Is QRKIT's GS1 Digital Link QR code generator free?

The static version is, on every plan. A static Digital Link encodes your own address, so there is no scan cap, no expiry and no code limit — the free plan's one-code limit counts dynamic codes, not these. Building and previewing needs no account; downloading the file needs a free account, which costs nothing and saves the code so you can pull it again. No download carries a watermark on any plan. Two things cost money. The free download is a 1024-pixel PNG, so for packaging artwork you want the SVG, and SVG, PDF and EPS come with any paid plan. And the hosted resolver — the part that lets you edit where a printed code lands — starts at Starter, with your own domain from Plus. One exception runs the other way: the exact-millimetre print SVG in a resolver-hosted code's Print tab stays downloadable on any plan, including after a downgrade, because the code is already on packaging and the file has to stay reachable.

Do I need a GS1 membership or a licensed GTIN?

You need a GTIN for the code to be meaningful, and legitimate GTINs are licensed through your local GS1 member organization (GS1 US, GS1 Germany, and so on). QRKIT builds the Digital Link URL and QR code around the GTIN you already have — we don't issue GTINs, and no membership is needed to use our generator.

Will this QR code scan at a retail checkout?

Wherever the lane is 2D-ready, yes. The code follows the GS1 Digital Link URI syntax, so a scanner that reads 2D symbols pulls the GTIN out of the URL path offline, with no network lookup involved. What a generator cannot do is upgrade a retailer's equipment: a laser scanner built for 1D bars sees nothing here, and even a 2D-capable one needs point-of-sale software that knows how to read a Digital Link. Whether a specific chain is ready is a question for that retailer, so treat 2D checkout as a rollout you plan around rather than a switch you flip.

Should I make my Digital Link static or hosted?

It comes down to who answers the address. Static means QRKIT builds and encodes the link and your own server handles the /01/ path from there — free, permanent, and entirely yours, which is the right answer if you already run a resolver or the destination genuinely never moves. Hosted means QRKIT answers at that path for you, so the GTIN still travels in the printed symbol but the destination behind it stays editable, per link type and per lot. Either way, one thing is a one-way decision: the address you print. Settle the host before artwork goes to press, because moving it afterwards means new packaging, and a mistyped GTIN costs a print run for the same reason. The habit that catches almost all of it is cheap — scan a printed proof with an ordinary phone camera, on the material and at the size you are actually going to press with, before committing the full run.

Can I track scans or edit the link later?

On a hosted code, yes to both, and without giving up conformance. The resolver answers at the identifier path rather than at a short code, so the GTIN never leaves the printed symbol — which is exactly what the old “GS1 codes cannot be dynamic” objection was really about. You can change the default destination, publish different destinations per link type, and override a single lot or serial. Scans are recorded with the lot, the serial and the link type that was requested, so analytics break down by production run. On a static code, neither: QRKIT never sees the scan, though your own server logs do — and because the batch and serial travel in the path, those logs already read one production run or one unit straight out of the address. One limit applies to both: a checkout scan reads the GTIN offline and never requests a page, so it leaves no trace anywhere, and no generator can change that.

What product data can I include?

The static form takes the GTIN (AI 01, required) plus consumer product variant (22), batch or lot number (10) and serial number (21) in the URL path, and an expiry date (17) as a query parameter. The hosted form opens that up: any of the sixteen GS1 primary keys — GTIN, SSCC, GLN, GRAI, GIAI, GSRN and the rest — with the qualifiers each one legally takes. What you cannot do in either is choose the order: the standard fixes it, and QRKIT assembles it that way for you. Every value is checked before anything renders. A GTIN must be 8, 12, 13 or 14 digits with a valid mod-10 check digit and is padded out to 14; qualifiers are limited to GS1's CSET 82 character set at 20 characters or fewer; an expiry must be a real calendar date in YYMMDD form, where a day of 00 means end of month.

What's the difference between GS1 Digital Link and GS1-128 or DataMatrix?

