Research · Updated 12 November 2026

QR code statistics 2026

QR codes now start most payments in Brazil, sit on hundreds of millions of shop counters in India, and are the menu in many restaurants. They are also a fast-growing phishing trick. Every number below links to the report it comes from.

Key numbers

• 51%of Pix payments in Brazil in October 2026 were started by scanning a QR code: 3.77 billion of 7.37 billion. Dynamic codes (made for one sale) were 42.8% and static codes 8.4%. (Banco Central do Brasil, 2026)
• 885.5 millionUPI QR codes were in place in India at the end of September 2026, against 10.4 million card terminals: about 85 QR codes for every card machine. The RBI counts static UPI QR codes only. (Reserve Bank of India, 2026)
• 59%of US full-service restaurant customers say they would pull up the menu on their phone with a QR code. Fewer would use one to order (48%) or pay (46%). (National Restaurant Association, 2024)
• 66%of US consumers said they would scan a QR code on food packaging to see freshness, ingredients and shelf life (survey released June 2025). (GS1 US, 2025)
• +146%growth in QR code phishing seen by Microsoft in one quarter: 7.6 million attacks in January 2026 to 18.7 million in March 2026. (Microsoft Threat Intelligence, 2026)
• 1.7 millionunique malicious QR codes found by Mimecast in six months (October 2024 to March 2025), with an average of 2.7 million emails carrying QR codes every day. (APWG (data from Mimecast), 2025)

Payments

In Brazil and India, the QR code is how everyday payments start. These figures come from the two central banks.

• 51% of Pix payments in Brazil in October 2026 were started by scanning a QR code: 3.77 billion of 7.37 billion. Dynamic codes (made for one sale) were 42.8% and static codes 8.4%. Source: Banco Central do Brasil, “Estatísticas do Pix (open data)”, 2026.
• 885.5 million UPI QR codes were in place in India at the end of September 2026, against 10.4 million card terminals: about 85 QR codes for every card machine. The RBI counts static UPI QR codes only. Source: Reserve Bank of India, “Payment System Indicators, September 2026”, 2026.
• 24.07 billion UPI payments were made in India in September 2026 alone (all UPI payments, not only QR scans). Source: Reserve Bank of India, “Payment System Indicators, September 2026”, 2026.

Restaurants and menus

Diners will use a QR menu, but fewer want to order or pay with one, and age makes a big difference.

• 59% of US full-service restaurant customers say they would pull up the menu on their phone with a QR code. Fewer would use one to order (48%) or pay (46%). Source: National Restaurant Association, “Restaurant Technology Landscape Report 2024”, 2024.
• 78% vs 30% Millennials versus baby boomers who would use a QR code menu at a full-service restaurant. Source: National Restaurant Association, “Restaurant Technology Landscape Report 2024”, 2024.
• 57% of US limited-service (fast food, fast casual, coffee) customers would open the menu with a QR code; 52% would order and 48% would pay that way. Source: National Restaurant Association, “Restaurant Technology Landscape Report 2024”, 2024.

Adoption, packaging and marketing

Survey answers are what people say they would do. Platform numbers are what one company saw. Both are useful, and they don’t always agree.

• 66% of US consumers said they would scan a QR code on food packaging to see freshness, ingredients and shelf life (survey released June 2025). Source: GS1 US, “Survey finds consumers reviewing food labels more closely”, 2025.
• 58% of US consumers are confident QR codes are safe to scan, and 75% scan them for information (survey of 1,000 US consumers, October 2025; Uniqode sells QR codes). Source: Uniqode, “State of QR Codes 2026”, 2026.
• +42% rise in QR code scan rates in Europe from 2024 to 2025 on Bitly’s QR platform, against +40% in Latin America and +8% in North America. Source: Bitly, “The State of QR Code Scans in 2026”, 2026.
• −12.2% fall in dynamic-code scans on QRStuff in 2025 (88.2 million, down from a record 100.5 million in 2024). One platform’s data is not the whole market. Source: QRStuff, “16-Year QR Code Scan Trends: 2009–2025”, 2026.

Security: QR phishing ("quishing")

A QR code hides its link until you scan it, and email filters often can’t read the image. Criminals use that.

• +146% growth in QR code phishing seen by Microsoft in one quarter: 7.6 million attacks in January 2026 to 18.7 million in March 2026. Source: Microsoft Threat Intelligence, “Email threat landscape: Q1 2026 trends and insights”, 2026.
• 5× more phishing emails with malicious QR codes blocked by Kaspersky in November 2025 (249,723) than in August 2025 (46,969). Source: Kaspersky, “Fivefold surge in QR code phishing attacks in the second half of 2025”, 2026.
• 1.7 million unique malicious QR codes found by Mimecast in six months (October 2024 to March 2025), with an average of 2.7 million emails carrying QR codes every day. Source: APWG (data from Mimecast), “Phishing Activity Trends Report, Q1 2025”, 2025.
• 716,306 unique malicious QR codes found by Mimecast in Q3 2025 alone, up 13% from 635,672 in Q2. Source: APWG (data from Mimecast), “Phishing Activity Trends Report, Q3 2025”, 2025.
• 189,011 malicious QR codes were made with a single commercial QR generator. Criminals like generators whose codes can be pointed somewhere new after they are sent. Source: APWG (data from Mimecast), “Phishing Activity Trends Report, Q1 2025”, 2025.
• FBI warning Criminals mail unsolicited packages with a QR code that asks for personal and financial details or installs data-stealing software (public service announcement, July 2025). Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, “Unsolicited packages containing QR codes used to initiate fraud schemes”, 2025.

Before you trust a code, you can paste or upload it into our free QR safety check and see where it really goes.

Dynamic codes that stop working

A dynamic code is a short link owned by the company that made it. Some companies switch those links off when you stop paying. In their own words:

• Trial ends “The codes deactivate automatically when the trial period finishes.” And on lapsed plans: “If you stop paying, the links pause.” Source: QR Code Generator (Bitly), “Do QR codes expire?”, 2026.
• Cancel “Once your free trial expires, any dynamic QR Codes you created will become inactive.” And: “If you decide to cancel your subscription, your QR Codes will become inactive.” Source: Uniqode, “Pricing page FAQ”, 2026.

If a printed code has already stopped, our guide QR code stopped working? explains what to do. QRVow takes the other side of this: every QRVow code keeps redirecting forever, on every plan, even after you cancel.

How to cite this page

Please cite the original source next to each figure. If this page helped you find it, you can also cite:

QRVow. (2026). QR code statistics 2026. Updated 12 November 2026. https://www.qrvow.com/qr-code-statistics

We only list figures we could trace to the report itself and check. Numbers are re-checked every few months. Spotted a mistake or a newer source? Write to help@qrvow.com.

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