The QR Code Monkey hand-off, explained
QR Code Monkey's free designer is genuinely good. The "Statistics and Editability" toggle is not part of it. Flip that switch and you are routed to QR Code Generator, a Bitly product, where editing your code costs $19.99 a month or $119.88 a year, forever. This page is the honest map of that moment, with every number sourced, verified July 2026.
Credit where due: the free part is excellent
For a static QR code (one that never changes after printing), QR Code Monkey is one of the best free tools on the internet: logo upload, custom shapes and eye colors, gradients, templates, and high-resolution SVG, PDF, and EPS export. If a static code is all you need, use it. We mean that; our own free static generator competes with it and we still mean it.
Then comes the toggle
The features every business eventually wants (edit the destination after printing, see scan counts) are not features of QR Code Monkey. The upsell buttons across the site link to QR Code Generator signups and to bitly.com; the referral tags in the links (user_source=qrcm) say plainly whose funnel this is. What's on the other side:
- A 14-day trial. Their support docs state trial codes "are deactivated at the end of the free trial." Scans of deactivated codes are redirected to their own service page.
- The only monthly plan: $19.99/month for 2 dynamic codes with a 10,000-scan cap.
- Larger plans ($191.88 and $563.88 per year) are billed annually only.
- Their Trustpilot rating: 1.4 out of 5 across 9,270+ reviews, dominated by exactly this complaint.
The same math, side by side
An editable QR code from the toggle: $119.88 every year, and it stops working if you stop paying. An editable QR code from SolidQR: $4.99 once, unlimited scans, edit it forever, and canceling anything never breaks the printed code. Five years on one code: $599.40 versus $4.99. The comparison isn't close, which is why we're comfortable naming their product accurately and praising the parts that deserve it.
Make the editable version here, once
Same custom design freedom (colors, styles, your logo, machine-verified to scan), plus the thing the toggle charges $119.88 a year for: a destination you can change forever, included in the $4.99.
Your website, menu, listing, anything on the web.
Start from a designCode colorBackgroundStyleFrame custom designYour logo custom designLeave blank for a free random address.
✓ Scan-checked: strong contrast, reads at print size
solidqr.co/•••••
Questions people actually ask
Is QR Code Monkey really free?
The static QR code designer is genuinely free and genuinely good: logo upload, custom colors and shapes, high-resolution SVG, PDF, and EPS export. The catch appears when you want to edit a code after printing or track scans: those features are not part of QR Code Monkey. The buttons for them route you to a different company’s paid subscription.
What happens when you turn on Statistics and Editability in QR Code Monkey?
You are handed off to QR Code Generator, a Bitly product, to start a 14-day trial of a subscription that costs $19.99 per month on the only monthly plan (2 dynamic codes, 10,000-scan cap) or $119.88 per year billed annually. Codes created during the trial are deactivated when the trial ends unless you pay.
Do QR Code Monkey codes expire?
Static codes made with QR Code Monkey never expire; no static QR code does, from any generator. Codes created through the editability hand-off follow the subscription’s rules instead: when the QR Code Generator trial or plan lapses, those codes stop working.
What is a cheaper alternative for an editable QR code?
SolidQR sells editable (dynamic) QR codes for $4.99 as a one-time payment: unlimited scans, edit the destination forever, no subscription, and the printed code never stops redirecting. That is less than one month of the subscription the editing toggle leads to.
Should I still use QR Code Monkey for anything?
Honestly, yes: if you need a static code that will never change, their free designer is excellent. Use it with our blessing. The moment you need to edit after printing or count scans, the free tool has ended and a $119.88-per-year subscription has begun; that is the moment to compare.
Related: Do QR codes expire? · every vendor's deactivation policy, sourced.