How to get a real UPC barcode
This is the most misunderstood thing in barcoding, and getting it wrong is expensive, because you find out after the packaging is printed.
The short answer
A UPC barcode is two separate things wearing one name. There is the number, a GTIN registered to your company through GS1, and there is the image, the pattern of bars that encodes it. Free tools, including this one, give you the image. Only GS1 can give you the number.
A UPC image drawn from a number you made up will scan perfectly. It will also be rejected by retailers and marketplaces, because they check the number against the GS1 registry and expect it to resolve to you.
Do you need a registered number?
One question. The full explanation is below either way.
Where will this barcode be scanned?
Image versus number
Put concretely: type twelve digits into any barcode generator and you get a valid UPC-A symbol. The check digit will be right, the bars will be correctly proportioned, and a scanner in a shop will read it and return your twelve digits. None of that makes the number yours.
Retailers and online marketplaces verify that a GTIN is registered to the company selling the product. An unregistered number either resolves to nobody, which fails validation, or worse, collides with a real product already using it, which is how a listing ends up attached to somebody else's item.
So the honest version of what a free generator does: it is a drawing tool. It is the right tool once you have a number, and the wrong tool for getting one.
What registration actually involves
GTINs are issued by GS1, the standards body that administers the system worldwide, through national member organisations. The general shape of the process is the same everywhere:
- Apply to the GS1 member organisation for your country.
- Receive either a company prefix, which lets you create many numbers yourself, or a small block of individual numbers if you only need a few.
- Assign a GTIN to each distinct product, where distinct means each size, colour and pack configuration separately.
- Register the product details against the number so it resolves correctly when a retailer checks it.
- Generate and print the barcode image, which is where the UPC-A generator comes in.
Fees vary by country and by how many numbers you need, and they change, so check your national GS1 organisation directly for current pricing rather than trusting a figure quoted on a blog. We have deliberately not put a number here for that reason.
A word on cheap UPCs sold online
You will find sellers offering UPC numbers for a few dollars each, often described as transferable or grandfathered from older allocations. Be careful here. Numbers bought this way are typically registered to the original prefix holder, not to you, which is exactly the check that marketplaces run. GS1 advises obtaining numbers directly, and several large marketplaces have tightened verification specifically because of resold numbers.
This site takes no position on any individual reseller and earns nothing either way. The point is only that a number which scans is not the same as a number that will be accepted, and the difference surfaces after you have printed.
When you do not need a registered number at all
Most barcode use is internal, and internal use has no registration requirement whatsoever. If the only scanners that will ever read the code belong to you, the number only has to be unique within your own system.
That covers warehouse bin and shelf labels, asset tags on equipment and tools, internal SKU labels, work-in-progress tracking, and anything a third-party logistics provider asks you to barcode purely so their scanners can identify a carton. For all of these, Code 128 is normally the better choice anyway, because it accepts letters as well as digits and packs them more compactly than a UPC ever could.
The rule of thumb: a code crossing a retail till needs a registered GTIN. A code that never leaves your own operation does not.
Sources
Every specification figure on this page traces to one of the following. Nothing is stated here that could not be checked against them.
- GS1 General Specifications, the distinction between the barcode symbol and the registered identification number
- GS1, GTIN registration through national member organisations
Last reviewed 6 September 2026
This page is written and maintained by Cedrick Reese at Ready Utilities. It describes the GTIN registration process at the level GS1 itself publishes, and deliberately omits fee figures because GS1 pricing is set per country and revised over time, so a number quoted here would go stale without warning. For current pricing and application steps, go to your national GS1 member organisation directly. The distinction between the barcode symbol and the registered identification number reflects the GS1 General Specifications. This page is reviewed whenever GS1 revises the relevant guidance, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by GS1.
Common questions
Can I get a UPC for free?
You can generate a UPC-A barcode image for free, including on this site. You cannot get a GS1-registered GTIN for free. Registration is handled by GS1 and carries a fee, and retailers check that the number is registered to your company.
Can I generate a UPC code online?
You can generate the barcode image online in seconds. What you cannot generate is the underlying number. A UPC image drawn from a number you invented will scan, but it is not registered to you and retailers will reject it.
How much does a UPC barcode cost?
The image costs nothing. The registered number is priced by GS1 and varies by country and by how many numbers you need, so check your national GS1 member organisation for current pricing rather than relying on a figure quoted elsewhere.
What is the difference between a UPC and a GTIN?
GTIN is the general term for the identification number. UPC-A is one barcode symbol that carries a 12-digit GTIN, and EAN-13 is another that carries a 13-digit one. The number is the identity, the barcode is just how it is printed.