Free tools, tested

"Free" often comes with a catch: an account before the download, files sent to a server, trackers before you can say no, or a QR code that stops working when a trial ends. We run the same job on the most visited free tools and write down what each one did, with the date.

• We tested 15 free QR code generators

  Tested on 15 October 2026

  3 of 15 gave us a code that holds the address itself and let us download it without an account: TEC-IT QR Code Generator, goQR.me and QRCode Monkey.

  Read the results

• We tested 10 free PDF compare tools

  Tested on 15 October 2026

  4 of 10 compared our two contracts without uploading them: PDF24 Tools, Xodo PDF Compare, iLovePDF and Diffchecker.

  Read the results