When the plan ends, does your printed QR code still work?

A static code is the information itself, drawn as squares. Your phone reads the web address, the Wi-Fi password or the phone number straight from the code. Nothing sits in between, so nothing can switch it off. Nothing can change it either: if the address changes, you print a new code.

A dynamic code holds a short link instead, and the generator’s server sends the phone on to wherever that link points today. That’s what lets you fix a typo or point a printed menu at next season’s PDF. It’s also why the code needs the generator’s account to stay active.

• QRCG by Bitly. The free trial lasts 14 days. When it ends, dynamic codes are deactivated and lead to a service page instead of your address. If you cancel a paid plan, codes keep working through the period you paid for and 30 more days, without editing, then go to the service page.
• Uniqode. The trial is 14 days, and dynamic codes made in it become inactive when it ends. Its help center says to upgrade before the trial expires if you want them back. On a paid plan, codes expire if the account is canceled, and people who scan them see an error page.
• QR TIGER. The free plan has 3 dynamic codes with 500 scans each. Paid codes have no scan limit, and its pricing page says they “will only stop working once the plan expires.”
• Bitly. A Bitly QR code is a short link, and bit.ly links keep working after a downgrade. Changing where one goes is a paid feature, so after a downgrade to Free the code stays pointed where it was.
• Canva. Codes don’t expire unless you set an end date, an option on Business, Enterprise and Nonprofit plans.

Scan it with your phone’s camera and read the link it shows before you tap. If it’s your own address, the code is static and yours for good. If it’s a short link on someone else’s domain, the code depends on that company and your account there.

For anything printed that may outlive the plan, like a sign, packaging or a business card, use a static code, or find out what the generator does when you stop paying.

Log in to the account that made it. QRCG by Bitly turns codes back on when you upgrade, however long ago the plan ended. Uniqode’s help center asks you to upgrade on the same account, before the trial expires, to get trial codes back. A dynamic code can’t be turned into a static one: QRCG’s help center says so plainly.

If the account is gone, nobody else can point the printed code anywhere: whoever runs the short link decides. The fix is a new code.

QR Codes is ours. Plain codes are made on your device and never expire. Editable codes go through an implements.app short link and keep redirecting if you stop paying; you can’t change them or make new ones until you come back. It isn’t free: it comes with implements, $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year for every tool, with up to 200 editable codes.

Free codes that never expire are easy to find too. QR Code Monkey’s are static and “will work forever”, though its sign-up buttons for editable codes lead to QRCG by Bitly and Bitly, where the rules above apply. Canva’s don’t expire unless you set a date.