QRCodeChimp Is Free, Until Your Code Gets Popular

Is QRCodeChimp Free? The Short Answer

Yes. QRCodeChimp's FREE plan costs $0, carries no expiry date, and its pricing page - read on 22 September 2026 - lists unlimited static QR codes, 10 dynamic QR codes, 1,000 scans a month, one digital business card, basic analytics, two folders, a 2 MB upload limit and a 1024 × 1024 pixel download cap. QRCodeChimp's help centre answers the "will it ask for payment later" question directly: "You can have free plan forever with the above limits."

The free plan is not a demonstration that runs out. That distinction matters because most dynamic QR platforms use a free tier as a timed trial, and this one does not. The ten dynamic codes stay active, help article 29 says, "indefinitely" - as long as the scans stay under the monthly limit.

Where free stops is not at a date but at a number, and the number is not one you control. Everything else on this page follows from that: the meter counts scans by the public, the cap is on the pixel size of the file you print, and the account is the container the code lives in.

Two Kinds of Free: Unmetered Static, Metered Dynamic

QRCodeChimp's free plan bundles two products that behave differently once printed, and the difference is the whole answer to "is it free". A static code is free in the plain sense: made, downloaded, and then no further relationship with QRCodeChimp. A dynamic code is free in the metered sense: it works for as long as the account exists and the monthly scan count stays under 1,000.

A static QR code is a code that carries its destination inside the pattern itself, so no server has to stay online for the code to keep working. QRCodeChimp's help article 29 describes its own static codes in exactly those terms: "Static QR codes are unlimited and free forever. Since scan requests do not reach our server, there is no limit on scans, but analytics will not be available for these scans."

A dynamic QR code is a code that encodes a short link on the provider's server, so every scan is redirected through that server before it reaches your page. That intermediate stop is what makes the destination editable after printing and what makes each scan countable. It is also where a meter can be fitted, and QRCodeChimp fits one.

The two kinds of free are therefore not two prices for one thing. A static code from QRCodeChimp costs nothing and can never stop working because of QRCodeChimp; a dynamic code from QRCodeChimp costs nothing and can stop working next Tuesday if a code goes viral. The static versus dynamic guide sets out the general trade; this page is about where QRCodeChimp draws its particular line.

What QRCodeChimp Costs, Read on 22 September 2026

QRCodeChimp's pricing page prints four plans with a monthly and a yearly toggle, and the four pairs below are the figures it showed on 22 September 2026. Yearly billing is quoted per month but charged for the year, and the page also lists ULTIMA multiples - 2x through 5x - for larger accounts.

The yearly discount is about 30% on every paid tier - $6.99 against $9.99, $13.99 against $19.99, $34.99 against $49.99 - which is smaller than ME-QR's and paid up front. The number to compare with the free plan is the STARTER monthly figure: $9.99 is the price of moving the resolution cap from 1024 to 2048 pixels and lifting the code and scan limits, and nothing on the free plan gets you there.

KoloQR's roundup of free QR code generators records the same entry price for QRCodeChimp, and the July 2026 figures on our comparison page match the ones above. Prices on hosted platforms move without notice, so the useful habit is the same as for any subscription: read the number on the day you pay.

What the Free Plan Includes and Leaves Out

The free plan is generous on design and thin on operations. Read off the pricing page on 22 September 2026, the FREE column ticks the novelty design set - 3D QR codes, custom shapes, stickers and pre-designed templates - and crosses out everything to do with running codes at scale: bulk upload, API access, white labelling, form submissions, event ticketing and email notifications on scan.

One thing the free plan does not include is a way to download without an account. QRCodeChimp's dashboard is where codes are saved, designed and downloaded, and every route into it starts with a login. The homepage FAQ, read the same day, offers one exception: "you can create a static QR code without signup and download it by right clicking the QR image and choosing Save As option." A right-click save takes the preview image as the browser rendered it, at whatever size the page drew it, and KoloQR did not exercise that route on 22 September 2026 - so this page does not claim a format or a pixel size for it. Treat it as a way to get a screen-sized image, not a print file.

Analytics for static codes are not withheld; they are impossible. The help centre says so in the sentence quoted above - scans of a static code "do not reach our server". If scan counts are the reason for choosing QRCodeChimp, the codes have to be dynamic, and dynamic is where the meter is.

The 1,000-Scan Meter Is on the Printed Code, Not on You

QRCodeChimp's free plan meters the public's behaviour, not yours. The pricing page words the limit as 1,000 scans a month with the footnote "Once you reach the 1000 scans limit for a month, scans are paused, but they reopen next month for another 1000 scans." The scans in question are scans of your printed code by other people, and the count is shared across all ten dynamic codes on the account.

