Beaconstac vs Flowcode? Here’s Why Beaconstac Might Be Better

You’re here because both Flowcode and Beaconstac seem like appealing QR Code solutions and you want to make an informed choice between the two. 

How does one stack up against the other?

Well—you’re at the right place! What follows is a detailed, objective, and structured Beaconstac vs Flowcode comparison guide that answers this question.

In all our ‘Beaconstac vs Competitor’ guides, we simply lay out side-by-side feature comparisons so that you can clearly see how our product does against other QR Code solutions in the market.

We research competitor QR platforms thoroughly and compare features across three different buckets—basic, advanced, and enterprise—so that you can assess your QR Code requirements and reach the right decision yourself.

No marketing gimmicks of any sort—here at Beaconstac our product does all the heavy lifting for us!

Before you continue—if you want a quick, at-a-glance PDF overview of this comparison guide—scan the QR Code below.

Table of contents

1. The essentials that cover basic QR Code requirements
2. Advanced needs for running professional marketing campaigns
3. Enterprise features for a scalable QR Code solution
4. Pricing and plans

The essentials: No matter your company size or use case, your QR Code partner should ideally have all these features.

1. Both Static and Dynamic QR Codes?
2. To what extent can you customize the QR encoded content?
3. How easy is it to use the QR Code platform?
4. Does the solution tell you anything about QR Code scannability?

Both Static and Dynamic QR Codes?

The first step towards filtering your list of preferred QR Code generators is to ask yourself this essential question: does the QR Code solution allow me to create both static and dynamic QR Codes?

Dynamic QR Codes are trackable and enable users to edit the QR-linked content on the backend without any reprinting or redeployment. They also come with a host of other features like customization, integrations, white-labeling, and so on. 

Static QR Codes, on the other hand, are permanent and not trackable—meaning that you won’t get the flexibility to edit content on the backend or track any analytics to fine-tune your campaigns. For the same reasons, in order to get dynamic QR Codes, you need to invest in a paid QR Code solution.

But despite their shortcomings, static QR Codes have their place too.

Here are some use-cases where static codes are more ideal: one-off marketing campaigns where tracking isn’t all that important, QR Codes containing phone numbers or contact details that are unlikely to change, personal email address QR Codes, etc. Basically, any use-case where you don’t require any advanced analytics or the ease of updating QR-encoded content behind the scenes. 

Beaconstac allows you to create unlimited static QR Codes that do not expire for free—no strings attached. Simply go to our free static QR Code generator and create away! We don’t ask you to sign up or give up your details in exchange. 

On the other hand, Flowcode does not allow users to create any static QR Code. As part of their free offering, they do provide 5 dynamic QR Codes (you need to sign up for this) that have limited redirect capabilities and track only one metric—the total number of scans received. 

Say you want to deploy more than 5 unique QR Codes at different locations as part of a one-time marketing campaign—you simply can’t do that with Flowcode. Beaconstac lets you do this for free, without asking for anything in return!

To what extent can you customize the QR encoded content?

As you get more familiar with how QR Codes work and how they can be best utilized for marketing or functional purposes, you need a QR Code solution that will cover as many use-cases as possible.

QR Code applications needn’t be limited to ones that you have in mind today. To be future-proof, you should look at a solution that can be scaled to support different use cases that might pop up.

This means having more content templates that cover a range of possible contexts where QR Codes can be effectively leveraged. Business vCards, all-in-one social media QR Codes, app deep link QR Codes, phone call and SMS QR Codes, QR Codes that link to forms, and more. 

With Beaconstac, you get full creative control over the content encoded in your QR Codes! Not only do we have more use-case templates compared to Flowcode, we also allow our users to create landing pages with more customization capabilities. 

Get more fonts, insert audio and video, add sliders, tables, and files on your landing page with Beaconstac!

Also, we don’t have a cap on the number of landing pages you can create across all the plans we offer. Flowcode does—and the number of ‘Flowpages’ that you can create is limited to 10 for their Pro plan. 

