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Vector codes, measured quiet zones, and a client who never asks for a reprint

A QR code in a print job is a small piece of artwork with unusually strict rules: it has to be vector, the pale border around it is part of the symbol, and once 5,000 copies are on the pallet nobody can change where it points. This page is the site as a print professional would use it — SVG, PDF and EPS out of every tool, a decode check before the file leaves, and codes the client can repoint from their own account.

Nothing about file type, resolution or watermarks is ever the paid part. SVG, PDF, EPS, PNG and JPG up to 4096 px are free on every plan, signed in or not, and static codes never expire because they never touch our servers.

Open the QR generator Open the print templates

The jobs, and the tool for each

Every card names a real tool on this site. Where something needs a paid plan, the card says which one.

  • Job 1

    Placing a code in artwork

    The generator exports SVG, PDF and EPS as real vector paths, so the same file goes on a 25 mm swing tag and a 6-sheet poster. You choose the error-correction level (L, M, Q or H), set the quiet zone in modules rather than pixels — the slider runs 0 to 12 and defaults to the 4 modules the QR specification asks for — and a logo is capped at 26% of the code’s area, which is where it stops eating into the error-correction budget. If the foreground and background you pick fall under a 2.5:1 contrast ratio, the preview says so before you export.

    What you make QR code generator
  • Job 2

    A decode check before the file leaves your machine

    Every design in the generator is rasterised and decoded in your browser at phone-screen size as you edit it — with a second, slower decoder for the shape and colour choices the first one struggles with. A design that fails shows a warning and the reason (which shape, which colour, which logo). The print templates go one step further: their download buttons stay locked until the finished layout decodes, so a label that would not scan never becomes a file.

    What you make Styles that still scan
  • Job 3

    Twelve layouts already at the right size

    The print templates are drawn in millimetres — the SVG’s viewBox literally is the trim size. A4 window poster and event flyer, A5 review stand, A6 table tent and payment card, DL wine-list insert (99 × 210 mm), 148 × 105 mm WiFi card, 85 × 55 mm business-card back, 90 × 90 mm counter sticker and 70 × 40 mm product label. Each exports as vector SVG, vector PDF at trim size, or PNG at 300 dpi, with a safe-margin guide you can toggle on while you check the layout.

    What you make Print templates
  • Job 4

    A code the client can repoint after the run

    A dynamic code holds a short qrcodeharbor.com address instead of the client’s URL. When their menu, campaign or booking link changes, they repoint it from their account and the printed piece stays put. A free account keeps 2 dynamic codes for as long as the account exists; Pro keeps 50 and Business 500. We never pause or delete a code because a subscription ended — a lapsed plan drops back to the free tier, and the codes keep redirecting.

    What you make Dynamic QR codes
  • Job 5

    Numbered runs and variable data

    For a run where every piece carries a different code, Pro’s batch tool on the generator takes a pasted list or a CSV file of up to 100 links, flags bad rows before anything is made, reads every file back with a QR decoder, and downloads them all as one ZIP with a manifest. Business adds the developer API: its bulk endpoint returns up to 1,000 static codes per request from a JSON list, and the rest of the API creates dynamic codes and all 38 barcode symbologies as SVG or PNG, so a variable-data workflow can pull codes straight into the imposition.

    What you make Developer API
  • Job 6

    The barcodes on the packaging brief

    The barcode tool renders all 38 symbologies as vector, free, with no account: EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, UPC-E, Code 128, Code 39, ITF-14, ISBN, GS1 DataBar, Data Matrix, PDF417, Aztec and the rest. We draw the barcode; we do not issue the number. An EAN or UPC that has to scan at a retailer’s till must be a GS1-allocated number the brand owns — ask the client for it before you typeset anything.

    What you make Barcode generator

See it in action

Check the code before you print, download any format free, and fold it into a table tent.

Print-ready QR codes and a folding table tent
Worked example — invented, not a customer

A menu job for a café that reprints twice a year

An invented job, written out to show where the code should come from and who should own it. Nothing here is a customer or a measured outcome — it is a sequence of clicks and the plan each one needs.

