Ever sent an invoice with a QR code only to hear "it doesn't scan" from your client? Here's the painful truth: QR codes for payments aren't universal. What works in Bratislava might be useless in Brno — and vice versa.
The Great QR Divide
If you're doing business across Central Europe — freelancing for clients in multiple countries, or running an agency with customers across borders — you've likely run into this problem. Your Slovak clients scan happily with their banking apps. Your Czech clients stare at their phones confused. Your German clients... well, they might as well be looking at hieroglyphics.
The issue? Three different QR payment standards exist in our region, and none of them are compatible. Banking apps are programmed to recognize specific formats, and anything else just looks like gibberish.
Pay by Square (Slovakia)
This is Slovakia's gold standard. Officially approved by the Slovak Banking Association, Pay by Square (or simply "Pay by square" as it's often written) is what every major Slovak bank expects. VUB, Slovenská sporiteľňa, Tatra banka, ČSOB, OTP — they all support this format natively.
What makes Pay by Square special?
- Uses LZMA compression for compact encoding
- Base32hex format for readability
- CRC32 checksum for data integrity
- Contains IBAN, amount, currency, variable/constant/specific symbols, due date, and payment note
Important: The simplified string format you might see elsewhere (like "SPD*1.0*...") isn't officially compliant. Full Pay by Square specification ensures compatibility with ALL Slovak banking apps — not just some of them.
QR Platba (Czech Republic)
Cross the border into Czech Republic, and suddenly Pay by Square doesn't work. Czech banks developed their own standard called QR Platba. It's simpler — no compression, just a straightforward asterisk-separated format.
Why Czech apps won't scan Slovak codes
- Different format specification (SPD*1.0 vs compressed XML)
- Banks in CZ simply don't recognize the SK format
- Same goes the other way — SK banks ignore CZ codes
Air Bank, mBank, Equa bank, Moneta, Fio — they all support QR Platba. But give them a Pay by Square code, and you'll get that dreaded "unrecognized code" error message.
EPC069-12 (European Union)
What if your client is in Germany, Austria, or Belgium? Neither Pay by Square nor QR Platba will help. Enter EPC069-12 — the European Payments Council's SEPA credit transfer standard.
This one's interesting because it's an international standard, but paradoxically, Slovak and Czech banks often ignore it in favor of their domestic formats. However, for clients in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) or other EU countries, EPC is your best bet.
The EPC Paradox
Even though EPC is the European standard, many local banking apps prioritize their domestic QR codes. EPC works reliably with German, Austrian, Belgian, Dutch, and Finnish banking apps — but don't count on it working in Slovakia or Czech Republic.
The Solution? Fakturky.top Handles All Three
Here's where most online invoicing services fall short. They pick ONE format and stick with it. Slovak clients? Great. Czech clients? Too bad. German clients? Forget it.
Fakturky.top is different. Because we're built specifically for the Central European market, we support all three QR code standards:
| Standard | Primary Market | Fakturky Support |
|---|---|---|
| Pay by Square | Slovakia (100% bank support) | ✓ |
| QR Platba | Czech Republic | ✓ |
| EPC069-12 | EU (Germany, Austria, Belgium, etc.) | ✓ |
Automatic QR Selection
Here's the cool part: you don't need to manually switch between QR code types every time you create an invoice. Fakturky.top can automatically select the appropriate QR standard based on:
- Company locale setting — Set your company to SK for Slovak, CZ for Czech
- Client country — Fakturky can detect where your client is based
- Manual override — Want a specific code type? Override it in settings
This means invoice #1001 for a Slovak client gets Pay by Square, invoice #1002 for a Czech client gets QR Platba, and invoice #1003 for a German partner gets EPC — all without you lifting a finger.
Smart Template Tags
If you use custom DOCX templates (which you absolutely should for branded invoices), Fakturky makes QR codes dead simple with template tags:
[QR_CODE_SK]
[QR_CODE_CZ]
[QR_CODE_EU] Place the right tag in your template, and Fakturky automatically renders the correct QR code with the official branded frame. Pay by Square gets the green Slovak frame, QR Platba gets its distinctive Czech design, EPC gets a clean European payment frame.
Privacy Bonus: QR Generation Happens Offline
This is huge for privacy-conscious freelancers. When you generate a QR code in Fakturky.top, nothing leaves your computer.
You click "Generate PDF"
Fakturky reads your IBAN, amount, and symbols from local database
Local library creates QR code image
QR code gets embedded in PDF
No server involved. No data uploaded. No risk of your payment information being exposed. The entire QR generation process happens inside your computer, using open-source libraries and your own data.
Ready to Get Paid Faster?
QR codes that actually work across borders. Automatic selection based on client location. Privacy-first offline generation. That's what Fakturky.top delivers.
Stop sending invoices that don't scan. Stop explaining payment details to confused clients. Start generating QR codes that just work — for Slovakia, Czech Republic, or anywhere in the EU.