How easy is it to use the QR Code platform?

When you’re starting out, it may take a while for you to learn the ropes of QR Code creation and usage.

For the very same reason, it’s essential that you choose a QR Code generator that makes the process of creating, customizing, and deploying QR Codes as easy and intuitive as possible.

You should go for a solution that has an easy-to-use dashboard UI, makes management and sorting of QR Codes simple, and also allows users to customize and save their designs for future use. 

Beaconstac ticks all the boxes here:

Does the solution tell you anything about QR Code scannability?

Here’s an avoidable QR Code scenario:

You’ve customized your dynamic QR Code design and content to represent your brand identity, enabled tracking with QR Code analytics to monitor how your codes will perform, and finally—you’ve deployed them at the touchpoint where you expect to receive scans. Except—after giving it a while—you simply can’t see any scans coming through. Why would this be?

Something that we take into consideration at Beaconstac is whether or not your custom QR Code design that you’ve carefully created lends itself to being easily scannable. We do this with our real-time scannability score on the dashboard, which gives you a sense of a QR Code’s scannability in real-time as and when you customize its design.

After all, your QR Codes can be as peppy and customizable as you’d like—but what use are they if users cannot scan them because of low-contrast color schemes or low error correction?

In addition, Beaconstac also provides enhanced scannability through the custom error-correction feature that we have on the platform. If you’re going to print your QR Codes on packaging or on any marketing material that’s prone to wear and tear, set an appropriate error-correction level so that your QR Code takes any future damage into account. Error correction ensures that QR Codes can be read despite having a certain degree of damage or wear and tear.

Advanced needs: For running professional QR Code marketing campaigns, consider these features.

1. How exhaustive is the QR Code design customization?
2. Can you personalize your QR Code campaigns with advanced settings?
3. Which solution fares better when it comes to QR Code analytics?

How exhaustive is the QR Code design customization?

To maximally leverage the QR Code engagement channel, your QR Codes have to immediately pique the attention of the audience that you’re trying to reach. We gladly admit that the Flowcode team have done a good job here—so kudos to them!

Their QR Codes look sleek and give us some good competition.

But at the same time, we know that our QR Code platform does the same and much more.

While Flowcode positions its codes as ‘alternatives to QR Codes’ and says that there is a sea of difference between a Flowcode and a regular QR Code, we can assure you that Beaconstac’s QR Codes fare better when it comes to design.

When you actually see how the QR Code design customization features compare between the two QR Code solutions, Beaconstac has more functionalities that allow users to exercise full creative control over the design of their QR Codes.

Gradient patterns, custom logo size, and error correction levels give Beaconstac the edge here:

Can you personalize your QR Code campaigns with advanced settings?

Apart from all the QR Code content customization that we’ve discussed in the essentials bucket, you might require more personalization features when you run professional marketing campaigns.

We compare advanced settings that both platforms offer here:

Say you’re running a campaign that has adult-only content and you’re legally required to show a pop-up that confirms the age of visitors. Both Flowcode and Beaconstac offer an age-gating feature that helps with this. 

In addition, both platforms also provide completely ad-free campaigns and also allow users to remove Beaconstac/Flowcode branding completely in the encoded URL. 

However, if you want to fully custom-brand your QR Codes without any trace of the solution provider’s branding, we recommend Beaconstac over Flowcode.

The reason for this? 

Flowcode not only has their brand logo embossed into each one of their QR Codes, they also have ‘privacy.flowcode.com’ mentioned in a noticeable manner on all their codes!

Which solution fares better when it comes to QR Code analytics?

Data rules the roost in marketing, and QR Codes are no exception. 

In order to maximize ROIs on your QR Code campaigns, you need accurate analytics telling you what works and what doesn’t.

In the data/analytics domain, Beaconstac is simply far ahead of all its competition—Flowcode included. We provide users with our own analytics pertaining to the number of scans, unique visitors, date and time of scan, exact GPS location, and more. 