  1. The café owner creates a free account and makes one dynamic code pointed at the current menu PDF. The code sits in their account, not the studio’s, so the relationship with the studio can end without the code ending.
  2. The designer opens the same short URL in the generator, sets error correction to H because a small logo is going in the middle, leaves the quiet zone at 4 modules, and exports SVG.
  3. The SVG is placed in the A6 table-tent artwork — or the studio’s own layout — and the finished piece is exported as a vector PDF at trim size.
  4. Before the proof goes out, one copy is printed on the actual stock and scanned with the oldest phone in the office. Gloss laminate and a dark ink change what a monitor never shows.
  5. Six months later the menu changes. The owner uploads the new PDF and repoints the code from their account. The 200 table tents on the tables do not move, and the studio is not asked for a reprint it would rather not do at cost.
  6. If the café wants to know whether anyone scans the code, the account shows scan counts and a 30-day chart on the free plan; Pro keeps a year.

What this costs

Nothing about file type, resolution or print quality is ever the paid part here. What the paid plans add is scale — more codes that can be repointed, batches, longer history, and alerts when a destination breaks.

No account

Free

  • Vector SVG, PDF and EPS plus PNG and JPG to 4096 px — no watermark
  • Error-correction level, quiet zone in modules, logo, shapes and colours with the contrast and decode checks
  • All twelve print templates, decode-checked before the download unlocks
  • All 38 barcode symbologies and 37 QR types; unlimited static codes that never expire

A free account

Free

  • 2 dynamic codes kept for as long as the account exists — enough for one client’s menu and one spare
  • 500 scans a month counted; the day-by-day chart covers 30 days
  • A destination check when the code is scanned, at most once every six hours, plus a Check now button

Pro

$9.99/mo or $95/year

  • 50 dynamic codes — one per client job that might change
  • Batches of up to 100 codes from a list or CSV, downloaded as one ZIP
  • Pause a code, set an expiry, or password-protect a destination
  • A year of day-by-day history, and 15 saved designs

Business

$39/mo or $348/year

  • 500 dynamic codes and three years of history
  • Bulk generation through the API, up to 1,000 static codes per request
  • A check every six hours, and an email when a destination stops answering
  • The developer API

What this site does not do — read before you quote the job

The limits a prepress operator will run into, stated plainly.

  • Colour is RGB. Every export is an RGB SVG, PDF or bitmap. There is no CMYK or spot-colour output; convert in your own prepress workflow, and keep the code itself at a solid dark on a solid light — a rich black built from four inks registers less cleanly than 100K on a fine module.
  • Templates carry a safe margin, not bleed. Each layout is drawn at trim size with a safe-margin guide; there are no bleed or crop marks. Add bleed in your imposition, and never let it eat the quiet zone.
  • The decode check is not a press proof. It decodes a rasterised copy of the artwork on a screen. It cannot see dot gain, laminate glare or a foil finish. Print one on the stock and scan it.
  • A dynamic code depends on us; a static one does not. The short qrcodeharbor.com address is only a working code for as long as this site answers it. That is the real trade for being able to repoint it. For a WiFi card, a vCard or anything that must outlive every vendor, use a static code — the honest version of “never expires”.
  • Own the code, or make sure the client does. A dynamic code lives in one account. Decide before the run whether that is the studio’s account or the client’s, and write it into the job sheet. Each account has one login; team seats are not offered yet.
  • No white label. Hosted redirects go through qrcodeharbor.com; custom domains are not offered yet. There is no reseller pricing, but there is a 20% recurring affiliate commission, paid through Stripe, on any subscriber you refer.

Pages worth having open while you set this up

All of these are tools and guides on this site.

Start with the file

Open the generator, set the error correction and quiet zone the job needs, watch the decode check pass, and export the SVG. The plan question only comes up if the client wants to change where the code points after the run.

Open the QR generator See what the paid plans add