Sure-QR guide
Static vs dynamic QR code — which do you need?
The difference is not a feature list. It is where the destination lives: inside the printed image, or on a server.
What a static code is
A static code has the destination encoded into the pattern itself. When a phone scans it, the phone reads the address out of the image and goes there directly. Nothing in between.
That makes it permanent and completely independent. It needs no subscription, no account, and no company to stay in business. Sure-QR could disappear tomorrow and every static code we ever generated would keep working, because we were never part of the journey.
It also means the destination is fixed forever. Print it and it is what it is.
What a dynamic code is
A dynamic code encodes a short address on our domain. The phone comes to us, we look up where you currently want it to go, and we send the phone on.
Because we are in the middle, two things become possible that are impossible otherwise: you can change the destination after printing, and the scan can be counted.
The trade-off is a dependency. The code works as long as the redirect works, which is why Sure-QR asks you to choose a fallback destination up front rather than deciding for you what happens if you stop paying.
Why a static code can never report scan data
This comes up constantly, so it is worth being precise: it is not a paywall and it is not a missing feature. A static scan travels from the phone to your destination without passing through Sure-QR at all. There is no request for us to log, whether you are signed in, signed out, on the free tier, or paying us the most we can charge.
No future version of Sure-QR will add analytics to static codes, because there is no technical path to it. If you need to know how many people scanned something, the code has to be dynamic. That is the whole reason dynamic exists.
How to choose
- Choose static when the destination will never change and you do not need numbers: a wifi code on a guest room card, a contact card, a plain text note.
- Choose dynamic when the thing you are printing will outlive the page it points at — packaging, signage, menus, anything printed in bulk.
- Choose dynamic when you need to know whether the print worked at all.
- If you are unsure and the print run is large, choose dynamic. The cost of repointing a code is nothing; the cost of reprinting is not.
Frequently asked questions
- Is a static QR code less reliable than a dynamic one?
- No — it is more reliable, in the narrow sense that it has fewer moving parts. A static code depends only on its destination existing. A dynamic code depends on its destination and on the redirect service. That is the honest trade you make in exchange for editability and scan data.
- Can I convert a static code into a dynamic one later?
- Not the printed one. The printed pattern contains the destination itself, so converting means generating a new dynamic code and reprinting. This is the main reason to decide before a large print run.
- Do static codes expire?
- Never. There is nothing to expire. The pattern is a fixed encoding of your destination and it will still read correctly in twenty years, assuming the destination still exists.
- Are static codes free on Sure-QR?
- Yes, unlimited, with no account required. Colour, logo, shape, and PNG or SVG export are all included. We do not degrade the free tier to push people towards Dynamic — Dynamic exists for scan tracking and editable destinations, which static genuinely cannot do.
- Can I track scans if I create a free account?
- Not for static codes — an account changes nothing about where the scan travels. A free account does let you save your static designs so you can find and re-export them later, and it includes one free dynamic code, which does report scans.