QR codes for a multilingual exhibit set
QR codes for a multilingual exhibit set
- Open source
- No sign-up
- No watermark
- Free API + MCP
- In the MCP registry
What extra free accounts actually cost you
Signing up again each time the free allowance runs out feels like the path of least resistance in the moment. What it actually buys is a pile of separate logins nobody wrote down anywhere, a scan count for "Exhibit 03 - EN" sitting in one dashboard and "Exhibit 03 - IT" sitting in another with no way to view them side by side, and a real institutional risk: if the colleague who created account two or three leaves, whoever inherits the project may not have the password, and eight or seventeen printed labels quietly become unrepointable.
| Factor | Extra free accounts | One Pro account (£9/month) |
|---|---|---|
| Setup effort | Sign up again each time the cap is hit | One sign-up, one paste of the full 26-row list |
| Who can edit a code | Whoever remembers which account owns it | Anyone with the one shared login |
| Comparing EN vs IT engagement | Not possible; scans are split across dashboards | One dashboard, every exhibit, every language |
| Continuity if staff change | A leaver can take a working login with them | The account belongs to the institution, not a person |
The exact cross-product, spelled out
Thirteen exhibits times two languages is twenty-six codes, and the cross-product is genuinely just this table, continued to Exhibit 13. Build it once and every future language is one more column, not a rethink.
| Exhibit | Language | Destination | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | EN | https://example.org/collection/roman-coins | Exhibit 01 - EN |
| 01 | IT | https://example.org/collection/roman-coins-it | Exhibit 01 - IT |
| 02 | EN | https://example.org/collection/iron-age-torc | Exhibit 02 - EN |
| 02 | IT | https://example.org/collection/iron-age-torc-it | Exhibit 02 - IT |
| … | … | … continuing to Exhibit 13 | … |
Building the label with a formula, not by hand
Typing twenty-six labels by hand is exactly how the three-account problem starts: it's slow enough that hitting the free cap partway through feels like a reason to open another account rather than finish the list first. A single spreadsheet formula avoids the retyping entirely. With the exhibit number in column A and the language code in column B, a label column of ="Exhibit "&TEXT(A2,"00")&" - "&B2 produces "Exhibit 01 - EN" and copies down all twenty-six rows in seconds.
A2: 01 B2: EN
C2: ="Exhibit "&TEXT(A2,"00")&" - "&B2 → "Exhibit 01 - EN"The label is also the exported filename
The bulk generator's label field becomes the downloaded file's name, so a consistent "Exhibit 03 - IT" label sorts the print handoff folder for you: no separate renaming pass, and the print house sees twenty-six files already in floor order.
Which language pairs to prioritise
A second language shouldn't be guessed. If the museum already tracks visitor origin, whether from a booking system, a school-visit register, or simply the country split in existing scan analytics, that tells you which language earns its place first. Add a third language only once the first two are proven by actual scans, rather than interpreting on spec for a language nobody who visits reads.
Twenty-six codes is a full multilingual collection and, at one free dynamic code per account, is comfortably past the free allowance no matter how it's split. One Pro account at £9/month covers the whole set, with room to add a third language or a fourteenth exhibit without opening yet another account.