techtuate vs. QR Tiger

Pricing and behavior checked May 2026.

QR Tiger is one of the most popular QR code generators. It's also a redirect service in disguise - every QR code it generates routes the scanner through QR Tiger's servers before reaching your URL. That's not a bug; it's how they sell analytics, retargeting, and "edit the destination later." techtuate skips all of that.

The redirect problem

When you scan a QR Tiger code, you don't go directly to the destination. You go to qrtiger.com/redirect?... first, which logs the scan and then sends you on. This is how QR Tiger sells:

• Scan analytics (location, device, time) - paywalled above the free tier.
• Destination editing - change where the code goes after printing it. Sounds nice until you realize the free tier limits how many times you can do this.
• Retargeting - the redirect gives them a hook to serve ads.

This also means: if QR Tiger goes down, is acquired, or decides to retire your free-tier code, your printed QR codes stop working. Link rot via a third party.

What techtuate does instead

• Static QR codes only. The destination URL is baked directly into the QR code pixels. No server in the middle, ever.
• Generated in your browser. No data leaves your machine until you scan the code.
• No watermark.
• No sign-up.
• PNG + SVG download. Use it wherever, forever.

The honest trade-off

Static QR codes can't be "edited after printing." If you print 10,000 flyers and your URL changes, you need new codes. If that's a real constraint for you, a dynamic QR service makes sense - just know what you're buying into.

For the vast majority of uses - a link on a business card, a menu, a presentation slide, a poster - a static code is exactly right, and costs you nothing.

See also: all comparisons · vs. SmallPDF · vs. Adobe