The $19 SaaS: How I built a QR code service with Next.js and Supabase that doesn't need subscriptions

Most QR code services charge $60-100/year. I thought I could build one that charges once. Here's how. The problem I was helping someone set up QR codes for a restaurant menu. They needed dynamic codes — the kind where you can change the destination URL after printing. Every service that offers this charges monthly. That seemed wrong. A dynamic QR code is just a redirect with a database row behind it. The infrastructure cost is basically zero. Why does that need a subscription? So I built HonestQR — $19 one-time for dynamic QR codes with scan tracking. Here's the technical rundown of how it works and what I'd do differently. The stack Next.js (App Router) on Vercel Supabase for auth, database, and row-level security Stripe for one-time payments PostHog for product analytics Nothing exotic. I wanted to ship fast, not build infrastructure. How dynamic QR codes actually work A dynamic QR code is really just two things: A static QR code that points to a short URL on your domain (e.g., hones