A QR code for your business card
Put a QR code on your business card that opens a page about you. Make it a dynamic code if that page could change before you run out of cards, so you can update the link instead of reprinting.
Pick a look. Each one is drawn with your own link.
Look: Rounded
More shapes and colours
Optional. Your logo stays on your device. Nothing is uploaded.
Scan it with your phone before you print.
A static code can never be changed. Need to edit the link later or track scans? Create a dynamic QR
Five hundred cards, one link
Business cards come in boxes of 250 or 500, and most people use a few a month. A box can last two years. In that time, plenty can change: your job title or your employer, the booking page you use, or a portfolio you move to a new site.
The printed name and number can be crossed out in pen. The code cannot. Someone keeps your card, finds it next spring, scans it, and lands on a profile you closed or a team page that no longer lists you. You never hear about it. They just do not get in touch.
A wrong code is worse than none, because it looks like the right one. Nobody checks the link before they scan.
Which kind belongs on a card?
If the code opens a page you own and will keep, a static code is fine. Your own domain, with a page you can edit, is a good example. Make it with the generator above, for free, and you never pay for it.
If the page belongs to someone else, a dynamic code is the safer choice. That covers an employer's site, a booking service and a social profile. When you move on, you change one link in your account, and every card already in someone's wallet follows. You also see when cards get scanned, which shows whether the last conference was worth the ticket.
Weigh one thing before you choose. Cards outlive subscriptions. If yours ends while cards are still being handed out, the code shows a notice that it is not active from 7 days after the last paid period. If you can't see yourself paying for as long as the box lasts, put a static code on the card and point it at a page you will keep.
Keep the code small but not tiny. Two centimetres across is about the least that scans reliably from a card held in the hand, and the white margin around it counts.
| Static QR code | Dynamic QR code | |
|---|---|---|
| Change the link after printing | No. The link is part of the pattern. | Yes, as often as you like. |
| Scan tracking | None. Scans never reach us. | Count, country, device and browser. |
| Cost | Free, for good. | $49 a year or $5.90 a month, after a 7-day free trial. |
| Needs an account | No. | Yes. The trial needs no card. |
How it works
- Create. Make a dynamic code and point it at the page you want people to find.
- Print. Send the SVG to your printer with the card artwork, and scan the proof.
- Update anytime. When the job or the link changes, change the destination. The cards stay as they are.
What it costs
Static codes are free, with no account. Dynamic codes cost $49 a year, which saves 30% against paying monthly, or $5.90 a month. We recommend yearly. Tax is included. Every account starts with a 7-day free trial that needs no payment details, and a subscription covers 5 dynamic codes. Cancel anytime and keep access to the end of the period you paid for.
If you stop paying, your dynamic codes stop resolving once the paid period and a further 7 days of grace have passed. Nothing is deleted: the codes, their links and their scan history stay in your account, and every code starts working the moment you subscribe again. Static codes never depend on us. They keep working as long as the page they point to does. We never switch one off, but we cannot bring back a page that has gone.
Questions
What should the code on my business card open?
One page that says who you are and how to reach you: a profile, a page on your company's site, or a short page of your own with your number and email on it. Pick the page someone would want a week after meeting you. A link that only works while you are logged in, or a file in your own cloud folder, is a poor choice for a card.
What happens to the code on my cards when I change jobs?
A static code keeps opening the old page, which may be your old employer's site and may soon be gone. A dynamic code can be pointed at your new profile the same day, so the cards you already handed out lead to you rather than to the desk you left. Make the code in an account of your own, not your employer's, so it moves with you.
Can I change where a code points after it is printed?
With a dynamic code, yes — as often as you like, and the printed image never changes. The short link inside the pattern is fixed for the life of the code; only the destination behind it moves.
With a static code, no. The link is part of the pattern, so changing it means generating a different code and reprinting everything the old one is on.
Can I add a logo and change the colours, and will it still scan?
Yes. Codes in your account take a colour of your choosing, one of four patterns, and a logo in the middle.
A centre logo covers modules that would otherwise carry data, so we hold it to a quarter of the code at most and raise the error correction to its highest level automatically whenever one is present. That is what keeps a code with a logo readable. A code with a logo is produced as a PNG, because the logo is composited into the image.
Keep the code dark on a light background rather than the other way round, and scan the finished artwork yourself before it goes anywhere.
Need to change the link later?
7 days free, no card needed. Make a dynamic code and edit it whenever you like.