What a paused code does is stated in help article 28: "Once the limit is reached, any new scans will redirect to a default page informing users that the QR Code is not available, and your display page will be paused. It will remain paused until your scan limit resets or you upgrade to a higher plan." The person holding the phone sees a page saying the code is not available. Nothing tells them to try again on the first of the month.

A thousand scans a month is about 33 a day, shared. One code on a shop window that catches on, or a single busy weekend for a menu, can spend the whole allowance and pause the other nine codes with it - including the digital business card. The meter does not distinguish a useful scan from a curious one.

That is the shape of free that QRCodeChimp has chosen, and it is worth naming against the alternatives. ME-QR charges nothing and shows the scanner an advertisement instead, which our ME-QR post sets out; QRCodeChimp shows no advertisement and counts instead. Unitag's free generator counts too, and switches the code off for good at 100 scans. All three are honest, and all three put the consequence on the person scanning rather than the person paying. The general case for paying for dynamic codes is in our note on what a dynamic QR subscription buys.

The Print Catch: 1024 Pixels Is About 8.7 cm

A free QRCodeChimp download stops at 1024 × 1024 pixels, and a 1024-pixel raster file prints sharply to about 8.7 cm at 300 DPI. The arithmetic is 1024 ÷ 300 = 3.41 inches, and 3.41 × 2.54 = 8.67 cm. Above that size the printer stretches each pixel over more paper, the module edges soften, and softened edges are the first thing a phone camera loses.

The same sum gives the paid caps: 2048 pixels on STARTER is about 17.3 cm, and 4096 pixels on PRO and ULTIMA is about 34.7 cm. A table tent or a business card sits comfortably under the free cap; an A4 poster with a 10 cm code does not, and an A2 poster is STARTER territory at least. Our print size calculator does the sum for any size and distance, and the resolution guide explains why 300 DPI is the reference figure.

The way round a pixel cap is a vector file, and on QRCodeChimp that is not a default. Help article 53, read on 22 September 2026, states: "By default, QRCodeChimp offers QR codes in PNG and PDF formats" and "If you need SVG format, we can enable it for your account on request." The same article warns that the SVG uses the SVG 2 standard, "renders best in Google Chrome" and "may not open correctly in Illustrator or similar design software", and suggests printing the SVG from Chrome to a PDF as a workaround. It does not mention EPS.

The default PDF may or may not be vector; QRCodeChimp's help centre did not say which when we checked, and this page does not guess. The safe reading is that a free account gets a 1024-pixel raster, a paid account gets a larger raster, and a vector file is a support request rather than a button. The SVG versus PNG guide covers what to ask a printer for and why.

What Happens to Printed Codes When the Plan or the Scans Lapse

A printed static code from QRCodeChimp never stops because of QRCodeChimp; a printed dynamic code can. Help article 200, "If my plan expires, what happens to my QR Codes?", read on 22 September 2026, says a lapsed paid account moves to the free plan, static codes continue without restriction, and "only 10 of your dynamic QR codes will be active, and you will be allowed only 1000 scans per month."

The article does not say which ten stay active, and this page does not claim to know. An account that held forty dynamic codes on PRO and let the plan lapse has thirty printed codes that now resolve to nothing, and no published rule for choosing the survivors. Anyone in that position should ask support before the renewal date rather than after it.

The free plan's own failure mode is the monthly pause described above, and it is temporary: help article 58 says the codes "receive 1000 scans again" at the start of the next month. A code that pauses on the 20th is back on the 1st, which is fine for a notice board and a problem for a product label.

None of this is a defect in QRCodeChimp; it is the structure of any dynamic code, and QRCodeChimp documents its version more clearly than most. Our guide to whether QR codes expire covers the general case. The steps below are the ones that keep a free dynamic code from becoming a reprint.

