynamic QR code guide compares the two in detail, with use cases and printing tips.
Thinking of leaving qr.io?
Our qr.io alternative page sets prices, trial and what their pages say about codes after the trial side by side, with a source for every figure.
Questions about QR codes that expire
Cite this page
Writing about QR codes that expire? Link to this page: it follows what our code actually does.
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"QR codes with no subscription, that never expire", AwesomeToolkit, last verified November 1, 2026. https://awesometoolkit.com/en/qr-code-no-subscription
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<a href="https://awesometoolkit.com/en/qr-code-no-subscription">QR codes with no subscription, that never expire — AwesomeToolkit</a>