Do QR codes expire?
No — and anyone telling you otherwise is selling you something. A QR code is a pattern of squares encoding data, standardised in ISO/IEC 18004. A code printed today will decode in fifty years. So why did yours stop working two weeks after you printed 200 table tents?
The trap, step by step
- You search "free QR code generator" and use a slick commercial tool.
- Without asking, it gives you a dynamic code — one that points to their redirect server, not to your website.
- You print it. It works. Everyone is happy.
- The 14-day trial ends. The redirect is switched off. Every printed code is now a dead end — unless you subscribe, typically for $60–$400 a year.
The economics are deliberate: once ink is on paper you are locked in, and the price reflects your sunk cost, not the service's value. Public reviews of the major QR subscription services are full of exactly this story.
Static vs dynamic, honestly
| STATIC | DYNAMIC | |
|---|---|---|
| Content lives | in the squares | on the provider's server |
| Can expire | never | when payment stops |
| Editable after print | no | yes |
| Scan analytics | via your own URL params | provider dashboard |
| Tracks your visitors | no middleman | every scan, by design |
| Cost | free | subscription, forever |
How to check what you already have
Scan your existing code and watch the first URL that appears. Your own domain → static, safe. A generator's short domain that then bounces to yours → dynamic, rented. If it's rented and already printed, decide now whether to subscribe or reprint — before the trial lapses at the worst moment.
Getting dynamic benefits without the rent
- Editability: encode a URL you control (
yoursite.com/qr) and change the redirect on your own site whenever you like. - Analytics: add
?src=qrto the URL and read scans in the analytics you already run. - Campaign splits: one parameter per placement, batch-generated from CSV in the Batch bench.
The page at the other end
All of that assumes the URL you own keeps resolving, which is the one dependency a static code cannot design away: the code is permanent, the page it points at is not. Owning the domain is what removes the risk this article is about, because nobody but you can retire the address printed on your code. The host behind that domain is a separate and much smaller decision: you can change hosts without touching a single printed sheet, and for most codes any host is fine.
Where it is worth spending money is the narrow case: a code already printed at volume, pointing at a page that earns. If that page runs WordPress, WP Engine sells managed WordPress hosting aimed at exactly that. It is a paid product, priced in US dollars, and irrelevant unless your destination is a WordPress site.
Partner link: if you subscribe through it, WP Engine may pay us a commission, and your price is the same either way. It buys no influence over anything written here. The studio stays free, the codes stay static and unwatermarked, and nothing loads from a partner until you click.
Make a code nobody can ever switch off — free, in your browser.
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