A QR code for your business card

A QR code on a business card can save your name, number and email straight into someone's phone, with no typing. You can make one free on our home page, with no account. Here's what to put in it, how small it can be, and what to do when your details change.

Contact card or website link?

There are two kinds of code you can put on a card:

• A contact card code holds your details themselves. Scanning it offers to save you as a contact. It's a fixed code: free, with no account, and it works even without us. But you can't change it after printing.
• A website link code opens a page, such as your website or a profile. If you make it an editable code, you can change that page after the cards are printed.

For most cards, the contact card is the one people expect. Use a link if your details change often, or if you'd rather send people to a page. If your clients message you, a WhatsApp QR code can open a chat instead of saving a contact.

Which fields to include

The contact card has fields for first name, last name, phone, email, company, job title and website. Fill in only what you need. Fewer fields make a smaller code that prints better. For a business card, keep just your name, phone and email. That leaves the code with fewer, larger dots at the same size, so it's easier to scan from a small card.

Write your phone number with + and the country code if people may call from abroad.

How small it can be on a card

People hold a business card in their hand, so pick In the hand in the free QR code maker's print checker. It then gives the smallest width that will scan. The rule behind it: the code itself, without its border, should be at least a tenth of the scan distance, never smaller than 0.8 in (2 cm), and each dot at least 0.7 mm wide. A code with more fields has more, smaller dots, which is why the checker may ask for more room.

Keep the plain border around the code (printers call it the quiet zone). Don't let text or a design run into it.

Paper and printing

• Matte paper is the safer choice. Gloss and glare lower contrast.
• Print it dark on light. Some scanner apps can't read light-on-dark codes at all.
• Send your printer the SVG or PDF. They're vector files, so the dots stay sharp at any size.
• Scan a proof card with two different phones before you print the box.

When your number or job changes

A contact card code can't be changed. It holds your details themselves, so new details need a new code and new cards. If that would happen often, put an editable code on the card instead, pointed at a page with your details. When something changes, you update the page, not the cards.

Is what I type stored? No. When you make a code on our home page, what you type is used to make the code and then discarded. We don't keep a copy.

Related: Which file to use · How to print QR codes that scan

For one page with your booking, website and social links, make a link in bio page on Pro or Business.

Photo on an editable contact page

Add a photo beside your name. Password-protected pages show initials, even after the password is entered; contact downloads omit the photo. Use a photo you have the right and permission to publish. People who see it may save copies. Stored photos count toward shared file storage.

Choose Contact card page in your account and save the contact details. Choose a photo, check its preview, then choose Save photo. Scan the code and test Add to contacts before printing. Contacts already saved on someone's device do not update automatically.