It’s likely that you’re here because you’ve whittled down your options for QR Code generators to Scanova and Beaconstac. Or maybe you’re just on the lookout for a better Scanova alternative. In either case, which QR Code generator should you pick?
While we believe that Beaconstac is the best QR Code generator out there, we didn’t want to just tell you that. We would rather show you – so you can reach an informed decision yourself.
We also know that we can’t be completely neutral in the side-by-side comparisons that follow. To that end, we have tried to ensure that credit is given where it is due.
At Beaconstac, we’re confident that our product will do the talking for us!
Features compared in this guide are grouped together based on similarity, and are broadly clubbed into three main buckets. Essentials that everyone should consider, advanced needs for professional marketing campaigns, and enterprise features for a scalable QR Code solution.
Table of contents
- The essentials everyone should consider
- Advanced needs for running professional marketing campaigns
- Enterprise features for scalable QR Code solutions
- Pricing options and subscription plan details
The essentials: No matter your company size or use case, your QR Code partner should ideally have all these features.
Static or dynamic QR Codes?
Any paid QR Code generator software should be able to create both static and dynamic QR Codes.
When you create a static QR code, the content embedded in the QR code is permanent. This means that once generated, you cannot update the QR Code content later on if you wish to.
A dynamic QR Code, on the other hand, enables you to update the linked content after creation. In addition, dynamic QR Codes are trackable, meaning that you get analytics for scans as well as end-user engagement. You cannot do this with static QR Codes.
Beaconstac | Scanova | |
Static QR Codes | ✔ (free and unlimited) |
✔ (paid subscription required) |
Dynamic QR Codes | ✔ | ✔ |
While Scanova requires a subscription to download any static QR Code, Beaconstac allows users to do this for free. Also, there is no limit on the number of static QR Codes you can create. With Beaconstac’s free QR Code generator, download as many static QR Codes as you like!
For dynamic QR codes, both Beaconstac and Scanova offer paid subscription plans.
Beaconstac lets you customize your QR Code content extensively
When you sift through your list of preferred QR Code generators, consider each platform’s customization capabilities.
Does the QR Code generator cover as many QR code use-cases as possible? Do they provide extensive mobile-friendly landing page customization? Can you make interactive forms and dynamic menus?
If you can answer each of these questions in the affirmative, you’ve got yourself a winner.
Beaconstac does exactly this – our QR Code solution ticks all the boxes on the customization front.
Scanova has a range of use-case templates to choose from, but the customization features aren’t nearly as exhaustive as Beaconstac:
Beaconstac | Scanova | |
Multiple campaign templates | ✔ | ✔ |
Dynamic restaurant menu | ✔ | ❌ |
Dynamic forms | ✔ | ❌ |
Customizable mobile landing pages | ✔ | ❌ |
Beaconstac’s interactive menu template allows restaurant owners to edit menus and automatically show different offerings based on mealtimes. The menu can be viewed within a browser, without forcing a download on the user’s device. Good riddance to annoying menu remnants from multiple restaurant visits!
Our dynamic forms template uses logic jumps to ask users questions based on the answers they provide. You can also assign different points to answers to collate a final score for each end-user.
Scanova does not provide the above two functionalities.
In addition, we also realize how crucial being mobile-friendly is for marketing success. That’s why we have fully customizable mobile landing pages on our platform that give you more creative control and flexibility.
Using the Beaconstac platform is a breeze
At Beaconstac, we understand how user experience is paramount for our customers.
That’s why we made the Beaconstac dashboard easy and intuitive to use without compromising on functionality. Regardless of how you wish to purpose your QR Codes, be assured that working on the Beaconstac dashboard will be a seamless process.
Assign a colored custom label to easily identify your QR Codes.
Create QR Codes in bulk with our Google Sheets plugin (you don’t even have to visit the dashboard!).
Want to automate dynamic QR code generation within your app or website? Cue our Dynamic QR Code API!
With custom labels, bulk QR code creation with Google Sheets, and Dynamic QR Code API, Beaconstac fares better:
Beaconstac | Scanova | |
Save QR Code designs for reuse | ✔ | ✔ |
Filters to sort QR Codes | ✔ | ✔ |
Custom labels for easy identification | ✔ | ❌ |
Bulk QR Code creation using simple Google Sheet add-ons | ✔ | ❌ |
Static QR Code API | ✔ | ✔ |
Dynamic QR Code API for automation | ✔ | ❌ |
Beaconstac gives you a real-time measure of scannability
Why is scannability something you should worry about?
The simple answer is that customizations like low-contrast color schemes and large data content lead to unreadable QR Codes.
It simply won’t matter how well you’ve designed your QR Code and the linked content. If they’re not readable, nobody will be able to scan them!
Most QR Code generators in the market do not tell you about QR Code readability. If they do, it’s usually a blanket indication that they’re either ‘readable’ or ‘not readable’. If you get the latter, you probably have to go back and re-do the entire QR Code design again.
