QR Code Data Residency in Canada

EZQR is a Canadian-hosted QR code generator. Your account, QR codes, scan analytics, and uploaded files are stored on a server in Toronto, Ontario, by a business registered in British Columbia - and the ezqr.ca domain is registered through 2035 so the codes you print keep working.

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Where EZQR Stores Your Data

EZQR is hosted in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Everything the service stores about you - your account, your dynamic QR codes and the links they open, per-scan analytics, and any PDF, menu, or logo you upload - lives on that Toronto server. The business behind it is registered in British Columbia and run by one named Canadian. If a vendor review asks "where is the data?", the answer is one word: Toronto.

What	Where it is stored
Account details (name, email, plan)	Toronto, Ontario
Dynamic QR codes and their destinations	Toronto, Ontario
Static QR codes saved to a paid plan's library	Toronto, Ontario
Scan analytics (count, time, device, approximate location)	Toronto, Ontario
Uploaded files (PDFs, menus, logos)	Toronto, Ontario
Login and identity records	Toronto, Ontario (self-hosted, same server)
Database backups	Toronto, Ontario (same server)
Payments	Stripe, a US company
Emails	Delivered through Brevo, a European company
Data transit	Fronted by Cloudflare, a US company

What Leaves Canada, and Why

Payments go to Stripe. Stripe handles the entire checkout, so your card number is never seen by EZQR's server at all. That is a deliberate trade: a PCI-DSS Level 1 processor holding card data is safer than a small Canadian server holding it.
Email is delivered by Brevo. Emails like login codes are delivered through Brevo, a European company.
Web data in transit goes through Cloudflare. EZQR is fronted by the Cloudflare CDN, a US company.

The servers that run EZQR are hosted in DigitalOcean's Toronto region. DigitalOcean is a US company.

Canadian Privacy Law Applies

EZQR is registered with BC Registries as EZQR, FM1005444, and its terms are governed by the laws of British Columbia. That means Canadian privacy law - BC's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and, where it applies, the federal PIPEDA - governs how EZQR handles personal information. There is no foreign parent company for a request to be routed through and no foreign jurisdiction whose law takes priority. The privacy policy sets out what is collected and why.

What EZQR does not claim is a third-party compliance certification. A one-person Canadian business is not going to hand you a SOC 2 report. What it can hand you is something a large vendor often cannot: a straight answer to where the data is, who can reach it, and what leaves the country - all of it on this page, all of it checkable.

Who Needs a Canadian-Hosted QR Code Generator

For a coffee shop's menu code, hosting location rarely matters. It starts to matter when the organization printing the code has a procurement or privacy policy that asks where vendor data is stored:

Government and municipalities

Federal, provincial, and municipal bodies routinely prefer or require Canadian data residency for vendor tools. See QR codes for government.

Healthcare

Health authorities, clinics, and pharmacies answer to provincial health privacy rules and tend to ask the residency question first. See QR codes for healthcare.

Education

School boards and post-secondary institutions vet ed-tech vendors for where student-facing data lives. See QR codes for education.

Law and financial services

Firms with client confidentiality obligations want to know which jurisdiction their vendor's data sits in. See law firms and financial services.

Canadian nonprofits

Registered charities get five years of sponsored dynamic QR codes, hosted in Canada. See free QR codes for Canadian nonprofits.

Anyone choosing Canadian

If you would rather your subscription dollars and your data stay in Canada, that is reason enough. See the Canadian QR code generator page.

Built to Outlast the Print Run

A printed QR code can easily outlive a software subscription, so a QR code generator's longevity is part of its data story. A dynamic code on a sign, a menu, or a product label only works as long as the domain it was printed with still resolves and the business behind it still exists. EZQR is set up so both stay true:

The ezqr.ca domain is registered through October 2035. The .ca registry allows registrations up to ten years ahead, and EZQR keeps its renewal pinned near that maximum, topping it up as time passes. Look it up with any .ca WHOIS service - the expiry date is public.
Static QR codes never depend on EZQR. The destination is encoded in the pattern itself, so every static code made here keeps working even if ezqr.ca went dark tomorrow.
A 99.95% uptime SLA, measured in public. Dynamic QR code scans are covered by a service level agreement backed by an independent monitor whose history anyone can check at uptime.ezqr.ca.
Priced to run on a handful of subscribers. EZQR has no outside funding to run out of and no growth targets to miss. Efficient servers in Toronto and a few dynamic-code plans keep it self-sufficient.
A registered business, founded 2022. Registered with BC Registries as FM1005444 and operating on the same .ca domain since October 2022. Not a side project that might be abandoned - a small business with its records on the public register.

Data Residency FAQ

Is EZQR hosted in Canada?

Yes. EZQR runs on a cloud server in Toronto, Ontario. Your account, your QR codes and their destinations, scan analytics, uploaded files, and the login database are all stored on that server, in Canada. The business itself is registered in British Columbia.

Where is my QR code data stored?

In Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Everything EZQR stores about you - account details, dynamic QR codes and the links they point to, per-scan analytics, and any PDFs, menus, or logos you upload - lives in a database and file store on a server in Toronto. Database backups are taken on that same server.

Does any of my data leave Canada?

Emails are sent through Brevo, a European company. Payments are performed through Stripe, a US company. The site is fronted through Cloudflare, a US company.

Is EZQR PIPEDA compliant?

EZQR is a Canadian business registered in British Columbia, so Canadian privacy law - BC's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and, where it applies, the federal PIPEDA - governs how it handles personal information. EZQR does not hold a third-party compliance certification; what it can show you is where the data is (Toronto), who can access it (one named person in BC), and what leaves the country (payments, email delivery, data transit through Cloudflare). If your organization needs a specific attestation for a vendor review, email [email protected] and ask.

Do I need a Canadian-hosted QR code generator for government, healthcare, or education?

Often it is a policy preference rather than a hard legal requirement, but many Canadian public bodies, health organizations, school boards, and post-secondary institutions have procurement rules that favour or require data to be stored in Canada. Most well-known QR code generators are US or European companies hosted outside Canada, which is where they fall down in a vendor review. EZQR is Canadian-owned and Canadian-hosted, so the "where is the data" question has a one-word answer: Toronto.

What happens to my QR codes if EZQR shuts down?

Static QR codes keep working forever no matter what - the destination is encoded in the pattern itself, so they never depend on EZQR being online. Dynamic QR codes do depend on the service, which is why they are covered by a 99.95% uptime SLA and why EZQR is built to be around: the ezqr.ca domain is registered through October 2035 and is kept renewed roughly ten years ahead, the business is registered with BC Registries, and the whole thing is priced to run indefinitely on a handful of subscribers rather than on outside funding that could run out.

Why is the ezqr.ca domain registered until 2035?

Because a printed QR code can outlive most software subscriptions. A dynamic code on a sign, a menu, or a product label only works as long as the domain it was printed with still resolves, so EZQR keeps ezqr.ca registered as far ahead as the .ca registry allows - about ten years - and tops it back up as time passes. You can confirm the expiry date yourself with any .ca WHOIS lookup rather than taking this page's word for it.

Who can access my data at EZQR?

One person: Sean Wilson, who builds and runs EZQR from British Columbia. There is no offshore support team, no outsourced ticket queue, and no parent company with access to the database. Support email goes to him directly.

Canadian-Owned, Canadian-Hosted, Built to Last

Static QR codes are free forever. Dynamic QR codes are stored in Toronto and billed in CAD.

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