Handycode
What Happens to My QR Codes if I Cancel?
Last updated: October 29, 2026.
The short answer
HandyCode QR codes do not expire. If you cancel Pro - or stop paying altogether - your dynamic QR codes keep redirecting to their content, and nothing you have already printed stops working.
This page documents exactly what changes when a plan ends, and how several other QR services handle the same situation, using their own published statements.
What changes when your Pro plan ends
When Pro lapses, your account moves to the Free plan. On your hosted content pages, the only thing that changes: a small “Powered by HandyCode” label may reappear - and only on pages where Pro had hidden it.
Everything else on the hosted side keeps serving exactly as before:
- Redirects: every dynamic code keeps redirecting to the same destination.
- Content pages: text, link, and menu pages keep loading with the same content.
- Form pages: published forms keep rendering and keep collecting responses; you resume reading them instantly when you resubscribe.
- Uploaded files: PDFs and images behind your codes stay available at the same addresses.
- Printed material: the look of a QR code is baked into the image you printed, so nothing changes on flyers, menus, or signs.
Pro features inside the app - custom logo uploads, branding removal, detailed analytics after the 14-day trial, and creating new form-type codes - require an active Pro plan. These are app-side features; losing access to them does not switch off a published code or stop a published form from collecting.
Can I still edit my codes after cancelling?
Yes. Editing where a code points is part of the Free plan. You can keep updating destinations after your Pro plan ends, without reprinting.
What happens on other QR services when a plan lapses
The table below collects what each service says about its own codes when payment stops - every competitor row is that service’s own words, quoted from the linked page, with the date we accessed it. Some of these are contractual promises, some are marketing copy, and the fine print differs: what else changes after the redirect survives (read-only states, free-tier caps, an extra page on free scans) is where the rows diverge.
Checked on 2026-10-25. Providers change their terms - open the linked sources and confirm the current wording before you print.
| Service | What they say happens when you stop paying | Source and access date |
|---|---|---|
| HandyCode | Retention, pinned by a test rather than a promise: codes keep redirecting, printed material keeps working, and the only documented change is a small “Powered by HandyCode” label that may reappear on hosted pages. | This page, plus our automated downgrade test (see below); policy as of 2026-10-25 |
| Kizmo | Retention, in their terms of service: “Every Kizmo dynamic code keeps sending scans to its last destination if you stop paying, cancel, downgrade or your card fails.” Losing a plan “can remove paid features and older analytics, never the redirect.” | kizmo.io/guarantee (guarantee effective 2026-09-27), accessed 2026-10-25 |
| Stelyo | Retention as read-only: “every dynamic code we’ve ever issued still resolves, even the ones from accounts that stopped paying years ago”; a lapsed code “flips to a read-only state instead of dying: you lose the ability to edit it or see new scans, never the redirect itself.” | stelyo.link and stelyo.link/features, accessed 2026-10-25 |
| TheQRCode.io | Retention as read-only: “Cancel and every code you have already printed keeps redirecting to wherever it points - we never switch off a code to force an upgrade. The account drops to the free plan, so one dynamic code stays editable and the rest become read-only.” | theqrcode.io/blog/best-qr-code-generators-2026 (updated 2026-09-28; not re-checkable at our last fetch, so treat the date as stale) |
| KeptQR | Redirect survives, with a free-tier caveat: “If you cancel, downgrade, or your payment fails: every code you’ve created keeps redirecting to its last destination, at full speed, indefinitely.” But above the free limits “editing and scan tracking pause,” and free dynamic codes “show a brief KeptQR page on the way through.” | keptqr.com/promise, accessed 2026-10-25 |
| KeepQR | Redirect retention: “If your plan ends, every code keeps sending people to its last destination. You only lose editing and analytics.” | qr.tneemo.com (KeepQR’s operational site), accessed 2026-10-25 |
| EZQR | Three codes only, despite an anti-expiry headline: “On a lapse: 30-day grace, then the three oldest dynamic codes keep redirecting on the free tier and the rest pause.” | ez-qr.com/llms.txt (their machine-readable policy summary, last updated 2026-08-15), accessed 2026-10-25 |
| Flowcode | Retention. Their pricing table lists “Always scan” lifetime scans on every plan, including the free tier, and we saw no expiry-on-cancel statement for existing codes. | flowcode.com/pricing, accessed 2026-10-24 |
