PayPal QR Code
Free PayPal QR Code Generator — PayPal.me & Checkout
Encode your paypal.me handle — with optional amount and currency presets — into a QR that opens PayPal in-app or falls back to mobile checkout.
Optional. Pre-fills the requested amount.
Your QR code will appear here
About PayPal QR Codes
Your PayPal.me handle is the only paid-payments link that works the same on the customer's iPhone as it does on their Android phone, opens in-app if PayPal is installed, falls back to the mobile web checkout if it isn't, and costs you nothing to create. The QR code is the physical bridge. Paste your paypal.me URL into the generator, download a high-resolution file, print it on the tip jar or the invoice or the market-stall counter, and the customer's camera takes them straight to your payment page with your name and photo on it.
PayPal works for both personal and business accounts with the same handle format — paypal.me/yourhandle. Personal accounts pay zero fees on friends-and-family transfers but lose buyer and seller protection. Business accounts charge roughly 2.99% + $0.49 per standard transaction and add Goods & Services protection automatically. Pick the right account type before you print 500 codes; switching later means a new handle and a reprint.
The free plan generates as many static PayPal QRs as you want with no watermark, no signup, and full color and logo customization. Static codes encode your paypal.me URL directly into the pattern and keep working forever, even if you cancel a paid plan later. The $5/month Lite plan adds dynamic codes you can repoint without reprinting — useful if you change your handle, switch from personal to business, or want scan analytics for which placement (tip jar vs invoice vs market stall) actually drives payments. Most independents start with static; multi-location operators and freelancers running campaigns upgrade for the tracking.
Walkthrough
How to Create a PayPal QR Code
Claim your paypal.me handle
Use
paypal.me/yourhandlefor any amount,paypal.me/yourhandle/25for $25 pre-filled, orpaypal.me/yourhandle/25EURfor €25. Both Personal and Business PayPal accounts work — pick the account type before printing.Customize colors and logo
Add brand colors and a logo. Keep contrast above 4:1 between modules and background. Set error correction to H if the logo covers more than 10% of the code area so the pattern still decodes.
Download for where it lives
PNG for digital (Squarespace, Shopify, email signatures, invoice PDFs). SVG for any printed surface — counter stickers, table tents, A-frames. PDF for press-ready output. Every export is unwatermarked, free tier included.
Where it works
PayPal QR Code Use Cases
Café and bar tip jars where customers don't carry cash anymore — the QR opens your PayPal page in two taps, no card-reader fee, no tip-screen awkwardness.
Freelancer and contractor invoice PDFs — paste the QR into the template and the client scans from their phone instead of typing a 16-digit card number on their laptop.
Farmers market and craft fair vendors who don't want to rent a Square reader for a weekend — a printed PayPal QR on a small A-frame handles every transaction in seconds.
Nonprofit donation drives at events — the QR on the donation jar routes straight to the org's PayPal Business page where Goods & Services protection covers the donor side.
Service businesses billing on completion — the QR on the back of the business card lets the customer pay before they walk out, instead of the 30-day net-30 limbo that follows a paper invoice.
International remote work — paypal.me/handle/500USD or paypal.me/handle/500EUR lets clients across borders pay in their currency, with PayPal handling the conversion.
What works in practice
PayPal QR Code Best Practices
Pick the account type before printing. Personal PayPal: friends-and-family, no fees, no protection. Business PayPal: ~2.99% + $0.49 with Goods & Services protection on both sides. Reprinting after switching is expensive.
Use the canonical paypal.me/handle URL, never a shortened link. Customers verify the destination from the URL preview mid-scan; a bit.ly wrapper hides PayPal's domain and tanks the payment conversion rate.
Pre-fill the amount when the price is fixed — paypal.me/handle/25 for $25, paypal.me/handle/25EUR for €25. Fixed-amount codes complete 30–50% faster than open-amount codes.
Pair the QR with explicit prompt copy: Pay with PayPal, Tap with your camera to pay, or your handle in 10–12pt type. Naked QRs convert at roughly half the rate of QRs with adjacent prompt copy.
Print at minimum 4 cm × 4 cm for arm's-length counter scanning (30–50 cm distance), 5–6 cm for table tents at restaurants, and 8–12 cm for window vinyl scanned from the sidewalk.
Test the full payment flow before scale-printing. Scan with iPhone and Android, confirm your name and photo appear on the PayPal page, send a $1 test from a second account, and verify the funds land in the right wallet.
If you take payments in multiple places, run a dynamic QR ($5/mo Lite plan) with a separate destination URL per placement — tip jar, invoice, market stall — so you can see which placement actually pays for itself.
Static codes encode the paypal.me URL directly into the QR pattern and keep working forever, even if you cancel a paid EZQR plan later. Print durable signage on static; reserve dynamic codes for situations where you genuinely need to redirect the printed code without a reprint.
PayPal QR Code FAQ
Common questions about generating, printing, and deploying these codes.
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