Text QR Code Generator
Sometimes the message is the message. A text QR code carries words instead of a web address, so scanning it shows the text on screen with no page to load and no connection required.
Make your text QR code
Encode plain text
Keep it short — long text forces a denser, harder-to-scan symbol.
This code is static and permanent. To change where it points after printing, .
Why Use This Tool
Create a QR code that shows plain text on scan. No link, no app, no internet needed. Free, no signup, works offline for labels, tags and instructions.
Free, Unlimited, No Signup
Generate as many QR codes as you need without an account, a trial, or a credit card. Free codes carry a small linkutm wordmark in the bottom corner; create an account to replace it with your own logo or remove it entirely.
Your Data Never Leaves the Browser
Every code is encoded and rendered locally in JavaScript. Wi-Fi passwords, contact details, and campaign URLs are never uploaded to a server or logged anywhere.
Designed, Not Just Generated
Twelve ready-made designs pairing eight module styles with shaped finder patterns, brand colours, and gradients. Export a code that looks like it belongs on your packaging, not like a default black square.
Print-Ready PNG, SVG, and PDF
Download a 1200px PNG for digital, a vector SVG that scales to a billboard without a single soft edge, or a print-ready PDF. Copy straight to the clipboard when you just need it in a deck.
How It Works
- 1
Write the message you want shown
Type it into the field above exactly as it should appear. Line breaks are preserved, so you can lay out a serial number, a batch code, or a short instruction over several lines rather than one long run of characters.
- 2
Keep it under roughly 300 characters
Text codes carry every character in the pattern itself, so length translates directly into density. Three hundred characters is a comfortable ceiling for something printed at 3cm. If you need more than a paragraph, put it on a page and use a URL code instead.
- 3
Raise contrast, since these patterns are dense
Dense symbols are less forgiving than sparse ones. Stick to a dark pattern on a light background, avoid mid-tone colour pairs, and be conservative with a centre logo — the more data in the code, the less redundancy there is to spare.
- 4
Test at the size you will actually print
Print a draft at final size, tape it where it will live, and scan it from where a person will stand. A text code that reads perfectly on a monitor can fail on a curved bottle or a matte label at 1.5cm.
What happens when someone scans a text QR code
The camera decodes the characters and displays them. iOS shows the text in a notification banner and again in the Camera app's result sheet; most Android scanners show it in a card with a copy button attached. Nothing opens, nothing loads, and nothing is sent anywhere — which is exactly why this type suits places where there is no signal at all.
Where plain text beats a link
Equipment labels that need a model and serial number a technician can read on a phone in a plant room with no reception. Warehouse and asset tags carrying an internal reference. Wine and produce labels showing a batch and harvest date. Museum and gallery captions where you want a longer description without shipping visitors off to a website. Emergency instructions on machinery, which have to work when the network does not. In every one of these, a URL code adds a dependency that provides no benefit.
The limits worth knowing before you print
Text codes are not searchable, not editable, and not measurable — there is no destination to instrument, so scan counts are impossible by definition. They also cannot be corrected: a typo means a reprint. Proofread the string, generate one, scan it, read what comes back word for word, and only then commit it to a label run.
Free Tool vs linkutm Platform
Every code on this page is free to make and never expires. The linkutm platform adds the parts a printed code cannot do on its own — editing the destination, and counting the scans.
Frequently Asked Questions
Want To Know Who Scanned It?
A dynamic QR code keeps the same printed pattern while you change where it points, and shows you every scan — when, where, and on what device.
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