How to Create a QR Code

How to generate a QR code in three steps

The generator at the top of this page handles the whole job: nothing to install, the code builds live in your browser, and a free account is only asked for at the download.

Step 1: choose the type. The type decides what happens when someone scans: open a website, join a WiFi network, save a contact, show a menu. URL is selected by default and covers anything a browser can open, so making a QR code for a website starts right here. Not sure which you need? The next section maps goals to types.

Step 2: enter the content. Paste the link, or fill in the network name, contact details, or destination. The QR preview regenerates with every character you type; there is nothing to submit and no waiting.

Step 3: style and download. Colors, corner shapes, and an optional center logo. The QR code maker overview tours every customization option, and the logo guide explains how error correction keeps a logo-covered code scannable. Download SVG for print or PNG for screens.

That is genuinely the whole process. New to QR codes entirely? What is a QR code explains the pattern itself in two minutes.

First decide what the scan should do

Most people search for how to create a QR code with a website in mind — but the type choice is where a good code starts. Pick by goal:

• Open a website or landing page: the URL QR code generator, the default and by far the most common.
• Let guests join your WiFi: a WiFi QR code encodes the network name and password; one scan connects, no typing.
• Save your contact details: a vCard QR code opens a pre-filled contact card on the scanner's phone.
• Open a menu at the table: a restaurant menu QR code built for table tents and laminated cards.
• Collect reviews: a Google review QR code lands the customer directly on your review form.
• Open a survey or signup form: a Google Form QR code for RSVPs, feedback, and registrations.
• Open a PDF: a PDF QR code hosts the file and serves it mobile-friendly.
• Navigate somewhere: a Google Maps QR code opens directions to your pin in one scan.
• Share photos: a QR code for photos puts a whole album behind one square.

If nothing on the list fits, fall back to the URL type — anything with a web address works through it.

How to make a QR code for free

Free here means actually free. Building, styling and downloading all cost nothing: no watermark stamped over the pattern, no trial clock that kills the code after 14 days, and a free account by email or Google in place of a paywall. The free QR code generator page spells out exactly where that line sits.

Paid enters the picture with dynamic codes, the ones with an editable destination and scan analytics. The rule of thumb: printing a poster for Saturday's event, the free tier is the right call. Printing ten thousand product boxes, or encoding a destination that might change, the paid dynamic code is cheap insurance against a reprint.

Generate a static or a dynamic QR code?

A static code writes your content into the pattern permanently: it owes nothing to a server once downloaded and works offline once printed, but is unchangeable — a typo or a moved page means reprinting. A dynamic code encodes a short redirect instead, so you can change the destination after printing and see scan counts by time, city, and device.

On lifespan: a static code physically cannot expire — the content lives in the ink. A dynamic code works for as long as its redirect stays active in your account. Choose based on whether the destination is truly final.

After creating: test and download

Download SVG for anything printed: vector stays razor-sharp from sticker to poster. Download PNG for screens: slides, email signatures, social posts.

Then test with a real phone before the code ships anywhere. A mistyped link produces a perfectly scannable code that opens the wrong page — the most common QR failure, and the easiest to catch. You can also upload the file to the online QR scanner to decode it and read back exactly what is inside. For print, size it with the QR code size guide: the working rule is 10:1, so a code scanned from 1 meter away needs to be at least 10 cm wide.

Generating QR codes in bulk, and what changes

Generating one QR code and generating three hundred are different jobs. Once you are producing a batch — table numbers, asset tags, per-store campaign codes — three things start to matter that never come up for a single code:

• Naming. Every file needs to be identifiable after export, or you will be matching squares to tables by eye.
• Consistency. One style applied across the whole batch, so the set reads as one system rather than three hundred decisions.
• Dynamic by default. A batch is exactly the case where reprinting is most expensive, so the destination should stay editable.

The bulk QR code generator does this from a list or a CSV and returns the set as an SVG ZIP.

Ways people create QR codes (and when each fits)

• A generator site — this one. Full control: every content type, styling, SVG export, editable destinations. The default choice for anything that represents your brand or gets printed.
• Browser built-ins. Chrome and Edge can produce a bare QR code from the share menu. Fine for flashing a link across a meeting room, but it is URL-only, PNG-only, unstyled, and never editable or trackable.
• Bulk from a list. One code per product, table, or event session: the bulk QR code generator converts up to 100 links in one pass and downloads them as an SVG ZIP, entirely in your browser.