Why QR codes die (and how to print ones that don't)

You print 500 menus with a QR code on them. Two weeks later a customer scans one and gets a page saying the code is no longer active. The menus are fine. The ink is fine. The redirect behind the pattern stopped answering.

Reviews of QR platforms are full of that complaint. The lifespan of a code gets decided on a pricing page weeks before the artwork goes out, and a pricing page is not what you re-read while approving a proof.

What dies is the redirect

Most QR generators default to dynamic codes. A dynamic code does not store your website address in the pattern. It stores a short link on the vendor's domain, and the vendor's server redirects each scan to your destination.

That indirection buys you two things. You can change the destination after printing, and every scan gets counted. It costs you a dependency: someone has to keep a server answering for your short link, and how long they keep answering is a question of terms rather than technology.

A dynamic code lasts as long as the plan behind it. A trial ends, a card fails, a subscription lapses, a free allowance runs out, and the short link stops resolving. Your printed pattern still encodes that link and will encode it forever. The scan lands nowhere useful.

Static codes can't die

A static QR code bakes the content into the pattern itself. Your URL, Wi-Fi password or contact card lives in the black and white modules, with no server in between. Nobody can switch it off, because there is nothing to switch off.

The trade is permanence in both directions. You cannot edit a static code, and you get no scan counts. A typo in a static code on 10,000 boxes is a reprint.

Four questions to ask before you print

• Is this code static or dynamic? If the tool made you create an account before generating, assume dynamic.
• How long does a code stay live on the plan you are on? Look for a number in writing on the pricing page, not a reassurance in a chat widget.
• What happens after you cancel or downgrade? Ask whether there is a grace period and how many days it runs.
• Can you export your scan data? Leaving costs less when the numbers come with you.

If a pricing page answers none of those, assume the shortest version and print static.

Our rules

Static codes come from the homepage generator, cost nothing, need no account, and have no expiry. Download the file and it scans for as long as the paper survives.

Dynamic codes run on our redirect, so they follow the plan:

• On the free plan, a dynamic code stays active for 12 months from the day you create it, then deactivates unless the account upgrades.
• On a paid plan, codes stay active while the subscription is active, plus a 30-day grace period after you cancel.
• A deactivated dynamic code shows the scanner an inactive code page.
• Static codes sit outside all of this. No server stands behind them, so there is nothing to switch off.

The one other reason we take a code down is an abuse takedown, when a code points at phishing or malware.

Match the code to how long the print has to work. A window poster for a two-week sale can carry any kind of code. A laminated menu, a product box or a stack of business cards that has to keep working for years is either a static code or a line in next year's budget.