Beaconstac, on the other hand, gives you real-time, range-based scannability updates as you customize your QR code design.
In addition, you need error correction to ensure that QR Code data can be restored after any material damage. Here’s how Beaconstac and Scanova compare here:
Beaconstac | Scanova | |
Real-time scannability score to guide customizations | ✔ | ❌ |
Error-correction | ✔ | ✔ |
Advanced needs: For running professional QR Code marketing campaigns, consider these features.
Use Beaconstac for better QR Code design customization
QR Code generators should ideally have design customization features that allow users to consistently showcase their brand identity.
Features that give you full creative control over all aspects of QR Code design lead to better QR Code branding:
Beaconstac | Scanova | |
Custom QR eyes & pattern | ✔ | ✔ |
Custom logo | ✔ | ✔ |
Custom frames | ✔ | ❌ |
Circular QR Codes | ✔ | ❌ |
QR Code templates | ✔ | ✔ |
Multiple download formats | ✔ | ✔ |
Both Beaconstac and Scanova offer extensive design customization, QR Code templates, and multiple download formats. However, Beaconstac gets the edge here due to the additional custom frames and circular QR Codes features.
Beaconstac allows you to personalize your campaign better
Advanced settings ensure that you have greater control and flexibility over how your campaigns are delivered to your end-users.
With Beaconstac, you can leverage the custom domain/URL feature to fully showcase your company branding. When users scan your QR Code, you can direct them to a page or domain of your own choice. Mask any Beaconstac branding altogether!
Want to deploy the same campaign in multiple languages in different parts of the world? Use our multi-language support feature to do this with ease.
In addition to the above, you might also wish to age-gate your campaigns for adult-only content. With our age-gating feature, you can create age confirmation pop-ups when a user scans your QR Code.
Here’s how Beaconstac and Scanova stack up against each other with regard to campaign personalization:
Beaconstac | Scanova | |
Custom domain/URL | ✔ | ✔ |
Ad-free campaigns | ✔ | ✔ |
Age-gating | ✔ | ❌ |
Multilingual campaigns | ✔ | ❌ |
Precise campaign analytics yield the best results
Running QR Code campaigns without tracking and measuring performance for optimization is as good as shooting in the dark.
Marketing today is largely data-driven. Precise data analytics help to fine-tune campaign content. For professional QR Code campaigns, marketers require relevant KPIs that give them an accurate picture of campaign performance:
Beaconstac | Scanova | |
Track scans/Time of day | ✔ | ❌ |
Track scans/Location | ✔ | ✔ |
Track scans/Device type | ✔ | ✔ |
Top-performing QR Codes | ✔ | ❌ |
End-user behavior with Google Analytics | ✔ | ✔ |
Weekly email reports | ✔ | ✔ |
Exact GPS location | ✔ | ✔ |
Both platforms provide a wide range of analytics commonly used in measuring professional marketing QR Code campaigns.
However, with Beaconstac, you get additional analytics like having an overview of top-performing QR Codes and scans per time of day. You get to zoom in on your end-users for more visibility.
Combined with an intuitive dashboard design, our platform analytics enables you to make quick observations on the fly. Being able to iterate your campaigns quickly and stay agile puts you ahead of your competition.
Enterprise features: If you’re an enterprise looking for a scalable QR Code solution, look for these features.
Beaconstac is the industry leader in QR Code data security
At Beaconstac, we know that users looking for the best QR Code generator value data handling and security deeply.
This is especially true for our enterprise customers who deal with cyberattacks and breaches by hackers on a regular basis.
For the same reason, we place a great emphasis on ensuring that our customer data is secure. Amidst growing concerns about the safety of QR Code usage, Beaconstac has set the industry standard for data security.
We do this through third-party audits and compliances that check customer data handling and security. Beaconstac fares better than Scanova here with a SOC-2 certification in addition to GDPR compliance.
Apart from basic security functionalities, we also provide an SSO login feature. SSO is an authentication method that gives users access across multiple sites and applications with a single set of credentials. With the number of attack surfaces reduced, the likelihood of any unauthorized access from malicious sources is greatly lowered.
With better data-handling best practices in place, Beaconstac fares better than Scanova in the data security department:
Beaconstac | Scanova | |
Two-Factor authentication | ✔ | ✔ |
SSO login | ✔ | ❌ |
SOC-2 certification | ✔ | ❌ |
GDPR compliance | ✔ | ✔ |
Password protection | ✔ | ✔ |
Access management | ✔ | ✔ |
Beaconstac enables brands to retarget users across the physical and digital worlds
QR Codes are a great way to capture intent in the physical world. End-users who scan your QR Codes and engage with the linked content are surely interested in you or your organization. Therefore, they make ideal candidates for retargeting purposes.
With Beaconstac as your QR partner, you can organize high-intent users who engage with your campaigns into online cohorts. You can then re-target them across digital channels with our platform tools like Facebook Pixel and Google AdWords. Setting this up could not be easier – all you need is a Pixel or AdWords conversion ID.
