Free menu QR code generator

Put your menu online first, then link it

The QR code is only as good as the page it opens, so you need one public URL diners can reach without an app or a login. Three common setups: a hosted menu page on your own site (the best option, because you can edit prices in place), a PDF uploaded to your site or a cloud drive with sharing set to anyone with the link (it works, but pinch-to-zoom on a phone is clumsy), or your online-ordering page from a platform like Toast, Square, or ChowNow when you want people to order and not just browse. Whichever you choose, open the link on your own phone first to confirm it loads fast and reads well on a small screen, then paste it above.

Static vs dynamic menu QR codes

This tool makes a static code: your menu URL is baked into the pattern, so it scans forever with no account and no fees. The catch shows up the day your menu link changes. Switch to a new ordering platform, run a seasonal menu at a new address, or spot a typo only after printing, and every table tent, window cling, and receipt footer has to be reprinted to match. A dynamic menu QR points at a short link you control instead, so you change the destination once and every printed code follows, no reprinting. Dynamic codes also count scans, so you see how many people opened the menu instead of guessing. Whooshly builds dynamic menu QR codes in the app.

Where to put the code, and how big

Table tents are the workhorse: one code per table, printed at about 3 to 4 cm so it scans from a seated arm's length. Put the same code on the window or door for takeout and passersby, at the bottom of printed receipts, and on counter signs for a fast-casual line. A rule of thumb for size is to make the code roughly a tenth of the scan distance, so a poster read from 3 meters wants a code near 30 cm. Keep a quiet zone (the blank margin around the pattern), keep dark-on-light contrast, and add a short line like 'Scan for our menu' so people know what the square does before they aim a camera at it.

Test the scan before you print a stack

A code that looks fine on screen can still fail on paper if the contrast is low, the print runs small, or the linked page 404s. Before you order a hundred table tents, download the SVG, print one at final size, and scan it with two different phones (one iPhone, one Android) in the actual lighting of your dining room. Confirm the menu loads in a second or two. The QR image here is rendered by our server from the URL you type and then downloaded to your device; it is not saved to an account and nothing tracks it after you print, so treat the file like any other print asset.