What the symbol carries. GS1-128 and GS1 DataMatrix both hold element strings — the identifiers on their own, with no web address — so pointing a phone at one produces a run of digits and nothing opens. GS1 Digital Link is the same identifiers expressed as a URL, which is what lets a single symbol serve a scanner and a shopper. Choose by who does the scanning: a warehouse, pharmacy or clinical scanner expecting element strings wants DataMatrix, while a code printed for the public wants Digital Link in a QR code. QRKIT's barcode generator covers fourteen symbologies, Data Matrix, GS1 DataMatrix, Aztec and PDF417 among them; GS1-128 is not one of them, and this page covers the Digital Link QR.

What should the domain in my Digital Link be?

A host you control and intend to keep — brands commonly dedicate a subdomain such as id.yourbrand.com so product links stay independent of the marketing site. GS1's own guidance points the same way: publish on a domain the brand owns rather than a vendor's. QRKIT canonicalizes whatever you type — https is forced, the host is lowercased, and a bare word with no dot is rejected because it cannot resolve for a shopper. Then decide who answers there. On a static code that is your job: your server has to respond at the /01/ path and send the visitor somewhere useful. On a hosted code, point that subdomain at QRKIT with one CNAME record and we answer under your name. Either way, whoever controls the domain controls where every printed code lands, so borrowing someone else's is a bad trade.

Do my codes stop working if I downgrade or cancel?

No. Printed packaging outlives subscriptions, and codes that die after the print run are this category's loudest complaint, so GS1 codes are excluded outright from the rules that pause ordinary dynamic codes over a plan limit. On downgrade or cancellation a hosted GS1 code keeps resolving to its last saved destination, frozen: no edits and no per-scan detail beyond the total count until you upgrade again. A consumer never sees a QRKIT page either — GS1 codes carry no branded interstitial and are not subject to the free plan's scan cap, on any plan. The one thing that is not permanent is a custom domain: removing it, or downgrading below the plan that included it, suspends it after a 30-day grace period, and codes printed on that host stop resolving with it. Budget the domain for as long as the packaging is in circulation. Static codes are unaffected by all of this, because nothing of ours is in the loop.

Get Started Free

GS1 Digital Link QR Code Generator

Turn your GTIN into the 2D barcode retail is moving to: one QR code that a checkout scanner reads as your product number and a shopper's phone opens as a web page. Build a free static code, or host it on QRKIT and keep changing where the scan lands long after the packaging is printed.

Static codes free — no sign upGTIN check-digit validatedEditable after printingSunrise 2027 ready

STEP 1Enter the URL

STEP 2Customize Design

This is a sample until you generate yours

Classic

Bubble

Smooth

Sharp

Elegant

Dots

Pattern

Classic

Bubble

Smooth

Sharp

Elegant

Dots

Eyes

Classic

Circle

Bubble

Smooth

Elegant

Dotted

STEP 3Download your QR code

This is a sample until you generate yours

Can't be edited after download

Runs in your browser. Nothing to install.

Three steps

How to Create a GS1 Digital Link QR Code

Choose Static or Hosted

Static: you name a domain you already run, and answering at that address is your job. Hosted: QRKIT answers for you, on qrkit.to or on your own id.yourbrand.com. Either way the identifiers sit in the printed path.

Add Batch, Serial, or Expiry

Optional fields for traceability: batch/lot (AI 10), serial (AI 21), variant (AI 22), and expiry (AI 17). Each is checked against the GS1 character-set and date rules, then placed in the canonical order for you.

Download It Print-Ready

Download a PNG with a free account; SVG and PDF come with any paid plan. The QR encodes your GS1 address directly, so what you print is exactly what scanners read — and hosted codes add a print panel that sizes the symbol in millimetres.

The basics

What Is a GS1 Digital Link QR Code?

GS1 Digital Link is a GS1 standard that packs your product identifiers into an ordinary web address. Instead of a bare barcode number, you get a URL like:

https://id.yourbrand.com/01/09506000134352/10/ABC123?17=270601

The numbered segments are GS1 Application Identifiers: 01 is the GTIN, 10 the batch, 17 the expiry date. Put that URL in a QR code and one symbol serves two audiences at once: a 2D-capable point-of-sale scanner parses the GTIN straight out of the URL path — offline, without visiting any website — while a shopper's phone camera opens the link like any other QR code.

