QR Tiger charges $15+/month — and if you stop paying, your printed codes die. Scantrail generates dynamic QR codes that route through your own domain, so you can swap the destination any time without reprinting a single menu, poster or business card. Every scan lands in a SQLite file you own.
This is the full pricing breakdown: what QR Tiger actually costs over one, two and three years, what Scantrail gives you for $69 paid once, and the honest cases where the subscription is still the right call.
What QR Tiger actually costs you
At $15/mo, one QR Tiger subscription adds up to $180 every year — $540 over a three-year window, for software you stop owning the day you cancel. Scantrail is $69 the day you buy it, and the meter never runs again.
| Scantrail | QR Tiger | |
|---|---|---|
| Sticker price | $69 once | $15/mo |
| Cost after 1 year | $69 | $180 |
| Cost after 2 years | $69 | $360 |
| Cost after 3 years | $69 | $540 |
Three years in, the gap is $471 — and every year after that adds another $180 to the subscription side of the ledger.
Scantrail vs QR Tiger, feature by feature
Price is only half the story — here's how the two line up on the things that decide day-to-day use:
| Scantrail | QR Tiger | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $69 once | $15/month, forever |
| Dynamic (editable) QR codes | Unlimited | Capped by plan |
| Codes if you stop paying | Always work — you host them | Die with your plan |
| Scan analytics | Included | Included |
| Custom colors, dot styles, logo | Included | Included |
| Batch CSV generation | Included | Higher tiers |
| Redirect domain | Yours | Theirs (qrco.de) |
| Scan data | Your SQLite file | Their cloud |
What you get for $69, once
Self-hosted dynamic QR codes with scan analytics, a design studio and batch CSV generation. The highlights:
- 🔁 Dynamic codes — The QR encodes /q/your-slug on your domain and 302-redirects to an editable destination. Reprint nothing, ever.
- 📊 Scan analytics — Total + unique scans, scans-over-time chart, device/OS/browser breakdown, country, hour-of-day heatstrip and a recent-scan log.
- 🗂️ Every QR type you need — URL (dynamic + tracked), vCard (serves a .vcf download, also tracked), WiFi, plain text, email and phone.
- 🎨 Design studio — Foreground/background colors, square / rounded / dots module styles, error-correction level, center logo upload, live preview.
Under five months of QR Tiger pays for Scantrail — and your printed codes can never be held hostage again.
Switching is 3 steps
- Buy once on Whop. One-time $69 for the packaged Windows installer with 1-click setup and updates.
- Deploy where your codes will live. For printed, distributed codes, a $5 VPS with your domain and PUBLIC_URL set — that URL is what ends up inside the QR. Desktop mode covers design and testing.
- Print once, edit forever. Swap destinations any time without reprinting. Put free Cloudflare in front and country analytics light up automatically.
When paying QR Tiger is still the right call
Being straight about it: the subscription earns its keep in three situations. If your team is large enough that QR Tiger's collaboration features, permissions and admin controls are genuinely load-bearing; if your workflow is built on its integrations and leaving means rebuilding that plumbing; or if you have enterprise requirements — SSO, audit logs, SLAs, a vendor to call — that a pay-once app doesn't come with. Everyone else is paying $15/mo for a job that runs fine on hardware they already own.
If that's you, Scantrail is $69, once. For the deeper dive, read the Scantrail vs QR Tiger head-to-head or the full QR Tiger comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/qr-tracker-mvp. $69 buys the signed installer, 1-click setup and updates.
Why do dynamic codes need a server?
Because the QR encodes a URL on your domain that redirects to the real destination — that's what makes it editable after printing. A $5 VPS covers it; desktop mode is fine for designing, testing and static codes.
What happens to my codes if I stop using Scantrail?
Nothing — they point at your domain, not ours. As long as your server answers, every printed code keeps working. That's the whole difference from hosted services, where codes die with your plan.
How does country tracking work?
It reads Cloudflare's free CF-IPCountry header — put free Cloudflare in front of your VPS and country analytics appear. Without it, country data degrades gracefully to unknown. No paid geo API.
Is the QR output actually tested?
Yes — the smoke test decodes generated PNGs with jsQR (including rounded and dots styles with a center logo), hits the redirect, and asserts the scan rows and analytics land.
More on QR Tiger pricing
Scantrail — product page, demo & full feature list · All OneTimeSuite pricing breakdowns
Try Scantrail — $69, once
Self-hosted dynamic QR codes with scan analytics, a design studio and batch CSV generation.