Free Payment QR Code Reader
Scan or paste a payment QR code to see who gets paid and how much, and check it before you pay.
What is a Payment QR Code Reader?
This payment QR code reader decodes the codes on bills, invoices and shop counters and shows who gets paid, how much and with what reference. It reads SEPA EPC codes (GiroCode), Swiss QR-bills, EMV merchant codes such as PIX, PayNow and PromptPay, and UPI links from India.
Each code is checked against its standard before you pay: IBANs and creditor references by their check digits, Swiss QR references by their mod-10 digit, and EMV codes by their CRC, which changes if anyone alters the amount or the account. Scan a picture of the code or paste the text a scanner app reads out.
Key Features
Six Payment Schemes
EPC, Swiss QR-bill, PIX, PayNow, PromptPay and UPI.
Who and How Much
Beneficiary, account, amount, currency and reference.
Check Digits
IBAN, RF reference and QR reference verified.
Tamper Check
EMV codes’ CRC recalculated over the contents.
Scan From a Picture
Open a photo or screenshot of the code.
Perfect for everyone
- People paying bills
- Small businesses
- Accountants and developers building payment features
How to Use the Payment QR Code Reader
Open a photo or screenshot of the QR code, or paste the text from a scanner app. The fields and checks appear at once, so you can confirm the name, account and amount before your banking app makes the payment.
Scan or Paste
Open a picture of the code, or paste its text.
Read the Fields
Who gets paid, how much and with what reference.
Run the Check
Check digits, CRC and format rules.
Pay With Confidence
Compare with the bill before you approve.
Codes, Decoded
Each row is a payment code of the kind printed on European bills, Swiss invoices and shop counters in Brazil, Singapore and India, including a few that have been tampered with. Each answer is this tool’s fields, check or JSON.
“BCD 002 1 SCT COBADEFFXXX Stadtbibliothek Freunde e.V. DE89370400440532013000 EUR25.00 CHAR Membership 2026”
“BCD 002 1 SCT Stadtwerke Musterstadt DE89370400440532013000 EUR84.50 RF18539007547034”
“SPC 0200 1 CH4431999123000889012 S Velo Werkstatt Bern GmbH Bahnhofstrasse 12 3011 Bern CH 1949.75 CHF S Anna Keller Seeweg 4 8001 Zürich CH QRR 210000000003139471430009017 Invoice 2026-118, bicycle service EPD”
“00020101021226580014br.gov.bcb.pix0136123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000520458125303986540515.905802BR5915PADARIA ESTRELA6009SAO PAULO62130509PEDIDO12363048FA0”
“00020101021126370009SG.PAYNOW010120210201403121W030115204000053037025802SG5911KOPI CORNER6009SINGAPORE6304D059”
“upi://pay?pa=chaicorner@okaxis&pn=Chai%20Corner&am=40.00&cu=INR&tn=Masala%20chai”
“BCD 002 1 SCT COBADEFFXXX Stadtbibliothek Freunde e.V. DE88370400440532013000 EUR25.00 CHAR Membership 2026”
“00020101021226580014br.gov.bcb.pix0136123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000520458125303986540519.905802BR5915PADARIA ESTRELA6009SAO PAULO62130509PEDIDO12363048FA0”
“BCD 002 1 SCT COBADEFFXXX Stadtbibliothek Freunde e.V. DE89370400440532013000 GBP25.00 CHAR Membership 2026”
“https://pay.example.com/invoice/123”
Payment QR Standards
Payment codes look alike as squares of dots, but each country or region has its own standard for what the text inside says. These are the ones this reader recognises from their first characters.
EPC QR (GiroCode)
SEPA credit transfers in euros, starting BCD, at most 331 bytes.
“Which currency does it allow?”
Swiss QR-bill
The payment part of Swiss invoices, starting SPC.
“What did it replace?”
PIX
Brazil’s instant payments, in the EMV merchant format.
“Who runs PIX?”
PayNow
Singapore’s instant transfers to a phone number or business UEN.
“What is a UEN?”
PromptPay
Thailand’s instant transfers to a phone or ID number.
“Which format does it use?”
UPI
India’s Unified Payments Interface, as a upi://pay link.
“What does pa hold?”
How the Checks Work
Payment codes carry check digits so that a single wrong character is caught before money moves. These are the calculations this reader repeats, and none of them needs to contact a bank.
IBAN
The first four characters move to the end, letters become numbers, and the result divided by 97 leaves 1.
RF Creditor Reference
The same mod-97 rule, used by EPC codes and Swiss SCOR references.
Swiss QR Reference
26 digits and a final check digit worked out with a recursive mod-10 table.
EMV CRC
A 16-bit checksum over the whole code; changing any character changes it.
Inside an EMV Merchant Code
PIX, PayNow, PromptPay and dozens of other national schemes share one layout from EMVCo, the card industry body. The code is a run of fields, each a two-digit ID, a two-digit length and the value, which is why the reader can show them all the same way.
00 and 01
The format version, always 01, then 11 for a static code or 12 for a one-off dynamic code.
26 to 51
The payment network’s own details, such as a PIX key or a PayNow proxy.
52, 53 and 54
The merchant category code, the currency as an ISO number, and the amount.
58, 59 and 60
The country, the merchant’s name and its city.
62 and 63
Extra data such as an order reference, then the CRC that seals the code.
Paying Safely From a QR Code
QR codes make paying quick, which is also what makes a swapped or doctored code tempting to fraudsters. A few seconds of checking before you approve the payment is the best protection.
Compare the Name
Make sure the beneficiary matches the company on the bill.
Check the Amount
A code without an amount lets you type it; confirm the figure.
Watch for Stickers
A code stuck over another on a poster or meter is a red flag.
Trust the CRC
A CRC mismatch means the code was edited after it was made.
Use Your Bank App
This reader explains codes; pay through your bank as usual.
Swiss Reference Types
Every QR-bill states how the payment is matched to the invoice, and the account type has to fit. The check makes sure the IBAN and reference type belong together, because banks reject codes where they don’t.
QRR
A 27-digit QR reference with a check digit, used only with a QR-IBAN.
SCOR
An international RF creditor reference, used with an ordinary IBAN.
NON
No reference at all; the message line explains the payment instead.
Who Reads Payment Codes
Anyone who needs to know what a payment code says without opening a banking app or paying it. Reading a code is harmless; only a payment app can move money.
Bill Payers
Confirm a bill’s code before paying it.
Accountants
Copy IBANs and references from supplier invoices.
Shop Owners
Check the code at the till pays your account.
Developers
Debug codes a payment feature generates.
Fraud Checks
Inspect a suspicious code without scanning it in a bank app.
Payment Code Pitfalls
The faults that stop a code from scanning in a banking app, or send money somewhere unexpected. Most come from generating codes by hand or editing them after they were made.
Wrong Currency
EPC codes in anything but euros are rejected by banks.
QR-IBAN Mix-Ups
Swiss QR references need a QR-IBAN, and the reverse.
Edited Payloads
Changing an EMV amount by hand breaks its CRC.
Long Messages
EPC messages over 140 characters are cut or rejected.
Spaces in IBANs
Codes should carry the IBAN without spaces.