QR Code AI: Revenue, team and how it was built
QR Code AI (QR code generator with AI-generated art and scan tracking, France): US$14.7K a month recurring revenue, October 2026. Evidence grade A: disclosed by a company or a filing, or verified by a payment processor. Team: 2 founders in a French app studio, Supernovae; no source names an employee. Launched 30 June 2023; still running, revenue growing.Added 26 October 2026
- Outcome
- US$14.7K a month recurring revenue, October 2026Revenue growing
- Evidence
- A disclosed by a company or a filing, or verified by a payment processor
- Launch
- 30 June 2023
- Status
- Still running
- Team
- 2 founders in a French app studio, Supernovae; no source names an employee
- Outside funding
- None (bootstrapped, per TrustMRR)
- Main channel
- Search and AI answers
QR Code AI makes QR codes, the square barcodes that a phone camera reads to open a link. Its first product was QR code art: a diffusion model, an image model that turns random noise into a picture step by step, guided by a text prompt, draws an image whose light and dark areas still form a readable code. The company names Stable Diffusion, an open image model, and ControlNet, an add-on that forces the model to follow a given pattern, here the black and white squares of the code. Today the app also makes ordinary custom codes and dynamic QR codes, which point to a short link on the company's server, so the owner can change the destination after printing and count every scan.
Two French developers, Nicolas Cella and Thibaut Mélen, run it from their app studio, Supernovae. They launched it on Product Hunt on 30 June 2023 with the line "Make QR codes sexy with AI". In February 2024 the home page still sold only AI art codes and counted 450K creators. By July 2024 it had added link-in-bio pages, smart links and analytics, and by March 2025 more than 50 code types. On 26 October 2026 TrustMRR, which reads revenue directly from the company's Stripe account, showed US$16,323 in the last 30 days, MRR (monthly recurring revenue, the subscription income expected each month) of US$14,721, 1,500 active subscriptions and US$328,289 since launch.
The revenue figures are grade A: two sites that connect to the Stripe payment account give the same level one day apart. What customers pay for is less clear. The paid plan bundles AI generations with dynamic codes and tracking, and no source splits revenue by feature. When a free trial or a paid plan ends, the app says that dynamic codes "will no longer be scannable" and will be "deactivated", which the page describes in full under "Watch".
How much revenue does QR Code AI make?
Each row shows the evidence grade and the source numbers from the list at the end of this page. The grades are explained in How Aiolum verifies.
| Fact | Value | Grade | How we know | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly recurring revenue, 26 October 2026 | US$14,721 | A | TrustMRR snapshot from the Stripe account, synced 26 October 2026. MRR fell 7.4% in the last 30 days. On 25 October 2026 the same profile showed US$14,800. | [1] |
| Revenue in the last 30 days, 26 October 2026 | US$16,323 | A | TrustMRR, Stripe API key. IndiePage showed US$16,415 for the last 30 days on 25 October 2026, also read from Stripe. | [1, 2] |
| Run rate from the October 2026 MRR | US$176,652 a year | calc | Calculated: US$14,721 times 12. The headline figure on this page. | [1] |
| Revenue in the last 12 months | US$173,609 | A | TrustMRR, to 26 October 2026. The last 6 months were US$90,891. | [1] |
| Total revenue since launch | US$328,289 | A | TrustMRR, all time, 26 October 2026. IndiePage's all-time board showed US$324,683.76 on 25 October 2026. | [1, 2] |
| Revenue before the last 12 months | US$154,680, about US$5,500 a month on average | calc | Calculated: US$328,289 minus US$173,609, spread over the 28 months from June 2023 to October 2025. The monthly path in that period is not public. | [1] |
| Monthly revenue, November 2025 to September 2026 | US$12,595 to US$17,157 | A | TrustMRR monthly timeline. Lowest December 2025, highest September 2026. July to September 2026 averaged about 22% more than November 2025 to January 2026 (calculated). | [1] |
| Active subscriptions, October 2026 | 1,500 | A | TrustMRR snapshot of 26 October 2026. About US$9.81 of MRR per subscription (calculated). | [1] |
| Profit margin, last 30 days | 95.0% | C | TrustMRR snapshot. TrustMRR does not say how costs were entered, so this is treated as a company figure, not a verified one. | [1] |
| Website visitors and Google impressions, last 30 days | 71,421 visitors; 4,164,539 Google Search impressions | A | TrustMRR; the impressions come from a connected Google Search Console account. Revenue per visitor: US$0.23. | [1] |
| Creators and codes, February 2024 | 450K creators, 630K QR codes created, 900K scans | C | Company home page, Wayback copy of 3 February 2024, when the site sold only AI art codes. | [7] |
| Codes and scans, July 2024 | 2.3M QR codes and links created, 8.7M scans and clicks | C | Company home page, Wayback copy of 30 July 2024. | [8] |
| Codes and scans counter, March 2025 and October 2026 | 12.4M created, 76.8M scanned | C | The same two numbers appear in the Wayback copy of 2 March 2025 and on the live page of 25 October 2026, so the counter is not live. | [9, 10] |
| Team | 2 founders and developers | C | The site's humans.txt lists Thibaut Mélen and Nicolas Cella under the studio Supernovae. TrustMRR names Nicolas Cella as founder. No source names an employee. | [4, 1] |
| Outside funding | none | C | TrustMRR profile: "Funding: Bootstrapped". Founder-entered text. | [1] |
| Time from launch to the October 2026 figure | 40 months | calc | Calculated: June 2023 to October 2026. | [1, 5] |
How to read this table: grade A values come from TrustMRR and IndiePage, which read revenue from the company's Stripe account. Grade C values are the company's own pages, its web app text, or reviews on Product Hunt. A "calc" value was computed on this page from the rows above it.