| QRLynx | Retention. Their plan comparison lists “Dynamic Projects Are Preserved” and “No Scan Ads” as features on every plan, free included; the free tier covers 3 dynamic codes. | qrlynx.com, fetched 2026-10-24 |
| ME-QR | Retention with ads. Their FAQ asks “Will I lose all the QR after my subscription ended?” and answers: “No, all your codes will work, just ads will be shown again.” A separate clause blocks and then permanently deletes codes that go unscanned for 365 days. | me-qr.com/faq, fetched 2026-10-24 |
| Uniqode (formerly Beaconstac) | Deactivation. Their FAQ: “Once your free trial expires, any dynamic QR Codes you created will become inactive…” and, on cancellation: “If you decide to cancel your subscription, your QR Codes will become inactive.” | uniqode.com/pricing FAQ, accessed 2026-10-24 |
| QRCG by Bitly (qr-code-generator.com) | Deactivation. Their support article: “Dynamic QR Codes are deactivated and point to a service page rather than the original destination.” | Support: “What happens to my account and QR Codes when the trial expires?”, accessed 2026-10-24 |
| QR TIGER (qrcode-tiger.com) | Deactivation. Their FAQ: “Dynamic QRs have unlimited scans with a valid subscription. If your plan expires, it will stop working.” | qrcode-tiger.com/faq, accessed 2026-10-24 |
Two honesty notes in the genre’s spirit: we also checked one service that advertises code survival on its homepage (gomy.bio) but publishes no policy page behind the claim, so it gets no row - we only list what a provider documents in writing. And every retention promise above, ours included, describes what a provider says it does; none of them was verified by an outside account test except our own, which is checked by machine.
How we check our own row
Every competitor row above is a published promise. Ours is a test. Our server codebase contains an automated downgrade test (test_downgrade_promise.py) that runs on every change to the backend: it simulates a Pro plan ending and asserts that every published redirect still resolves to the exact same destination, that page content and uploaded file bytes are unchanged, and that the only thing a downgrade is allowed to alter on a public page is the page chrome - the “Powered by HandyCode” label. If a future change ever made a downgrade break a live redirect, the test suite fails and that change does not ship. A contractual promise tells you what a provider intends; a CI-pinned test tells you the behavior survived the provider’s last deploy. That difference is the whole reason our row in the table above points at a test instead of at a slogan.
Frequently asked questions
Do HandyCode QR codes expire if I cancel?
No. HandyCode dynamic QR codes keep redirecting to their content after a Pro cancellation or refund. Published form pages keep rendering and keep collecting responses. The only observed change on downgrade is that a small “Powered by HandyCode” label may reappear on your hosted content pages.
What happens to my printed QR codes if I stop paying?
Nothing. Everything you printed keeps working. The code keeps redirecting to the same destination, and the styling of the QR image you printed is part of the printed image itself, so it is unaffected.
Can I still edit my QR codes after cancelling Pro?
Yes. Updating a code’s destination is part of the Free plan. Pro-only features - custom logo uploads, branding removal, detailed analytics after the 14-day trial, and creating form-type codes - require an active Pro plan, but they are app features and do not affect whether your published codes keep working - and published forms keep collecting responses while you are on the free plan.
Do QR codes expire?
The QR Code standard has no expiration date. A static code works as long as the printed symbol is readable. A dynamic code works as long as the service behind its redirect keeps serving it - and some services deactivate dynamic codes when a subscription ends. HandyCode does not deactivate codes on cancellation. See Do QR Codes Expire? What You Need to Know for the full explanation.
Which QR services keep codes working when you stop paying?
Several publish retention promises, each in their own words: HandyCode (backed by an automated downgrade test), Kizmo (embedded in its terms of service), Stelyo, TheQRCode.io, KeepQR, Flowcode, and QRLynx; KeptQR keeps redirects but adds a scan page on free codes, and EZQR keeps only its three oldest dynamic codes. Others - Uniqode, QRCG by Bitly, and QR TIGER - document deactivation instead. All rows are quoted with sources and access dates in the comparison table above.
Related reading
- QR Code Stopped Working After a Free Trial? Here’s What to Do - a 60-second diagnosis for a code that died with its trial, and a reprint plan.
- Can You Get a Dynamic QR Code Without a Subscription? - free plans, one-time options, and self-hosting, compared honestly.
QR Code is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED. Uniqode, QRCG, Bitly, QR TIGER, ME-QR, Flowcode, QRLynx, Kizmo, Stelyo, TheQRCode.io, KeptQR, KeepQR, and EZQR are trademarks of their respective owners; comparisons here are informational.