That double duty is why GS1 calls it “one barcode that does it all” — and why it's the format behind the industry's move from 1D barcodes to 2D at checkout.

Why now

Sunrise 2027: Retail Is Switching to 2D Barcodes

GS1's Sunrise 2027 initiative asks retailers worldwide to be able to scan 2D barcodes — QR codes carrying GS1 Digital Link — at the point of sale by the end of 2027. For brands, that changes what a barcode can do:

Sell through checkout

The same QR code rings up at a 2D-ready register, because the GTIN travels inside the URL path.

Talk to shoppers

A phone scan lands on your page: instructions, ingredients, registration, support — you decide, per product.

Trace every batch

Batch, serial, and expiry ride along in the symbol, powering recalls, freshness checks, and item-level traceability.

Own the destination

The link lives on your domain. What the page shows can evolve; the printed identifier never has to change.

During the transition most brands print the Digital Link QR alongside the existing UPC/EAN — scanners that aren't 2D-ready yet keep working, and the ones that are get the richer code.

Application Identifiers

What You Can Encode

GTIN (AI 01)

Your product's Global Trade Item Number — the number under the barcode. Required, padded to 14 digits, and the check digit is validated before anything is generated.

Batch / lot (AI 10)

Optional. Add the batch or lot number when the code goes on packaging that's produced in runs — recalls and traceability depend on it.

Serial number (AI 21)

Optional. Serialize each unit for item-level traceability — the foundation for authenticity checks and, in the EU, Digital Product Passports.

Expiry date (AI 17)

Optional, in YYMMDD form. Carried as a query parameter per the GS1 syntax, so 2D-capable checkouts can block the sale of expired goods.

Know your barcodes

Digital Link QR vs. GS1-128 vs. a Regular QR Code

GS1-128 is the familiar 1D barcode with element strings; a regular QR code carries a link but no structured product data. GS1 Digital Link in a QR code does both jobs. (GS1 DataMatrix, common in pharma, also carries element strings — this page generates the QR form of Digital Link, while our Data Matrix generator produces GS1 DataMatrix. Neither produces GS1-128.)

	GS1-128 (1D)	Regular QR
Carries a web link a phone can open	—
GTIN readable by retail POS scanners		—
Batch, serial & expiry in one symbol		—
Fits GS1's Sunrise 2027 2D transition	—	—

Need a plain 1D retail barcode instead? Use our free barcode generator.

Two Ways to Publish One, and Why It Matters

A checkout scanner does not follow links. It reads the GTIN out of the address printed in the code, offline. So the one thing a GS1 Digital Link can never be is an ordinary “dynamic” QR code — a short redirect URL in the symbol removes the GTIN entirely. It would still open on a phone, but at a till it is just another web link. Some generators will sell you that anyway; it is not a conformant Digital Link.

What the standard does allow is a resolver: something that answers at the identifier path itself. So there are two honest ways to publish a Digital Link, and QRKIT does both.

Static — free, and you host it

The QR encodes your own address and QRKIT's job ends there. Free on every plan, no scan cap, no expiry, and it keeps scanning whatever happens to your QRKIT account. The catch is the other half of the job: your server has to answer at the /01/ path and send the visitor somewhere useful, and the address is a one-way decision once artwork goes to press.

Hosted — QRKIT answers, you keep editing

QRKIT resolves the identifier path for you, on qrkit.to or on your own id.yourbrand.com. The GTIN stays in the printed path exactly as the standard requires, and the destination behind it stays editable forever. Needs a paid account from Starter up; your own domain from Plus up.

The identifiers themselves are fixed either way. Once a GTIN is printed it cannot be edited, and a deleted one stays reserved so nobody else can register an address your boxes still point at.