| Plan | Per month, billed yearly (US$) | Per month, billed monthly (US$) | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free account | 0 | 0 | up to 3 QR codes, QR Code Custom and select AI templates |
| Free trial | 0 | 0 | 7 days of Premium; afterwards dynamic codes stop scanning |
| Premium, web | not shown | not shown | unlimited QR codes, smart links, barcodes and AI generations |
| Lifetime offer | one-time, not shown | offered to some accounts, shown with a countdown | |
| Premium, iPhone app (2023 listing) | 8.90 | App Store listing, app last updated July 2023 | |
| API | credits | credits | separate credit system, bought as needed |
The web pricing page describes "One Simple Plan": a premium subscription with unlimited QR codes and smart links, full access to AI designs, custom domains, analytics and team spaces. Its price, the billing periods (monthly, yearly) and a one-time Lifetime offer are filled in by script, so this page does not show them. TrustMRR's figures give about US$9.81 a month of recurring revenue per active subscription (US$14,721 divided by 1,500), which is an average, not a list price. The pricing page says there are no refunds because a free trial exists; the terms of service also give EU consumers a 14-day right of withdrawal.
When did QR Code AI launch, and how did it grow?
From an AI art generator launched on Product Hunt to a full QR code platform with US$14,721 a month in subscriptions, in 40 months. Each entry carries its grade.
- 16 June 2023CFounding date given on the TrustMRR profile. Country: France. [1]
- 30 June 2023CLaunch on Product Hunt: "Make QR codes sexy with AI". The listing says it turns links into artistic QR codes with Stable Diffusion and ControlNet, from templates or a prompt. Early reviewers ask for analytics; the founder answers that it is on the roadmap. [5]
- 23 July 2023CThe home page sells "AI-Powered Custom QR Codes" for brand marketing, and nothing else. [6]
- 25 July 2023CAn iPhone app, published by SuperNovae, offers Premium at US$8.90 a month. [15]
- 3 February 2024CThe site is still an "Online Generator of Unique and Artistic AI-Powered QR Codes" and counts 450K creators and 630K codes. The menu now has an API and an affiliate program. [7]
- 1 July 2024CSecond Product Hunt launch, "QR Code AI 2.0": next-generation QR codes with improved AI and new features. [5]
- 30 July 2024CThe home page adds Link in Bio, Smart Links, analytics and team workspaces, and plain code types such as URL, WiFi, vCard and PDF. 2.3M codes and links created. [8]
- 2 March 2025C"Best Free QR Code Generator" with more than 50 code types, two design modes (QR Code Custom and QR Code Art), and the promise "Your QR Codes never expire". [9]
- 15 April 2026CThe pricing page shows "One Simple Plan". Free users can make up to 3 QR codes; Premium unlocks unlimited codes, AI designs, custom domains and analytics. [12]
- November 2025 to September 2026AMonthly revenue between US$12,595 and US$17,157, read from Stripe. [1]
- 26 October 2026AUS$16,323 in the last 30 days, MRR of US$14,721, 1,500 active subscriptions and US$328,289 in total, read from Stripe by TrustMRR. Not listed for sale. [1, 2]
Why did QR Code AI work?
Four causes, in the order they mattered. Each one is a reusable lesson.
A visible AI result in a crowded, plain market
QR code generators were a commodity in 2023: black and white squares, often free. A code that is also a picture, made from a prompt, was something a person would share and a brand would pay for. The company's pages still call QR Code Art "a feature no major competitor offers" and claim, from their own data, up to 30% more scans for artistic codes. That claim is the company's, not a measured result.
