Who each one is for
Bitly is a link company that added QR codes and landing pages. Codes are counted per month: 2 on Free, 5 on Core ($10 a month), 10 on Growth ($29 a month billed yearly or $35 monthly), 200 on Premium ($199 a month billed yearly or $300 monthly), and custom on Enterprise. Every tier downloads PNG, JPEG or SVG; colors and dot patterns are “limited” on Free and “advanced” from Core; a custom logo starts at Core; data export starts at Growth; analytics retention runs from none on Free to two years on Enterprise. Bitly also owns qr-code-generator.com, run by Bitly Europe GmbH, and QRCode Monkey.
It suits a team whose short links already live in Bitly. QR Studio suits someone who wants the code itself, designed and printed, without a monthly quota.
Where QR Studio is better
- No monthly quota. Unlimited static codes free; unlimited dynamic codes on Pro. Bitly counts codes per month at every tier.
- Price. Pro $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year; Core is $10 a month for 5 codes.
- Lifetime. $69.99 once. No equivalent.
- Logo on the free tier. Bitly’s custom logo starts at Core.
- AI design partner. Not offered.
- Print-ready PDF. Bleed and crop marks. Bitly lists PNG, JPEG and SVG.
- Offline. QR Studio works with no connection.
Where Bitly is better
- Links. Short links, custom domains and click analytics in the same place as the codes.
- Data export. From Growth, link and code data leave as files.
- Retention. Up to two years of history on Enterprise.
- Scale. 200 codes a month on Premium and custom above that.
Pricing side by side
| Plan | QR Studio | Bitly |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, unlimited static codes, no ads | 2 codes a month, limited colors |
| Monthly | Pro $4.99 | Core $10; Growth $35; Premium $300 |
| Yearly | Pro $29.99 | Core $120; Growth $348; Premium $2,388 |
| One-off | Lifetime $69.99 | None |
Switching
A Bitly QR code is a Bitly short link in a square. Bitly’s downgrade help article says the effect of a downgrade “is the same for QR Codes as it is for short links”: bit.ly links keep working; links on your own custom domain keep working while its DNS points to Bitly, though the SSL certificate is not renewed; and links on a complimentary domain stop working when that domain’s registration expires. If your codes use a complimentary domain, create QR Studio dynamic codes and reprint before you downgrade. Static codes made elsewhere and merely stored in Bitly can be decoded and rebuilt. Why a code that routes through a short link can stop working, while a static code never expires whichever tool made it, is covered in our QR code expiry explainer.
Note
Prices change. We read bitly.com/pages/pricing and Bitly’s downgrade help article on 24 September 2026.
Try it yourself