One symbol, several answers

Link Types: Different Scanners, Different Destinations

A printed identifier can publish more than one destination. Each is labelled with a link type from the GS1 web vocabulary, and the resolver hands out the one the scanner asked for. A shopper's camera gets your default page; a pharmacy system asking for the patient leaflet gets the leaflet; a retailer's app asking for ingredients gets ingredients. QRKIT offers 60 link types from the GS1 vocabulary (GS1_LINK_TYPES in lib/gs1-parse.ts).

gs1:pip

Product information

The default for a shopper scan — the page you would have linked to anyway.

gs1:instructions

Instructions for use

How to assemble, install, dose or operate it. Frequently the reason the code is on the pack at all.

gs1:allergenInfo

Allergen information

A structured answer for the question a regulator or a retailer's app asks, separate from your marketing page.

gs1:recallStatus

Recall status

Registered automatically when you recall a lot, so systems can check a batch without parsing a notice page.

Software that wants the whole picture can ask for a linkset instead of a redirect and gets every registered link as a JSON document (RFC 9264). You can download that same document for one code or for your whole workspace — it is what you would take with you to another resolver.

After it is printed

Recall One Lot Without Reprinting Anything

Per-lot and per-serial overrides

A batch or serial is not a separate code — it is an override inside the product's record. Point /10/ABC123 at a notice and only that production run moves. Everything else keeps resolving as before, and the whole line still counts as one code.

A recall in two fields

Give the lot and a notice URL and every unit from that run redirects to it. QRKIT also registers a recallStatus link, so software asking the resolver a structured question gets a structured answer instead of having to read your notice page.

Codes never go dark

Packaging outlives subscriptions. GS1 codes are excluded from the downgrade rules that pause ordinary dynamic codes: on downgrade or cancellation they keep resolving to their last saved destination, frozen. And a scan never shows a QRKIT page — no branded interstitial, no free-plan scan cap, on any plan.

Scans record the lot, the serial and the requested link type, so analytics break down by production run as well as by time and place. Frozen codes keep counting scans, but stop reporting the detail until you upgrade again.

Pre-press

Sized for a Till, Not for a Screen

A code read by a fixed imager at a checkout has physical requirements a marketing QR code gets away with ignoring. Hosted codes get a print panel that computes them from the actual symbol instead of a rule of thumb:

X-dimension 0.396–0.990 mm, target 0.495 mm. Pick the module width and the panel gives you the overall size that follows from your symbol's module count — and warns you outside the range.
A four-module quiet zone, enforced. Derived from the module count rather than left at a fixed pixel margin, which is what a short Digital Link URI actually needs.
Error correction M, Q or H. Your choice, Q by default. L is not offered — packaging gets scuffed, folded and frozen.
No logo, no inversion, no weak contrast. A logo covers modules a till has to read, so it is disabled on GS1 codes; light-on-dark and low-contrast colour pairs are flagged before export.
Export at an exact millimetre width. The SVG carries real mm units, so it lands in your layout at the size the print brief specifies. PDF export is unchanged and is not sized in millimetres — take the SVG for artwork.
Companion symbols from the same record. Dual marking is normal during the transition, so the panel also renders the GS1 DataMatrix of the same data, plus the EAN-13 or UPC-A of the same GTIN where the GTIN allows it — EAN-13 needs a consumer-unit GTIN and UPC-A a US or Canadian one, so a case-level or non-US number has no linear form and the panel says so instead of truncating one into existence.

None of this is a print grade. ISO/IEC 15415 grades a physical printed symbol with calibrated hardware and is a service performed on your actual packaging — QRKIT does not do it and does not claim to. These are design-time guard rails. Still scan a real proof, on the real substrate, at the real size.

Put It on Your Own Domain

GS1's own guidance is to publish Digital Links on a host the brand controls rather than a vendor's. Add one CNAME record pointing id.yourbrand.com at cname.qrkit.to, and QRKIT answers there under your name, with TLS issued automatically. Your DNS hosting, website and email are untouched.

The resolver is GS1 Digital Link compatible — it serves a linkset, honours link-type requests, answers cross-origin calls, supports HEAD and OPTIONS, decompresses compressed Digital Link URIs, and publishes a /.well-known/gs1resolver description naming your domain as the resolver root.

