All three let a chat turn "make me a QR code" or "give this a barcode" into a scannable image.
qrcode
(io.github.pipeworx-io/qrcode on the official registry) is one pack of a larger hosted
gateway, wrapping the free public api.qrserver.com service behind a remote MCP endpoint.
Barcode Generator API
(io.github.Br0ski777/barcode-generator) is a single hosted tool that draws EAN-13, UPC-A,
Code 128 and Code 39, paid per call in USDC over the x402 protocol, with no account or API key at all.
Ours draws QR codes, WiFi and vCard codes, SEPA payment codes and four barcode symbologies locally, with
no network call of any kind, and it is the only one of the three that validates an IBAN or a check digit
before drawing rather than just encoding whatever text or number it is given.
| Fact | Ours | qrcode (pipeworx) | Barcode Generator API |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tools | 10 (qr_create through license_activate) | create_qr, read_qr, plus roughly 30 shared Pipeworx gateway meta-tools listed on the same endpoint | One tool, utility_generate_barcode |
| Symbologies | QR, WiFi, vCard, SEPA payment (EPC069-12), Code 128, EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A | QR only (create and decode) | Code 128, Code 39, EAN-13, UPC-A; no QR |
| Account or key needed | No. No account, no key | No key for the pack itself, but every call also reaches the shared gateway's meta-tool set | No signup, no API key; pays per call in USDC on Base via x402 |
| Where the data lives | Local JSON register in ~/.local/share/mcp-servers/barcode/, nothing sent anywhere | Text or URL sent to Pipeworx's gateway, which calls api.qrserver.com on your behalf | Data sent to Br0ski777's hosted endpoint (klymax402.com) for every call |
| Payment code validation | IBAN checked with ISO 7064 mod 97 before drawing; check digit computed or verified on every barcode symbology | Not applicable; the tool only makes and reads plain QR images | Not applicable; no check-digit verification is documented, only generation from whatever data is given |
| Cost | Free tier, 20 codes a month; Pro $19 once, or $39 for the whole collection | Free (wraps a free public API); shares gateway usage with every other Pipeworx pack | $0.003 per barcode, pay-per-call via x402 USDC, no free tier |
| Licence | MIT | MIT | MIT |
| Works with no network | Yes | No, every tool is a hosted API call | No, every tool is a hosted, paid API call |
Pick it if a QR code is one of many things you want from a single always-on gateway connection: the
same Pipeworx endpoint that serves create_qr also answers unrelated questions through
ask_pipeworx, reaching over 1,476 other data sources without adding a second server. The
README states plainly that connecting to even one pack lists roughly 30 shared meta-tools alongside the
pack's own two, so the actual tool count on that connection is larger than the QR feature alone. It has
no SEPA payment code, no barcode symbologies and no read/write validation beyond decoding an existing
image.
Pick it if you want to pay per call with no account and no subscription at all: x402 handles the 402-sign-retry cycle automatically for an x402-aware client, at $0.003 a barcode, and there is genuinely nothing to sign up for. It covers the same four linear symbologies split between EAN-13/UPC-A on one side and Code 128/Code 39 on the other, drawn server-side and returned as base64 SVG. It has no QR support at all, and its own docs name the boundary explicitly: "Not for: QR codes."
Pick ours when the codes carry money or a real product identity and getting one wrong is expensive: a SEPA payment code that goes to the wrong account, or a barcode that scans as a different product because a check digit was silently corrected instead of refused. Neither competitor validates an IBAN or verifies a check digit; ours refuses a mismatched EAN-13 by name rather than redrawing it, and refuses a payment code whose IBAN fails the mod-97 check rather than encoding a typo as if it were an account number. It is also the only one of the three with no network call at all, so a client's own invoice details, WiFi password or IBAN never leaves the machine generating the code.
The barcode package's adversarial suite covers 25 probes: a wrong EAN-13 check digit, a non-EUR currency on a SEPA payment code, an IBAN with one digit changed, an out_path that is a directory, and two processes racing for the last few free slots in one month. That race caught a real defect before ship: 23 codes were drawn against a stated allowance of 20, fixed by making the count and the write one atomic step. Neither competitor's public material documents an adversarial test count of any kind.
Ours, Claude Code:
claude mcp add barcode -- npx -y @theluckystrike/mcp-barcodeqrcode (remote, no key):
claude mcp add-json qrcode '{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/qrcode/mcp"}'Barcode Generator API (remote, x402 client required to pay the per-call price):
claude mcp add-json barcode-generator '{"type":"http","url":"https://barcode-generator.api.klymax402.com/mcp"}'Exact config file paths per client are on the setup pages, and the longer walkthrough for the payment code specifically is in SEPA payment QR codes on invoices.
Yes. Tool names do not collide: ours are qr_create, barcode_create and so on; the other two expose their own hosted endpoints under their own names. Nothing is shared between them, and none of the three talks to another's data.
Only ours. qrcode makes plain QR images from text or a URL and has no payment format. Barcode Generator API has no QR support of any kind, only linear barcodes.
Ours has a free tier of 20 codes a month with every symbology available. qrcode's pack itself is free, since it wraps a free public API, though every call also reaches the shared Pipeworx gateway's meta-tool set. Barcode Generator API has no free tier at all: every call costs $0.003 in USDC.
Neither documents doing so. Ours refuses a full-length EAN-13, EAN-8 or UPC-A whose check digit is wrong, naming the correct one, rather than drawing the code the caller asked for and letting it scan as a different product.
qrcode's tools, gateway behaviour and meta-tool count come from its README at github.com/pipeworx-io/mcp-qrcode and its registry entry for io.github.pipeworx-io/qrcode. Barcode Generator API's tool, pricing and x402 details come from its README at github.com/Br0ski777/barcode-generator-x402 and its registry entry for io.github.Br0ski777/barcode-generator. Both read on 2026-09-04.