Also, if you wish to zoom in on your audience even closer, we’ve got you covered. We have a Google Analytics integration that allows you to view GA data on the Beaconstac dashboard itself. These include more detailed information about end-user characteristics like age, gender, preferences, on-site behavior and so on. 

Enterprise features: If you’re an enterprise looking for a scalable QR Code solution, look for these features.

1. How do both platforms fare when it comes to security?
2. Can you create and deploy QR Codes at scale?
3. Does the QR Code solution allow you to collaborate on campaigns seamlessly?
4. Do both platforms provide excellent customer service and support?
5. Can you retarget users who scan your QR Codes? 
6. White label the entire QR Code platform?
7. Does the QR Code platform offer a wide array of integrations?

How do both platforms fare when it comes to security?

If you’re looking to run QR Code campaigns at the enterprise level, ensuring security and compliance with data protection laws is absolutely vital.

You need a QR Code generator that has as many checks in place to ensure that your QR Codes are safe and secure. Apart from providing additional layers of security, this will also instill trust in the audience that you’re trying to reach that your QR Codes can be safely scanned and utilized as a Phygital portal for your content.

Let’s look at how Flowcode and Beaconstac stack up against each other in this regard:

As you can see, we place a high premium on security—and have robust security practices in place to address any of your data safety concerns.

Apart from GDPR compliance and access management, we go the extra mile in the security department when compared to not just Flowcode but any other QR Code solution in the market today. 

Our best-in-industry security system has features like SSO login, two-factor authentication, an anomaly detection framework called Beaconstac Shield for weeding out inconsistencies in scan activity, URL-based phishing detection, and so on. 

Also, we are the only SOC-2 certified QR Code platform out there as of today!

If you require an enterprise-ready QR Code solution with the highest level of security in the market—look no further than Beaconstac. 

Can you create and deploy QR Codes at scale?

Here we see how Flowcode and Beaconstac compare with each other when it comes to QR Code creation in bulk.

Flowcode does have a bulk-generation feature—but the number of QR Codes that can be generated is limited to 50 QR Codes in one go. Also, you can only bulk-generate QR Codes through a single route, namely by manually creating a CSV file that contains your QR Code data.

On the other hand, Beaconstac gives its users the functionality to bulk-create upto 2000 QR Codes in one batch. 

And if the need arises, we also provide static and dynamic QR Code API to integrate QR Code data and automate QR Code creation in bulk within the software tools that you already use.

Read this case study on how PatientPoint, a leading healthcare marketing company leveraging Beaconstac for maximizing programmatic ad revenue, utilizes our API feature for integrating QR Code analytics into their own data analytics tool.

Also—while Flowcode does allow you to bulk-create QR Codes with CSV files—we have more ways than one to bulk-generate codes that are super easy and efficient. 

Should you wish to do so, you can use our dedicated Google Sheets plugin to bulk create QR Codes without ever leaving the spreadsheet you’re on. 

You can also create automated workflows within Google Sheets (through our integrations) to auto-generate QR Codes when you add new rows. Or do it the regular way by uploading a CSV file to the Beaconstac dashboard to generate multiple codes in one go. 

Does the QR Code solution allow you to collaborate on campaigns seamlessly?

Using QR Codes for enterprise-level applications mean that there will be multi-user and cross-functional collaboration during QR Code campaigns. 

Apart from this, if you’re a company in the marketing or advertising space catering to multiple clients, you might need to give each client access to the QR Code platform so that they can easily look at QR Code data or even create QR Codes themselves.  

With Beaconstac you can add multiple users, create separate teams and configure access accordingly, create asset libraries that will act as your branding tool kit, lock saved templates to avoid any further design changes, use custom labels for easy identification, and more.

While Flowcode does provide collaboration seats, they only do so on their custom enterprise plan. This is not available on their PRO and PRO+ plans. The ability to store assets and share templates is also limited to their custom offering. 

