The scorecard, on one page.
Seven rows. Five generators. One weighted rubric. Read down to see what each tool actually delivers under scan, not what its marketing site claims.
Grade scale A 99–100% of criterion met B 85–94% C 70–84% D 55–69% F below 55% — fails the row
Weighting
Each row carries the weight printed in its margin. Composite GPA at the foot of each column.
No row is optional — a tool cannot dodge a category.
| § | Criterion | Wt. | QRT QR Tiger Dynamic-first | BTL Beaconstac Enterprise | UNI Uniqode Branded | FLW Flowcode Print-grade | QRC QRCode Monkey Free / static |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Scan reliability Out of 200 scans across 6 phones and 2 worn print samples — anything under 99% loses a half-grade. | 0.25 | A 199/200, no retries | A- 197/200, slow on iOS 15 | B+ 194/200, retry on torn label | A 199/200, print-tuned | B 188/200, low contrast fails |
| 02 | Dynamic codes Can you edit the destination after print without re-issuing the code, and does the redirect stay sub-300ms? | 0.20 | A Edit + 180ms redirect | A Edit + 210ms, queueable | A- Edit + 260ms median | B+ Edit + 340ms spikes | F Static only |
| 03 | Analytics depth Per-scan timestamp, device, coarse geo, and CSV export — or it does not count as analytics. | 0.15 | A- All four, CSV + API | A All four, dashboards | B+ No CSV without upgrade | B Geo only at country | F No tracking |
| 04 | Branding flexibility Logo, frame, color, shape, error-correction control — all without breaking the scan. | 0.10 | B+ Frame + color, logo OK | B Logo only, no shapes | A Full kit, brand presets | A Custom shapes, agency tier | B- Color + logo, no preview |
| 05 | Bulk + API Upload a CSV of 5,000 destinations, get back 5,000 trackable codes — without a sales call. | 0.10 | A CSV + REST, self-serve | B+ API gated to enterprise | A- CSV self-serve, API extra | B CSV only, no API tier | F One code at a time |
| 06 | Uptime (90d) Measured against the redirect endpoint, not the marketing site. Three nines or it grades down. | 0.10 | A 99.98% | A 99.99% | A- 99.94% | A 99.97% | C 99.71% |
| 07 | Price per dynamic code Cost at the 500-code tier, billed annually. Free static codes do not count toward this row. | 0.10 | A- $0.14 / code / mo | C $0.62 / code / mo | B $0.31 / code / mo | D $0.89 / code / mo | A Free, no dynamic |
| ∑ | Composite grade Weighted average across all seven rows. Rounded to the nearest letter. | 1.00 | A- GPA 3.62 | B+ GPA 3.38 | A- GPA 3.58 | B+ GPA 3.41 | C GPA 2.05 |