The difference is invisible in the pattern and total in consequence: one kind answers to physics, the other to a billing department. Here is how to tell which kind you are holding.
Decode the code and look at the address. If it is the real destination — your site, your menu, your file — the code is static or direct, and permanent. If it is a short link on a domain you don't own — qrfy.io, qrtiger.io, qr-codes.io, qrcodes.pro, scnv.io, me-qr.com, or a generic shortener like bit.ly — the code is dynamic: the platform resolves every scan, and what a platform resolves, it can stop resolving.
Drop in a photo, a screenshot, or the code file itself. We decode it in your browser — the image never leaves your device — and tell you who holds the switch.
Drop a QR code image here or tap to choose a file
A photo of the printed piece works. Sharper is better; we would rather say “unreadable” than guess.
Honestly: when the destination must change after printing and the piece is short-lived or the platform's policy protects you. Real-estate signs are the textbook case — the listing changes, the sign shouldn't (a segment we deliberately don't serve). Flowcode's never-deactivate policy is the other honest exception. For everything that must simply keep working — invitations, labels, menus, signage — static is not the cheap option; it is the only one whose survival doesn't depend on a subscription.
The full vendor-by-vendor policy table: vendor death policies.
The checker above judges one code. The Print Pack judges the set — and lays it out for the printer, validated.
Every code in the run on validated print-ready sheets — US Letter or A4, each cell with its label, its destination printed underneath as the human fallback, and a guaranteed 4-module quiet zone. Print from the browser or save as PDF.
Included in the $39 Print Pack
Drop in up to 50 code images — files or photos of the printed sheets — and get one verdict table for the whole run: permanent, dies-if-unpaid, at-risk, unreadable. With one-click verified static replacements for every code that can die.
Included in the $39 Print Pack
Wedding sets, menu sets, per-event sets — saved in your browser, named, reloadable next print run. No account, nothing uploaded, ever.
Included in the $39 Print Pack
$39 one-time — no subscription, because a subscription is rather the point