Beaconstac is a clear winner here with the above retargeting functionalities since Scanova does not have these:
Beaconstac | Scanova | |
Facebook Pixel retargeting | ✔ | ❌ |
Google AdWords retargeting | ✔ | ❌ |
White label the Beaconstac platform entirely
Say you’re a big enterprise that wants to integrate Beaconstac with your current software toolset for a better workflow. Or you’re a marketing agency that uses Beaconstac’s QR Code generator for managing its QR Code campaigns.
In either case, you perhaps wish to remove Beaconstac branding completely for consistency purposes. Can you actually do this?
Yes. In our enterprise plan, you can white label the entire dashboard and remove all traces of Beaconstac branding. Make the Beaconstac platform look just like your own!
Beaconstac | Scanova | |
White label platform | ✔ | ❌ |
Beaconstac’s customer service and support sets it apart
Firstly, we’d like to give our nod of approval to everyone in the Scanova team for ensuring quality customer support for its users. As a company for whom customer support and success is always #1 priority, we appreciate this.
But at the same time, we know that Beaconstac’s customer service is miles ahead of any competition.
All of us at Beaconstac value excellent customer service as a central part of our product. We’re not being self-congratulatory – do check out our G2 reviews!
Be it an enterprise or an SMB, we’re here to listen and resolve issues as quickly as we can. We’re available across multiple mediums – telephone, live chat, and email. Our G2 customer ratings and reviews are proof of this fact:
Beaconstac | Scanova | |
Live chat | ✔ | ✔ |
Email support quality | ✔ | ✔ |
Phone support quality | ✔ | ✔ |
G2/Capterra ratings | ✔ G2 (4.8/5 based on 126 reviews) |
✔ Capterra (4.4/5 based on 9 reviews) |
Beaconstac’s integrations are wider in scope
When you’re trying out different QR Code generators, be on the lookout for the integration options they offer.
The solution that you finally settle on should allow integration with a range of commonly used software tools. This ensures a seamless workflow.
Integrations ensure that applications talk to each other better. As a user, everything you need is just a click away within a single, unified workflow. No longer will you have to jump from one application to the other all the time.
Let’s take the automation tool Zapier for example. With Beaconstac’s Zapier integration, you can automate repetitive tasks across applications from within the Beaconstac dashboard itself.
Say you want to receive an email notification when your QR Codes reach a certain number of scans. All you have to do is set up an automation workflow or ‘zap’ that triggers an email notification sequence. It’s nothing but a command that tells apps something along the lines of “when X happens, do Y”.
Here’s how Beaconstac and Scanova stack up against each other with regard to the integrations they provide:
Beaconstac | Scanova | |
Zapier | ✔ | ❌ |
Google Analytics | ✔ | ✔ |
Integromat | ✔ | ❌ |
Workato | ✔ | ❌ |
Google Sheets Plugin | ✔ | ❌ |
Slack | ✔ | ❌ |
Webhooks Integration | ✔ | ✔ |
Both Beaconstac and Scanova offer Webhooks and Google Analytics integrations.
But Beaconstac fares much better since the platform has wider integration capabilities.
With tools like Zapier, Workato and Integromat, Beaconstac users can trigger automation workflows across a wide range of applications.
In addition, we have a dedicated plugin that allows you to bulk-create QR codes within Google Sheets. We provide integration with Slack for better collaboration as well. Learn more about the bulk-creation functionality here.
Pricing and plans: Weigh your options based on affordability and payment flexibility.
Beaconstac combines functionality with affordable pricing
Here we compare different subscription tiers and pricing details for both QR Code generators:
Beaconstac | Scanova | |
Starter Plan | $8/month (1.6$ per QR Code) 3 Dynamic QR Codes 20,000 scans |
$15/month (3$ per QR Code) 5 Dynamic QR Codes Unlimited scans |
Advanced Plan | $12.50/month (0.25$ per QR Code) 50 Dynamic QR Codes 40,000 scans |
$50/month (2.5$ per QR Code) 20 Dynamic QR Codes Unlimited scans |
Professional | $40.83/month (0.16$ per QR Code) 250 Dynamic QR Codes 100,000 scans |
$100/month excluding additional charges Unlimited QR Codes Unlimited scans |
Plus | $99/month 500 QR Codes 200,000 scans 3 Users 3 Teams |
|
Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
With Beaconstac, you get four standard subscription plans whereas Scanova only offers three. You also have more QR Codes for every subscription plan at a better price. Ensure a wider reach by strategically deploying more QR Codes and see your engagement rates soar!
On the flip side, Scanova’s users find the pricing to be a significant pain point. Scanova’s price per QR code for the starter plan is 2X that of Beaconstac. For the advanced plans, it is nearly 10X Beaconstac’s pricing.
With better functionality, safety, and customer support, Beaconstac’s QR Code Generator does more at a lesser price.
So that’s a wrap! We hope that this comparison guide was informative and helpful. If you’re convinced by our QR Code platform and want to schedule a demo, you can do so here.