Comparisons
Static vs Dynamic QR Codes
What the redirect actually buys you, measured on real encoded codes, and which payloads are worse off for it.
16 min readQR code menu
Point a code at the menu you already have, then print a sheet of table tents at an exact size. Every code on the sheet is decode-tested, the sheet is measured in millimetres rather than pixels, and none of it needs a subscription.
A 40mm table tent is more forgiving than people assume: every realistic menu link clears it. The squeeze is the 20mm sticker, where a short link on your own domain needs 14.8mm and the PDF path your CMS generated needs 21.2mm. That is measured below, before you print eighty of them.
Every code points at the menu link above. Put a full link on a line to give that table its own destination instead.
- Codes
- 8
- Per page
- 4 x 5 = 20
- Pages
- 1
✓ 40mm clears the 14.8mm this sheet's densest code needs.
The SVG carries real millimetre units. Print at 100%, not fit to page, or the sizes above stop meaning anything.
Which menu link survives a table tent
Four ways restaurants point a code at a menu, measured against the four things they get printed on. The honest headline is that at table-tent size and up, all four work. What separates them is headroom, and headroom is what a laminate, a spotlight and a cheap printer spend on your behalf.
| What the code points at | Chars | Needs | Table sticker20mm | Table tent40mm | A5 card60mm | Window poster90mm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A short path on your own domainThe one to aim for. Repoint it whenever the menu changes and every printed tent follows. | 25 | 14.8mm | tight | room to spare | room to spare | room to spare |
| A page on your websiteFine, and the extra characters cost you real millimetres at table-tent size. | 45 | 16.4mm | tight | room to spare | room to spare | room to spare |
| A PDF on your siteThe most common setup, and the worst of both worlds: 21.2mm of minimum width, and a new URL every time the menu is revised. | 75 | 21.2mm | too small | room to spare | room to spare | room to spare |
| A hosted menu platform linkWhat a subscription usually encodes. Long, and it belongs to them. | 70 | 19.6mm | tight | room to spare | room to spare | room to spare |
A row marked tight has cleared its minimum by less than half again, which is the margin real conditions eat. On a small sticker that is the difference between a code that works and one that gets scanned three times. Shorten the link or print bigger, and shortening is free. URL to QR code prices your own link part by part if you want to know exactly what is costing you the millimetres.
Do you need a menu subscription?
Usually not, and sometimes yes. Four routes, and the honest version of each.
- PDF on your own site
Cost: Free, if you already have a site.
Changing the menu: Upload a new PDF at the same address.
Works, and phones open PDFs badly. Pinching to read a menu on a phone is the reason people think QR menus are miserable.
- A menu page on your own site
Cost: Free, if you already have a site.
Changing the menu: Edit the page. The code never changes.
The best answer for most places. Readable on a phone, costs nothing, and the code is yours forever.
- A dynamic code from here
Cost: Free static generation, redirect is a planned paid feature.
Changing the menu: Repoint the redirect, printed tents follow.
Right when the menu lives somewhere you cannot control the URL of, like a PDF in Drive that gets replaced weekly.
- A menu platform subscription
Cost: Monthly, per venue.
Changing the menu: Edit items in their dashboard.
Earns its money when you need allergen data, per-item photos, translations or ordering. Not for a one-page cafe menu.
QRMakery does not host menus and is not going to. If the menu needs to live somewhere that can be edited without touching your website, a dynamic code keeps the printed tents pointed at whatever you move it to. If you need allergens, photos and ordering, pay a menu platform, and let them make the codes too.
Printing a sheet that works on the floor
- Print at 100%, not fit to page. The sheet is sized in millimetres precisely so the codes come out at the width the measurement promised, and scaling to fit quietly breaks that.
- Matt laminate, not gloss. Glare from a spotlight is the failure mode nobody predicts, and it beats every other cause on a table.
- Error correction is set to Quartile here, which rebuilds about a quarter of a symbol. Tents get sauce on them.
- Put the menu address in small text under the code. Some guests will type it, and it costs one line.
- Test one tent on one table under real lighting before you cut the rest. Nothing in a browser tells you what a spotlight does.
What this does not do
- No menu hosting, no menu editor, no allergen data, no photos, no ordering. This makes codes and sheets.
- No per-table analytics. For scan counts per table you need a different link per table and something counting them, which bulk generation will produce the codes for.
- SVG sheets rather than PDF. Every browser prints an SVG at exact size, and a PDF writer is a dependency this does not need.
- A4 and US Letter only. Other paper sizes are not offered rather than approximated.
QR code menu questions
How do I make a QR code menu for free?
Put the menu on a page of your own website, then encode that page's URL with the generator on this page and print the sheet. That is the whole job, it costs nothing beyond the site you already have, and the code keeps working for as long as the address does. A subscription buys you a menu editor and hosting, not a better QR code.
How big does a QR code need to be on a table?
It depends on the link, and this page measures four of them. A short URL on your own domain needs 14.8mm at error-correction Q. The same menu as a long PDF path needs 21.2mm. Both clear a 40mm table tent, so the tent is rarely the problem: a 20mm sticker is, and so is any code printed close to its own minimum, because print and lighting spend that margin. The sheet builder shows the minimum for the densest code on your sheet and warns when the size you picked is under it.
What happens to my printed codes when the menu changes?
Nothing, if the code points at a page you control and you edit that page. Everything, if the code points directly at a PDF whose filename changes with each revision, which is the single most common way a restaurant ends up reprinting forty table tents. Encode the address, not the file.
Do I need a different code for every table?
Only if you want to know which table scanned, or you are taking orders per table. For a menu, one code repeated on every tent is simpler and cheaper to print. The sheet builder does both: one shared link with a number under each code, or a different link per line.
Should the code be laminated?
Laminate is fine and glare is not. A gloss laminate under a spotlight throws back enough light to blind a camera at the angle people naturally hold a phone. Matt laminate, or a tent angled away from the light. Print one, put it on a table under the real lighting, and try it before you order a hundred.
More for restaurants and venues
Menus on tables, sized for the distance somebody reads them from.
- QR menu for restaurantsA free menu code pointing at the page you already have, sized for a table tent, with no monthly fee.
- Museum QR codeLabel codes sized for the distance a visitor actually stands at, measured against real caption widths.
- QR code generatorMake a plain QR code for a link or text, with colour and error-correction controls.
Guides worth reading
All guides- Printing
QR Code Sticker Size: The Circle Costs You 30%
The usable square inside a round sticker is 70% of its diameter. Measured minimum sizes for real links, against every common sticker size.
8 min read - Reference
Offline QR Code Generators for Every Device
What each platform already ships, the measured cost of each payload type, and how to check an offline claim yourself.
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