Do QR codes expire?

A QR code itself is just a picture. Whether it keeps working depends entirely on what the picture points at, and who controls that. Here is the full answer, vendor by vendor, and how to make a code that cannot be switched off.

Published 17 September 2026 · 6 min read · by SteadQR

Static QR codes never expire

A static QR code is the plain kind. Type in https://example.com/menu, and the generator turns those exact characters into a pattern of squares. A phone reads the squares, reconstructs the characters, and opens the address. No server is involved and nobody is in the middle. The code you print today will scan in twenty years, provided the page is still there.

This is what the free generator on this site makes, and it is what most "free QR code generator" tools make. Nothing about it can expire because there is nothing to expire. The only way a static code stops working is if the destination page itself is taken down, and that is under your control.

The trade-off is that a static code can never be changed. If the menu moves to a new address, every printed code still points at the old one. That limitation is the entire reason dynamic codes exist.

Dynamic QR codes expire when the redirect stops

A dynamic QR code does not encode your address. It encodes a short link, something like qrco.de/bd1x2Q, on a domain the generator company owns. When a phone scans it, the phone goes to that short link first, and the company's server redirects it to wherever you have set as the destination. Because the destination lives on their server rather than in the printed squares, you can change it any time without reprinting.

That server is the catch. The code keeps working only while the company keeps redirecting it, and companies stop redirecting for ordinary reasons:

• A free trial ends. Several well-known generators offer dynamic codes on a trial. When the trial ends and no card is added, the redirect is switched off. Anything you printed during the trial stops scanning.
• A subscription lapses. A failed card, a cancelled plan, or a price rise you decided not to pay. Some vendors keep the codes resolving through a grace period; some deactivate at once; some delete the code entirely after a set number of days.
• A plan downgrade. Dropping to a cheaper tier that allows fewer codes usually deactivates the excess, and in some products deletes them.
• The company changes its terms, or closes. Free tiers get withdrawn. Companies get acquired. The domain in your printed codes belongs to them, and there is nothing you can do from your side once it stops answering.

None of this is malicious. Redirects cost money for as long as the code is in circulation, which for a printed code can be years. Nobody can offer unlimited dynamic codes free forever, so every dynamic code carries a condition somewhere in the terms. The question to ask is not "does it expire" but "under what conditions, and who decides".

Do Canva QR codes expire?

No. Canva's built-in QR code generator produces static codes. The image encodes the URL you typed, so there is no Canva server involved when someone scans it and nothing for Canva to expire. You can close your Canva account and the printed code will keep working.

Two caveats. First, Canva's app marketplace includes third-party QR tools that make dynamic codes on the third party's domain; if you used one of those, its expiry policy applies, not Canva's. Second, a Canva code that "stopped working" is almost always a typo in the URL or a missing https://, not an expiry. Scan it and read the address the phone shows; the section on checking which kind you have explains what to look for.

Do Adobe Express QR codes expire?

No. Adobe Express's free QR code generator also produces static codes. The address is in the image, so the code works for as long as the page it points at exists, whether or not you keep an Adobe account. As with Canva, confirm it by scanning: if the phone shows your own URL rather than an adobe.com or short-link address, it is static and cannot expire.

Do Bitly QR codes expire?

Bitly QR codes are dynamic. The image encodes a bit.ly short link, and Bitly redirects that link to your destination. Bitly's stated position is that its links do not expire, and in practice a code keeps working as long as the link exists in an account in good standing.

The thing to understand is where the dependency sits. The printed code contains bit.ly, not your address. If Bitly changes what its free plan includes, deletes a link for a terms violation, or the account is closed, the printed code goes with it. That is the standard bargain with every dynamic code on a vendor's domain, and Bitly is neither better nor worse than the rest of the category on this point.

Free generators with a trial

The expiry complaints you find in reviews almost always trace back to one pattern: a site that lets you create a dynamic code for free, then switches it off when a trial period ends. The code scans perfectly for two weeks, gets printed onto 5,000 flyers, and then stops. The best-known example is qr-code-generator.com, whose free trial runs 14 days; its own help pages say that dynamic codes created in the trial are deactivated when it ends unless a paid plan is started, and that scanning one then lands on a service page rather than your destination. Static codes made there keep working.

If you are using any generator and did not pay, ask one question before printing: is the address in my code mine, or theirs? If it is theirs, find the expiry terms and read them. If you cannot find them, assume the code expires.

How to tell which kind you have

1. Open your phone's camera and point it at the code, but do not tap the link.
2. Read the address in the banner that appears.
3. If it is your own address (yourbusiness.com/menu), the code is static. It cannot expire.
4. If it is a short link on someone else's domain (bit.ly, qrco.de, flowcode.com, app.qr-code-generator.com, qrcodes.pro and so on), the code is dynamic. It works only while that company keeps redirecting it.
5. If it is a short link on a domain you own (qr.yourbusiness.com/abc), the code is dynamic and under your control: you can change the destination, and if you ever leave the vendor you can point the domain elsewhere and the printed codes keep working.

My QR code already expired. What now?

Be clear-eyed about what can and cannot be recovered.

• The printed code cannot be fixed. It contains the vendor's short link. No setting on your side changes what a phone does when it reads those squares. If the vendor will not restore the redirect, the printed material needs replacing.
• If the account still exists, reactivating usually works. Most vendors keep deactivated codes for a period and restore them when a plan is started or a card updated. Do that first, then export your code list before deciding what to do next.
• If it was on your own domain, repoint the domain. A dynamic code on qr.yourbusiness.com keeps working under any provider, because the DNS record is yours. Move the hostname to a new service and the old print run carries on.
• Next time, print a static code or a dynamic code on your own domain. Those are the only two kinds where the expiry decision is yours.

How to make a QR code that cannot expire

You have two options, and which one is right depends on whether you will ever need to change where the code goes.

A dynamic code on the vendor's domain is the only kind you should never print without reading the expiry terms, because it is the only kind where someone else holds the off switch. Dynamic vs static QR codes goes deeper on when each is worth it.

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