Beaconstac, by offering these features on standard plans, in addition to providing more collaboration capabilities in its enterprise solution, comes out on top here. We also provide a Slack integration that makes collaboration that much easier:

Do both platforms provide excellent customer service and support?

Like we mentioned before, we tell it like it is—and from what we could gather—Flowcode does provide good customer support.

But we’re confident that we fare way better. We don’t mean to toot our own trumpet here—it’s just that Beaconstac’s G2 reviews and stats speak for themselves!

We have a 4.9/5 rating from 210 customers spanning across a range of industries and business verticals while Flowcode has the same rating from just 29 reviews. 

In addition, we extend our customer service and support across more channels to include live-chat and phone. Flowcode does not provide these two.

Can you retarget users who scan your QR Codes? 

From a retargeting perspective, the first party-data that you can collect with QR Codes is extremely valuable. 

This is because QR Codes can be reliably used as a marker of high intent. If someone scans your QR Code at a physical touchpoint to access your content, you can be assured that they are definitely interested in your brand. 

Leverage this firsty-party QR Code data maximally and retarget your audience for better conversions!

Our solution provides the best retargeting capabilities in the QR Code marketing space—and not just on Facebook but on Google Adwords as well!

While both QR Code platforms offer retargeting capabilities on Facebook, Beaconstac does better again with dedicated retargeting functionality on Google AdWords in addition to Facebook Pixel retargeting. 

As we’ve seen before in this guide, you can also utilize our superior analytics capabilities to get the most out of your retargeting campaigns!

White label the entire QR Code platform?

As an enterprise customer using a range of software tools across your business, you might wish to have consistent branding across all the software tools that you use. 

Or say you’re a marketing agency and wish to offer QR Code solutions to your clients but don’t want any branding from the QR Code service provider on the dashboard.

In either case, your QR Code partner should ideally give you the flexibility to white-label the entire platform.

With Beaconstac, you can remove our branding on the dashboard and make it look like your own, whereas Flowcode does not provide this option.

Does the QR Code platform offer a wide array of integrations?

For enterprise QR Code requirements where the ability to handle scale is crucial, automating QR Code related processes and workflows makes things that much more efficient. 

The QR Code solution that you decide to invest in should offer a range of integration capabilities either directly or through dedicated third-party integration platforms. 

While we offer direct integrations on our dashboard like Google Analytics and Slack in addition to a dedicated Google Sheets plugin, you can also connect Beaconstac to nearly 4000+ apps through our integrations with Zapier, Integromat, and Workato.

Set up automated QR Code workflows with ease—no coding knowledge is required!

Receive automatic QR Code email reports, send out calendar invites and forms when users scan, map and funnel QR Code traffic on your CRM platform of choice, and much more. 

As you can see from the table below, Beaconstac takes the sweep here when compared to Flowcode.

Pricing and plans: Weigh your options based on affordability and payment flexibility.

Here we look at the pricing and plans that both Beaconstac and Flowcode offer:

Beaconstac offers 4 standard QR Code subscription plans that cater to different QR Code needs and requirements—Starter, Lite, Professional, and Plus. 

Flowcode on the other hand only provides two. While they do market their solution as a ‘QR Code generator that does not expire’, their unlimited scan plans come with a cap on the customization functionalities. 

For QR Code requirements at the enterprise level, both Beaconstac and Flowcode offer custom QR Code solutions tailored to each customer. 

So that’s about all that we wanted to cover in this Beaconstac vs Flowcode comparison post! As we had mentioned at the start of this article—we’ve simply laid out side-by-side feature comparisons for different QR Code needs. We hope that this guide will help you reach an informed decision about which QR Code solution you’d like to invest in.

If you’re convinced by our product and wish to give it a shot, you can either schedule a demo or sign up for a 14-day free trial, or even directly purchase Beaconstac. 

• Author Details

Author Details

Arpith Arun

Content marketer at Mobstac. When I am not writing, I mostly just play the guitar or watch MMA highlights. Connect with me on Linkedin!

https://www.beaconstac.com

[email protected]