How the resolver works, step by step — setup, link types, lot overrides, and what happens to your codes if you downgrade.

Before and After You Generate

Check a link you already have

Inherited a Digital Link from a supplier, or want to confirm what's already on your packaging? The GS1 Digital Link validator decodes every identifier, recomputes the check digit, and flags anything that would fail at a checkout.

Generate one per SKU

A catalogue doesn't belong in a one-at-a-time form. The bulk generator takes a CSV with a row per product — domain, GTIN, batch, serial, expiry — validates every row, and returns all the codes in one download.

GS1 Digital Link QR Codes — Frequently Asked Questions

: It's a QR code whose payload is a web address written in GS1's Digital Link syntax rather than a free-form link. The identifiers sit in fixed, machine-readable positions — /01/ for the GTIN, /22/ for a variant, /10/ for a batch, /21/ for a serial, ?17= for an expiry date — so software can lift structured product data straight out of the address without ever fetching it. A plain QR code aimed at a product page carries no identifier a machine can trust; this one carries both the identifier and the destination, which is why GS1 puts it at the centre of its move to 2D barcodes.
: The static version is, on every plan. A static Digital Link encodes your own address, so there is no scan cap, no expiry and no code limit — the free plan's one-code limit counts dynamic codes, not these. Building and previewing needs no account; downloading the file needs a free account, which costs nothing and saves the code so you can pull it again. No download carries a watermark on any plan. Two things cost money. The free download is a 1024-pixel PNG, so for packaging artwork you want the SVG, and SVG, PDF and EPS come with any paid plan. And the hosted resolver — the part that lets you edit where a printed code lands — starts at Starter, with your own domain from Plus. One exception runs the other way: the exact-millimetre print SVG in a resolver-hosted code's Print tab stays downloadable on any plan, including after a downgrade, because the code is already on packaging and the file has to stay reachable.
: You need a GTIN for the code to be meaningful, and legitimate GTINs are licensed through your local GS1 member organization (GS1 US, GS1 Germany, and so on). QRKIT builds the Digital Link URL and QR code around the GTIN you already have — we don't issue GTINs, and no membership is needed to use our generator.
: Wherever the lane is 2D-ready, yes. The code follows the GS1 Digital Link URI syntax, so a scanner that reads 2D symbols pulls the GTIN out of the URL path offline, with no network lookup involved. What a generator cannot do is upgrade a retailer's equipment: a laser scanner built for 1D bars sees nothing here, and even a 2D-capable one needs point-of-sale software that knows how to read a Digital Link. Whether a specific chain is ready is a question for that retailer, so treat 2D checkout as a rollout you plan around rather than a switch you flip.
: It comes down to who answers the address. Static means QRKIT builds and encodes the link and your own server handles the /01/ path from there — free, permanent, and entirely yours, which is the right answer if you already run a resolver or the destination genuinely never moves. Hosted means QRKIT answers at that path for you, so the GTIN still travels in the printed symbol but the destination behind it stays editable, per link type and per lot. Either way, one thing is a one-way decision: the address you print. Settle the host before artwork goes to press, because moving it afterwards means new packaging, and a mistyped GTIN costs a print run for the same reason. The habit that catches almost all of it is cheap — scan a printed proof with an ordinary phone camera, on the material and at the size you are actually going to press with, before committing the full run.
: On a hosted code, yes to both, and without giving up conformance. The resolver answers at the identifier path rather than at a short code, so the GTIN never leaves the printed symbol — which is exactly what the old “GS1 codes cannot be dynamic” objection was really about. You can change the default destination, publish different destinations per link type, and override a single lot or serial. Scans are recorded with the lot, the serial and the link type that was requested, so analytics break down by production run. On a static code, neither: QRKIT never sees the scan, though your own server logs do — and because the batch and serial travel in the path, those logs already read one production run or one unit straight out of the address. One limit applies to both: a checkout scan reads the GTIN offline and never requests a page, so it leaves no trace anywhere, and no generator can change that.
