Scanova Alternative: What Happens When the Trial Ends

The pilot went well. Two hundred sample labels came off the printer during evaluation so the team could see the thing working in an aisle instead of on a slide. Then the trial ended and the codes on those samples stopped resolving. Nothing was hidden, and nothing was misrepresented: it says so on the pricing page. But the pricing page is not usually what gets read before a test print.

What Scanova does well

It is a paid dynamic platform that does not pretend its free tier is the whole product, and there is something clean about that. The free static generator is permanent and separate from the dynamic trial, so a static code created there is not on a countdown.

When we looked in July 2026, vector output (SVG, EPS, PS and PDF) sat on the paid plans from the entry tier rather than being reserved for the largest one, which is worth crediting. Plenty of products treat print-grade files as an enterprise upsell.

And the trial behavior is stated on their own pricing page rather than buried three clicks into a support article. Disclosure counts for something.

The sentence to read before anything goes to print

Their pricing page states: "Your Dynamic QR Code will stop working once the free trial ends." Static codes are described separately as free forever.

Read literally, a dynamic code created during evaluation is temporary by design. If it went onto a sample label, a pilot poster, a conference badge, a test batch of packaging, or a mockup that somebody later approved and sent to press, it stops when the trial does.

That is a legitimate way to run a trial, and it is disclosed. It also puts the risk squarely on the evaluator: the software behaves exactly as documented while the printed object quietly stops working.

There is a general rule here, and it applies to every dynamic tool rather than only this one. Nothing created inside a trial should go to a printer. Evaluate on screen and on your own phone, confirm in writing what happens to live codes when a subscription lapses, and only then produce artwork. What happens when a generator shuts down is the same failure arriving from a different direction.

Metering by code count rather than scans

When we looked in July 2026, their plans were metered by how many QR codes you hold rather than by scan volume, with smaller allowances on the lower tiers. That shape suits a business with a handful of high-traffic codes. It fits less well if you need hundreds of codes each doing modest numbers, which is the normal situation in multi-location retail or per-product labeling. Those counts move, so read the current pricing page rather than trusting a figure written in July.

They also offer an option called Ultra Lite: a one-time purchase that gives lifetime validity to a single dynamic code. The concept answers a real problem. A memorial plaque, a building directory, a permanent equipment label: one code that has to outlive any subscription. We did not verify what it costs, so check that on their page too.

What to check before you switch

• Does anything created during a trial keep working afterward? Ask in writing, and keep the reply.
• Does the free tier expire? Do QR codes expire covers why that question has different answers per tool.
• Is vector included on the tier you will actually be on, or one tier up?
• Can the destination be edited after printing, and by how many people?
• Is anything inserted between the scan and the destination?
• What happens to live codes if you stop paying? Whichever product you choose, the answer belongs in your notes before the first print run, not after.

Where QRolling fits, and where it does not

Our generator charges nothing for styling (colors, shapes, a center logo) or for SVG, and puts no watermark on the file; the download asks for a free account by email or Google. If the only thing you needed from a paid plan was a scalable file, that part still costs nothing here.

Editable destinations and scan analytics are our dynamic tier, which is paid, with a free trial. The same evaluation discipline applies to us as to anyone else: ask, in writing, what happens to a live code when a trial or a subscription ends, and hold us to the answer.

Where we are weaker: no enterprise SSO and no large-scale automation integrations yet. A buyer whose shortlist starts with SAML, provisioning and an API contract for high-volume generation should test that early, because it is the part of the product we have not built out.

What moving codes actually involves

A dynamic code you control can be repointed without reprinting anything, which is the entire reason the format exists. Changing a printed destination covers how that works in practice.

What cannot be done is moving somebody else's dynamic code onto your redirect. The printed pattern encodes their short domain, so scans keep resolving through their infrastructure for as long as that artwork exists. Exporting destinations does not move traffic.

Static codes are equally final in the other direction. The URL is in the pattern, so anything static that needs a new destination needs a new code and a reprint. Plan the switch as a schedule rather than a transfer: new codes from the new tool, old collateral replaced on its own cycle.

Next: inventory everything you created during a trial

Before you renew, cancel, or switch anything, list every dynamic code created during an evaluation and find out where each one was printed. Scan them all today, from a phone that is not signed in. The ones still working are decisions you have to make. The ones that are not are already costing you scans, and codes that do not expire are the replacement target for anything meant to be permanent.