Static vs Dynamic QR Codes (and Why Some "Free" Ones Stop Working)
A surprising number of people who generate a "free" QR code find it works fine for months, then just stops, no error, the destination simply doesn't load anymore, or the app tells them to upgrade to a paid plan to keep using it. That's not a bug or a scam exactly, it's the predictable consequence of a distinction most generators never explain: static versus dynamic QR codes.
Static: the destination is inside the code
A static QR code encodes your actual destination, a URL, a piece of text, a Wi-Fi password, contact details, directly in the pattern of modules itself. When a scanner reads it, it decodes that content on the spot. No server, no third party, no network request beyond whatever you do with the decoded content afterward. This means a static code works forever, offline, printed or digital, with zero dependency on any company staying in business. Its one real limitation is that it can never be edited once created, whatever destination you encoded is permanent, because changing it would mean generating and redistributing an entirely new code.
Dynamic: the code points at someone else's redirect
A dynamic QR code doesn't encode your real destination at all. It encodes a short URL owned and hosted by the generator's own service, something like a link shortener. When scanned, that short URL is looked up on the provider's server, which then redirects the scanner to whatever your actual destination currently is. This indirection is genuinely useful for two things: the destination can be changed later without reprinting the code, and the provider can track how many times it's been scanned, when, and from where.
The cost of that flexibility is a permanent dependency you didn't necessarily notice you took on. The code only ever works as long as that specific company's redirect service keeps running, keeps that specific short link active, and keeps you on a plan that still supports it. If the company shuts down, deprecates the free tier, or migrates its infrastructure, every dynamic code it ever generated for you can silently stop resolving, even if the code itself, printed on a sign, a menu, or packaging months or years earlier, never physically changed. That's exactly the pattern behind "my permanent QR code just stopped working": it was never actually storing the destination, only a pointer to a service that, at some point, stopped forwarding it.
Which one you actually want
If you need to change the destination after the code is already printed, a dynamic code is the only option that supports that, accept the trade-off deliberately and keep the account active. But for the far more common case, a link to your own website, a Wi-Fi password, a contact card, anything you don't plan to change later, a static code is strictly better: no account to maintain, no service that can be discontinued, no scan-tracking dependency, and no expiration risk at all.
Kit-Bin's QR code generator produces static codes for exactly this reason. The destination is encoded directly into the code in your browser, nothing is stored on a server, and nothing about the code can expire, get deprecated, or get moved behind a paywall later.