1. Decide Static or Dynamic Before Designing. If the destination will not move and nobody needs a scan count, make the code static. It is unmetered, it downloads the same way, and the 1,000-scan pause cannot reach it. Only choose dynamic for a destination that will change or a count you will actually read.
2. Estimate the Scans Against 1,000 a Month, Shared. Count every dynamic code on the account, not just the new one, and imagine the busiest week. A code in a window on a high street, on a conference lanyard or on a product that sells well can exceed 33 scans a day on its own. If the estimate is close, budget for STARTER before printing, not after the pause.
3. Point the Code at a URL You Control. Encode a short path on your own domain and redirect from there. If QRCodeChimp's limits, prices or policies change, the redirect is yours to edit and the printed pattern does not have to. This is the one arrangement no platform change can reach.
4. Check the Printed Size Against the Resolution Cap. A 1024-pixel file is good to about 8.7 cm at 300 DPI. If the code will print larger, either pay for the 2048 or 4096 cap, ask support to enable SVG and test the file in the software the printer uses, or generate the code as a vector elsewhere.
5. Write Down Who Owns the Account. A dynamic code works for as long as somebody's login does. Record the account email, who renews it, and what each printed code points at, before the print run exists. A code whose owner left the company is the most common way a working code dies.
6. Test the Printed File at Printed Size on Two Phones. Print one proof at final size and scan it from the real distance on an iPhone and an Android phone. Our QR code validator checks the file when a phone is not to hand. A screen preview hides the two failures that matter in print: size and softened edges.

Does QRCodeChimp Put a Watermark on the Code?

Not on the image, as far as QRCodeChimp's own pages state. Neither the pricing page nor the help centre, read on 22 September 2026, describes a watermark on a downloaded QR code at any tier. The one "watermark" the help centre documents is something else: article 43 is about removing "QRCodeChimp's branding / watermark / Promotional message (e.g. footer message "Get your own page for free!") from QR code display page" - a line on the landing page a dynamic code opens, not a mark on the code.

That branding line is a paid removal. The article says that on the free plan "a Plan Upgrade Required pop-up will appear" when you try to switch it off. So a free dynamic code that opens a QRCodeChimp-hosted page - a digital business card, a menu page, a link page - carries QRCodeChimp's footer on that page, and a free static code that points straight at your own site carries nothing of the kind, because QRCodeChimp is not in the path.

A related question is the loader image, the chimp logo shown while a hosted page loads. Help article 298 says it can be replaced with your own image from the dashboard profile settings, and does not tie that to a plan. What this page cannot verify is whether a downloaded free-plan image ever carries a mark, because we did not download one that day; if you have one, look at the corners.

When QRCodeChimp Is the Right Tool

QRCodeChimp is the right tool when the destination will change after printing, when the scans need counting, or when the code is really a small hosted page rather than a link. Those are three real jobs, and a static generator cannot do any of them. The free plan covers all three for a small account, and the paid plans exist because at some volume the meter and the cap stop being theoretical.

• The destination will move and the print will not. A seasonal menu, a campaign page, an event that changes venue. Ten free dynamic codes cover a small operator, and re-pointing one is a dashboard edit rather than a reprint.
• You want scan counts. The free plan's basic analytics are enough to know whether a placement is working at all. UTM tracking, location precision and exports are paid, and worth paying for only when someone will read them.
• A digital business card is the point. One is free, it is one of the ten dynamic codes, and it is exactly the kind of hosted page a static code cannot be. The free version carries QRCodeChimp's footer on the page.
• A team runs many codes. Folders, sub-accounts, bulk upload, forms and white labelling are the paid tiers' actual product, and a team that needs them has already outgrown any free generator.
• The brief calls for a novelty outline. QRCodeChimp's shape set - hearts, animals, food, 3D effects and stickers - is wider than most, and the pricing page ticks it on FREE. The usual caution applies: the data area stays a square grid inside the outline, and every shape needs a scan test.

Where QRCodeChimp is the wrong tool is narrower than it looks: a code that points at one fixed page, needs no count, and will be printed larger than about 8.7 cm. That code gains nothing from a dashboard and inherits the 1024-pixel cap for no benefit. Make it static, in QRCodeChimp or anywhere else, and ask for a vector.

The KoloQR Alternative, and What It Does Not Do

KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, is the alternative for the static half of the job and nothing else. It makes static codes only, in the browser, without an account; it exports SVG, PDF and EPS as well as PNG, so there is no resolution cap to plan around; and it adds no watermark and no branding line, because it is never in the path between the scan and your page.

It does not replace the dynamic half. KoloQR has no dynamic codes, no scan analytics, no dashboard, no hosted pages, no digital business cards, no bulk upload and no API, and it cannot re-point a printed code. If any of that is the requirement, QRCodeChimp's free plan is a better answer than anything KoloQR offers, and the side-by-side comparison sets out feature by feature where each one leads.

The honest middle path costs nothing on either tool: make a static code that points at a short path on your own domain, and run the redirect yourself. The printed pattern is permanent and unmetered, the destination stays editable in your hosting panel, and your own web analytics count the visits. That gives totals, not per-code geography - and it is the one arrangement that no scan meter, resolution cap or lapsed login can affect.