Then the features businesses search for
Early users asked for analytics. Within a year the product added dynamic codes, smart links, link-in-bio pages and team workspaces, and later 60 content types from WiFi to PDF. Each type has its own page in many languages, and TrustMRR lists SEO as the marketing channel, with 4,164,539 Google impressions in 30 days.
Subscriptions tied to codes that are already printed
A dynamic code works only while the company's server forwards it. The app says that when a trial or plan ends, dynamic codes and smart links stop working. A customer whose code is on menus or packaging has a strong reason to keep paying. This explains part of the stable revenue, and it is also the main criticism of the whole dynamic QR code industry.
Low cost to serve
TrustMRR shows a 95.0% profit margin in the last 30 days, a figure the company entered. Forwarding a scan costs almost nothing; the image generations are the main variable cost, and the app limits them on free accounts.
How it was built
These details come from the company's site, its humans.txt file, its web app and its TrustMRR profile. They are grade C unless noted. [11, 1, 4, 10, 17]
- QR Code Art uses Stable Diffusion and ControlNet: the code's pattern guides the image model so the picture still scans.
- Front end: Vue 3 and Nuxt 3 with TypeScript; back end with MongoDB, Redis and ClickHouse for scan analytics (TrustMRR tech stack and humans.txt).
- Hosting is listed as DigitalOcean in humans.txt; the site footer names Scaleway as a partner.
- The founders list Cursor and Claude Code as their editors.
- Payments run through Stripe; TrustMRR reads revenue from the Stripe account (grade A for that fact).
- An affiliate program pays partners 30% of the subscription revenue for life, paid through PayPal. A public API sells credits.
- humans.txt lists 109 supported locales, and the site has one page per QR code type to serve search traffic.
Tools named in the sources
Each one opens its page in the Tools tab, with every story that uses it.
Who tried this before QR Code AI, and why did they fail?
Four companies in the Loot Drop database promised to connect print and physical objects to phones, or to make QR codes a business. The values below are from that database and are not independently verified.
Blippar
The promisePoint a phone at a poster, product or magazine ad and see videos and 3D content over it.
Why it diedBrands needed users and users needed content, and the app never solved both at once. It spent US$130M.
Powa Technologies
The promisePowaTag: scan any product, ad or TV screen and buy it at once with a phone.
Why it diedIt built everything at once, claimed partnerships that did not exist, and had almost no paying customers.
SnipSnap
The promiseScan paper coupons into a phone app and redeem them in stores.
Why it diedRivals offered more than a coupon wallet, and it never became profitable.
Origami
The promiseQR code payments at shops in cash-heavy Japan.
Why it diedPayPay spent billions on subsidies that a company with US$80M could not match.
The failed startups come from Loot Drop, a free database of dead startups, retold here in our own words. Loot Drop describes its entries as AI-assisted summaries of public sources, so these cards carry no evidence grade.
What changed
Blippar, Powa and SnipSnap each needed a special app on the phone and a network of brands or shops before a single scan could happen. They spent tens or hundreds of millions to build both sides. Origami used QR codes but sold payments, where the largest company with the largest subsidy wins.
QR Code AI needs neither side. Since iOS 11 and Android 9 the built-in camera reads QR codes, as the company's own FAQ notes, so every phone is already a scanner. The customer is one business that wants one code on a flyer, and it finds the generator through Google. AI image models added in 2023 what the plain generators lacked: a code that looks designed. That gave a two-person studio a reason to exist in a market of free tools, and the subscription for dynamic codes turned the users into recurring revenue.
Can one person copy QR Code AI now?
The AI art opening, mostly gone. The structure, yes.
Being first with prompt-made QR art was an opening in mid-2023; many apps now offer it. The structure is still available: put a visible AI result on top of a dull utility that people already search for, then build the plain features and one page per search term, and charge for the part that must keep running.
Where it is still open: Other everyday items that must stay readable by a machine: barcodes on packaging, Wi-Fi cards, event tickets, NFC tags and signs.
- 1Pick a utility that people search for by name every day and that existing tools make look plain.
- 2Use an open image model with a control method to make a result that people want to show others.
- 3Add the boring features that businesses ask for in the first reviews: analytics, editing after printing, teams.
- 4Write one page for each search term and language, and measure impressions in Search Console.
- 5Say clearly, before people sign up, what happens to their work when they stop paying.
What could go wrong for QR Code AI?
The risks are the mirror image of the causes above.