: The static form takes the GTIN (AI 01, required) plus consumer product variant (22), batch or lot number (10) and serial number (21) in the URL path, and an expiry date (17) as a query parameter. The hosted form opens that up: any of the sixteen GS1 primary keys — GTIN, SSCC, GLN, GRAI, GIAI, GSRN and the rest — with the qualifiers each one legally takes. What you cannot do in either is choose the order: the standard fixes it, and QRKIT assembles it that way for you. Every value is checked before anything renders. A GTIN must be 8, 12, 13 or 14 digits with a valid mod-10 check digit and is padded out to 14; qualifiers are limited to GS1's CSET 82 character set at 20 characters or fewer; an expiry must be a real calendar date in YYMMDD form, where a day of 00 means end of month.
: What the symbol carries. GS1-128 and GS1 DataMatrix both hold element strings — the identifiers on their own, with no web address — so pointing a phone at one produces a run of digits and nothing opens. GS1 Digital Link is the same identifiers expressed as a URL, which is what lets a single symbol serve a scanner and a shopper. Choose by who does the scanning: a warehouse, pharmacy or clinical scanner expecting element strings wants DataMatrix, while a code printed for the public wants Digital Link in a QR code. QRKIT's barcode generator covers fourteen symbologies, Data Matrix, GS1 DataMatrix, Aztec and PDF417 among them; GS1-128 is not one of them, and this page covers the Digital Link QR.
: A host you control and intend to keep — brands commonly dedicate a subdomain such as id.yourbrand.com so product links stay independent of the marketing site. GS1's own guidance points the same way: publish on a domain the brand owns rather than a vendor's. QRKIT canonicalizes whatever you type — https is forced, the host is lowercased, and a bare word with no dot is rejected because it cannot resolve for a shopper. Then decide who answers there. On a static code that is your job: your server has to respond at the /01/ path and send the visitor somewhere useful. On a hosted code, point that subdomain at QRKIT with one CNAME record and we answer under your name. Either way, whoever controls the domain controls where every printed code lands, so borrowing someone else's is a bad trade.
: No. Printed packaging outlives subscriptions, and codes that die after the print run are this category's loudest complaint, so GS1 codes are excluded outright from the rules that pause ordinary dynamic codes over a plan limit. On downgrade or cancellation a hosted GS1 code keeps resolving to its last saved destination, frozen: no edits and no per-scan detail beyond the total count until you upgrade again. A consumer never sees a QRKIT page either — GS1 codes carry no branded interstitial and are not subject to the free plan's scan cap, on any plan. The one thing that is not permanent is a custom domain: removing it, or downgrading below the plan that included it, suspends it after a 30-day grace period, and codes printed on that host stop resolving with it. Budget the domain for as long as the packaging is in circulation. Static codes are unaffected by all of this, because nothing of ours is in the loop.

GS1 Digital Link QR Code Generator

Pattern

Eyes

How to Create a GS1 Digital Link QR Code

Choose Static or Hosted

Add Batch, Serial, or Expiry

Download It Print-Ready

What Is a GS1 Digital Link QR Code?

Sunrise 2027: Retail Is Switching to 2D Barcodes

Sell through checkout

Talk to shoppers

Trace every batch

Own the destination

What You Can Encode

GTIN (AI 01)

Batch / lot (AI 10)

Serial number (AI 21)

Expiry date (AI 17)

Digital Link QR vs. GS1-128 vs. a Regular QR Code

Two Ways to Publish One, and Why It Matters

Static — free, and you host it

Hosted — QRKIT answers, you keep editing

Link Types: Different Scanners, Different Destinations

Product information

Instructions for use

Allergen information

Recall status

Recall One Lot Without Reprinting Anything

Per-lot and per-serial overrides

A recall in two fields

Codes never go dark

Sized for a Till, Not for a Screen

Put It on Your Own Domain

Before and After You Generate

Check a link you already have

Generate one per SKU

GS1 Digital Link QR Codes — Frequently Asked Questions

QR Code Types

Features

Use Cases

Resources