MAKEABARCODE.ORG

Free QR Code Generator, No Expiration

Your link goes into the code itself, not through our server or anyone’s account, so there is nothing to switch off. Links, Wi-Fi, contact cards, email, phone and text. Every code is scanned back before you download it. No sign-up.

Paste the final address of your page, not a short link from a QR or link service.

Why some QR codes stop working

A QR code is ink. It can’t expire. What expires is a service sitting between the ink and your page.

Static code

what this page makes

📱 scan→yourcafe.com/menu

“Dynamic” code

most sign-up generators

📱 scan→qr-service.example/a8Xkon while the account is paid→yourcafe.com/menu

The short link is the catch

A dynamic code holds the service’s address, not yours. That lets you change the destination and count scans, but every printed copy now depends on that account staying open.

Shorter link, bigger squares

The more a code holds, the more squares it needs, and at the same printed size each square gets smaller. A short, clean address on your own website reads fastest.

Test before you print 500

Every code here is scanned back in your browser before you download it. Still, print one, and scan it with two different phones at the distance people will really stand.

Do QR codes expire?

No. A QR code is just a pattern of squares that spells out some text, usually a web address. Nothing in the pattern can run out. When people say their QR code “expired”, the code itself was fine: it held a short link belonging to a QR service, and the service stopped forwarding it, usually at the end of a free trial or when a subscription lapsed. Those are called dynamic codes, and many generators that ask you to sign up make them by default.

The codes on this page are static. The code holds exactly what you typed, your own web address, Wi-Fi details or contact card, so there is no service in the middle and nothing to renew. You can check any code you already have with the QR code checker.

Static and dynamic QR codes

Static (this page)Dynamic
What the code holdsYour link or detailsThe QR service’s short link
Keeps working if you stop payingYes, nothing to payOnly if the service keeps forwarding
Change where it goes after printingPoint it at a page you control (below)Yes, in the service’s dashboard
Scan countsFrom your own website analyticsIn the service’s dashboard

“But I need to change the link later”

You can have that without anyone else’s switch. Make the code point at a page on your own website, like yourcafe.com/menu, and change what that page shows, or set it to redirect wherever you like. You keep the flexibility of a dynamic code, the address in the code is yours, and your website analytics count the visits.

How big should a QR code be?

A common rule of thumb is about one tenth of the scanning distance: 2 to 3 cm for something held in the hand, 5 cm on a table, 10 cm or more on a door or wall. Keep each square at least about a third of a millimetre for ordinary printers. Pick the distance in Size & look and the checks tell you if it’s too small.

Wi-Fi, contacts, email and phone

Besides links, a code can hold Wi-Fi network details so guests join without typing the password, a contact card that phones offer to save, an email ready to send, a phone number to call, or a text message. All of these are static too: the details are in the code.

Private by design

Codes are drawn in your browser. What you type isn’t sent to us, and share links never include a Wi-Fi password or your logo.