QR Tiger Is Free Twice Over, and Only One of Them Is Really Free

Is QR Tiger Free? The Short Answer

Yes for static QR codes, with no limit and no expiry, and conditionally for dynamic ones. QR Tiger's free plan includes unlimited static codes, three dynamic codes, 500 scans per dynamic code, basic analytics and an advertisement on every scan of those dynamic codes. Nothing on the static side is metered, and nothing on it is advertised.

The static promise is worth quoting because it is the part that does not depend on QR Tiger: "There is no limit to the number of free static QR codes you can create. The best part is that these QR codes never expire. Feel free to generate as many static QR codes as you need, knowing that they will remain functional."

That promise is structural rather than generous. A static QR code is a code that carries its destination inside the pattern itself, so nothing has to stay online for the code to keep working. Once the file is downloaded, QR Tiger could close tomorrow and every static code it ever produced would keep resolving, because the phone reads the destination out of the pattern rather than asking a server for it.

The dynamic promise is the opposite kind of thing. A dynamic QR code is a code that encodes a link to the provider's server, which forwards each scan to wherever the destination currently points. Its lifetime is the lifetime of the account behind it, its scan ceiling is a setting on that account, and what the scanner sees on the way through is a decision QR Tiger makes rather than one you make.

What the Free Plan Contains, Line by Line

QR Tiger publishes the free tier as a column on its pricing page rather than burying it, and the column is short enough to quote in full. Its own description of the tier: "Three dynamic QR codes with limited scans - ideal for simple personal projects, one-off events, or trying out the platform."

Two things are missing from that list rather than present in it, and both appear one tier up: "Ads-free" and "High-resolution images" are listed from the Regular plan onwards. The second matters more than it sounds for anything going to print, and it has a free workaround covered below.

Someone Pays for a Free Dynamic Code, and It Is Whoever Scans It

A free QR Tiger dynamic code shows an advertisement to the person scanning before it forwards them. QR Tiger says so in the answer to a question phrased as a complaint: "How to get rid of the ad when QR code is scanned before redirecting to the destination URL? QR TIGER ads display when users scan QR codes generated from the free trial version, but the ad will disappear if you purchase any of our subscription plans."

The cost of that is not paid by you, which is exactly why it is worth naming. A customer at a table scans a menu code and meets an interstitial for a QR code platform before reaching the menu; a guest at an event meets one before the schedule. It costs nothing on the invoice and something on the two seconds where a scan either works or is abandoned.

Paying removes the interstitial but not all of the branding. QR Tiger: "An account with our regular or advanced plan will mention our brand for some pages on our website. It will show as a footer in this form: 'Powered by QR TIGER.' This shows up on certain types of QR codes like vCard and Link in Bio QR code for social media. To remove the logo pop-up, you will need to use our premium plan, which will give you access to our white label feature."

So the branding ladder has three rungs: an ad on scan for free, a footer credit on the hosted pages for US$7 or US$16 a month, and no branding at US$37 a month. That is an ordinary way to run a freemium platform and an unusual one to document this openly, and both halves of that sentence are meant.

It is also the same business model as ME-QR's free tier, which monetises the scan rather than the download, and the opposite of QRCode Monkey's, which sells a second product and leaves the free generator alone. QRFY is a fourth shape again: free for its static types, and a seven-day trial for everything else. Which of them suits you depends entirely on whether anyone but you ever sees the code.

500 Scans Is a Smaller Number Than It Looks

The free plan's 500-scan ceiling per dynamic code is generous for a personal project and short for anything public. Divided across a month it is about 16 scans a day; across a two-day conference it is 250 a day; on a restaurant table tent it is a few weeks of ordinary service at one scan per party.

None of those divisions is a claim about your traffic - they are arithmetic on QR Tiger's published number, and the useful move is to do the division with your own divisor before printing anything. The question is not whether 500 is a lot but whether the thing you are about to print will be scanned more than 500 times in its life.

What happens at the ceiling is the part to plan for. QR Tiger meters free dynamic codes by scans and unmetered scanning is a paid feature - its FAQ says of the paid tiers that "there is no scan limit for dynamic QR codes generated under any paid QR TIGER plans" and that dynamic codes have "unlimited scans with a valid subscription". A printed free code that runs out of scans cannot be topped up by reprinting, because the pattern is not the problem.

The way out of that trap costs nothing and almost nobody takes it: encode a URL on a domain you control and do the redirecting yourself. The printed code is static, permanent, unmetered and free, and the destination stays editable forever because the redirect is yours rather than a vendor's. It is the only arrangement on this page that no pricing change and no acquisition can affect.

The Static Half Is the Genuinely Free Half

QR Tiger's free static generator is one of the more capable ones, and it is the half of the free plan with no strings attached. The company says it offers "up to 14 distinct QR code solutions for free", listing them as URL, Wi-Fi, Google Form, Event, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter (X), Location, Email, Text and SMS.

Styling is included rather than withheld: colours, module patterns, eye shapes, frames and a logo are all available on free static codes, which QR Tiger states in as many words - "You have complete control over the pattern, eyes, and colors and the addition of your brand or picture! It's possible to do it even if the static QR Code is free!"

The export note is the one to act on. QR Tiger says of the free generator: "It allows you to download your QR code as PNG or SVG in static mode." Take the SVG. It sidesteps the "High-resolution images" feature listed on the paid tiers entirely, because a vector file has no resolution to be low - it is coordinates and curves, and it enlarges to a shop window without softening a single module edge. The SVG versus PNG guide is the longer version of that argument.

1. Choose Static Unless You Genuinely Need to Edit Later. A static code has no scan ceiling, no advertisement, no account dependency and no monthly line item. Everything the free plan meters is on the dynamic side.
2. Point It at a URL You Control. If the destination might change, encode a short path on your own domain and redirect from there. That buys the editability of a dynamic code without the platform, the cap or the interstitial.
3. Download the SVG, Not the PNG. The free tier does not include the high-resolution raster export, and it does not need to. The SVG carries the same design as vector paths and prints at any size.
4. Keep the Logo Well Under the Maximum. Error correction level H can recover roughly 30% of a damaged symbol, and printing, folding and poor light spend from the same allowance before your logo does. Our error correction guide sets out what each level costs in capacity.
5. Scan the Final File at Its Printed Size. Print or display it at the size it will really appear and scan it with two different phones. That single check catches more failures than any feature comparison, and our QR code validator covers the case where no phone is to hand.

What the Paid Plans Cost, and What Stops When They Stop

QR Tiger's paid tiers are priced per dynamic code rather than per scan, and the ladder is steep at the bottom and shallow at the top. The figures below are the monthly view of the pricing page as read on 31 August 2026; the page also offers a yearly switch, and yearly rates are the ones to check before subscribing.

What stops when a subscription stops is the dynamic codes, not the static ones. QR Tiger states it directly: dynamic codes have "unlimited scans with a valid subscription. If your plan expires, it will stop working." The data outlives the redirect for a while - "if your plan expires, we will retain your data for a maximum period of 1 year" - but a printed code pointing at a lapsed account is a dead code in the meantime.

That asymmetry is the whole reason to decide static or dynamic before designing anything rather than after. A static code has no renewal date; a dynamic one turns a print run into a subscription with a physical dependency, which is what the note on what a dynamic QR code subscription actually buys works through, and what the roundup of what seven platforms charge prices.

When QR Tiger's Free Version Is the Right Answer

QR Tiger's free plan is the right tool when you want a well-styled static code from a mature platform, you will download the SVG, and no stranger has to sit through an advertisement to reach your content. That covers most Wi-Fi codes, most business cards, most product labels and a good share of event signage.

• The code is static and going to print. Free, unlimited, unexpiring, and the SVG export is all a printer needs.
• The code is dynamic and public. Reconsider. Free dynamic codes show your customers an advertisement and stop at 500 scans each; a paid plan starts at US$7 a month and removes the first problem.
• You are testing a platform before committing. Three dynamic codes with real analytics is a genuine trial, and QR Tiger asks for no card to start one.
• You need the destination to change later without paying anyone. Encode a redirect on your own domain in a static code. It is the free version of a dynamic code for everything except the analytics.
• You want the whole code to be a shape other than a square. QR Tiger styles the modules, eyes and frame but keeps the square outline, which is the one design job it does not do.

KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, overlaps with QR Tiger's free static half almost exactly - unlimited static codes, no expiry, no watermark, SVG export - and differs on that last rule, by changing the outline of the symbol rather than only the modules inside it. It needs no account, shows nobody an advertisement, and is open source, so its behaviour can be read rather than measured.

It replaces nothing on QR Tiger's paid side. KoloQR has no dynamic codes, no scan analytics, no bulk generation, no API and no team accounts, and QR Tiger is a larger and older platform with an app, integrations and a support desk behind it. If editable destinations and campaign reporting are the requirement, QR Tiger is the better answer, and the side-by-side comparison sets out feature by feature where each one leads.