A misleading "free" claim: codes stop working when a trial or plan ends
The home page, read on 25 October 2026, says "Free QR Code Generator" and "Free · No watermark", and in March 2025 it said "Your QR Codes never expire, ensuring they remain active and scannable for as long as you need them". The free account exists, but the pricing page of April 2026 limits it to 3 QR codes. The web app text, downloaded on 25 October 2026, says: "Your 7-day free trial has ended. Upgrade to premium to continue using QR Code AI", "Your dynamic QR codes and smart links will no longer be scannable or clickable", and on cancelling, "After that, its QR codes and Smart Links will be deactivated." Static codes that encode the link directly keep working; dynamic codes depend on the subscription. Buyers who print codes should know this first.
AI is one of three modes, and no source splits the revenue
The product began as AI art only. Today the paid plan bundles AI generations with dynamic codes, analytics and custom domains, and many customers may pay mainly to keep printed codes alive. No source says which feature earns the money.
Prices are not public in plain text
The web pricing page fills in its prices by script, and the app shows a Lifetime offer to some accounts only, with a countdown. A buyer cannot compare prices before signing up.
Usage numbers on the home page are not live
The counter of 12.4M codes created and 76.8M scans is the same in March 2025 and October 2026. Use the Stripe figures, not the counter, to judge growth.
Support complaints and a crowded market
Product Hunt reviews include praise for the designs and one buyer who reported a code that failed on iPhone and no refund; a founder answered and offered one. Many apps now sell AI QR art, and large QR companies can add it.
Sources
The grade next to each source is the best grade that the source can support. "Read in full" means that the text of the page was downloaded and the numbers were checked in it.
- A TrustMRR markdown profile: QR Code AI, synced 26 October 2026Read the markdown profile. Verification section: Stripe API key. Source for MRR, revenue by period, monthly timeline, subscriptions, traffic and Search Console figures. The founder, founding date, funding and tech stack are founder-entered text (grade C).
- A IndiePage revenue leaderboard, read 25 October 2026Read in full. "Revenue is fetched from Stripe and updated every 12 hours". QR Code AI at US$16,415 in the last 30 days and US$324,683.76 all time, maker Nicolas Cella.
- A IndiePage profile of Nicolas Cella, read 25 October 2026Read in full. Shows Paris, SuperNovae, and QR Code AI at US$16.4k a month.
- C QR Code AI humans.txt, read 25 October 2026Read in full. Names the two founders and developers, the studio, the framework, the hosting and the editors.
- C Product Hunt: QRCode AI, launches of 30 June 2023 and 1 July 2024, with reviewsRead the product page and its reviews page. Source for the launch dates, the launch description and the reviews with the founder's answers.
- C QR Code AI home page, Wayback copy of 23 July 2023Read in full. The first archived version: AI-powered custom QR codes only.
- C QR Code AI home page, Wayback copy of 3 February 2024Read in full. Source for 450K creators, 630K codes and 900K scans, and for the AI-only product.
- C QR Code AI home page, Wayback copy of 30 July 2024Read in full. Source for the added link tools, analytics, code types, and 2.3M codes and 8.7M scans.
- C QR Code AI home page, Wayback copy of 2 March 2025Read in full. Source for the 50+ code types, the two design modes and "Your QR Codes never expire".
- C QR Code AI home page, read 25 October 2026Read in full. Source for the three modes, 60 code types, the free claims, the FAQ on expiry and phone cameras, and the Scaleway footer.
- C QR Code AI: QR Code Art Generator page, read 25 October 2026Read in full. Source for Stable Diffusion and ControlNet.
- C QR Code AI pricing page, Wayback copy of 15 April 2026Read in full. The plan text and FAQ are in the page; the prices load by script and are not in it. The live /pricing URL now returns a 404 page.
- C QR Code AI web app, English interface text file, read 25 October 2026Downloaded the app's English text file and read the strings with grep. Source for the 7-day trial, the Lifetime offer, and what happens to dynamic codes when a trial or plan ends.
- C QR Code AI terms of service, read 25 October 2026Read in full. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the paid term; EU withdrawal right of 14 days. The terms do not say what happens to dynamic codes.
- C App Store: QR Code AI - Unique Generator, by SuperNovaeRead in full. Source for the US$8.90 monthly Premium price and the July 2023 version dates.
- C Supernovae, The French App StudioRead in full. Lists the studio's apps: Chill, Gepeto, QR Code AI and Magic QR.
- C QR Code AI affiliate program page, read 25 October 2026Read in full. Source for the 30% recurring commission and PayPal payouts.
- C Loot Drop database export, 1,749 failed startupsLocal export. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors.