How to Make a Free QR Code (and Make Sure It Actually Scans)

QR codes are everywhere: menus, posters, business cards, wedding invites, Wi-Fi signs. Creating one is easy. Creating one that people can scan from across a room, in bad light, on an old phone, takes a little thought.

How to make one in seconds

1. Open the QR code generator.
2. Type or paste a link or some text.
3. Generate the code and download the image.

The code is created in your browser, so the text you enter isn’t sent to a server.

What can you put in a QR code?

A QR code is just text in picture form. Phones know how to read certain patterns and act on them:

• A website link: https://example.com/menu
• A WhatsApp chat link: https://wa.me/15551234567 (use the full international number, digits only, no plus sign or spaces)
• Wi-Fi details: WIFI:T:WPA;S:NetworkName;P:YourPassword;;. Guests scan it and join without typing.
• Plain text, an email address or a phone number.

Seven things that make a QR code scan reliably

1. Keep the content short. Less data means bigger, simpler squares that are easier to read. A short link beats a long one packed with tracking parameters.
2. Use strong contrast. Dark squares on a light background work best. Avoid pale colours and avoid inverting it (light on dark) because some scanners struggle.
3. Leave a blank border. The empty margin around the code (the “quiet zone”) helps the scanner find it. Don’t crop it off or run text right up against it.
4. Don’t stretch it. Keep it square.
5. Make it big enough. As a rough guide, a code needs to be around 2 cm square for close-up scanning, and larger for anything read from a distance.
6. Don’t put it over a busy photo. Noise behind the code makes it harder to read.
7. Test it. Scan the printed version with two or three different phones before you print a hundred posters.

Static versus dynamic codes

The codes you make here are static: the destination is baked into the pattern forever. That has upsides, because there’s no subscription and the code never expires. The downside is that you can’t change where it points later, and you can’t track scans.

So for anything printed, link to a page you control. If you ever need to change the destination, you can update the page rather than reprinting everything.

Stay safe when scanning

A QR code can hide a link just as well as a button can. Only scan codes from sources you trust, look at the address your phone shows before opening it, and be wary of codes stuck over other codes on parking meters and posters. Never enter a password or payment details on a page you reached from an unknown code.

Ready? Head to the QR code generator, make your code, and test it before you print.