> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.qrtub.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Choosing Media for Your Deployment

> General industry reference comparing stickers, plaques, signs, large format and NFC by cost, lifespan and use case — guidance, not data QRtub stores

Pick the material by the environment and the time the code needs to survive, then check the budget — not the other way around. A sticker that fails in eighteen months on a machine you expected to keep for ten years costs far more to replace than the plaque you skipped, because replacing it means a site visit, not a print job.

Everything on this page is general industry reference to help you brief a supplier. **QRtub does not store any of it.** There is no field for material, cost or durability against an individual code — see [What Is Media?](/media/what-is-media) for what is and isn't recorded.

## Common Media types

| Type                                | Typical cost each | Typical lifespan                                      | Where it fits                                                                                                            |
| ----------------------------------- | ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Vinyl stickers**                  | $0.50 – $5        | 1–3 years indoors, 3–5 years weatherproof outdoors    | General equipment, short-to-medium deployments. 2×2" to 6×6" are the common sizes                                        |
| **Metal plaques**                   | $20 – $100        | 10+ years                                             | Permanent installations, high-value equipment. Stainless steel or aluminum, engraved or photo-anodized                   |
| **Rigid signs**                     | $50 – $500        | 5–15 years                                            | Facility signage, wayfinding, fixed locations. Aluminum, acrylic, PVC, coroplast                                         |
| **Real-estate and yard signs**      | $50 – $300        | 6 months – 2 years                                    | Property listings, directional signs. 18×24" to 24×36" are common                                                        |
| **Billboards and large format**     | $500 – $5,000+    | 6 months – 3 years, depending on material and weather | Campaigns, public information                                                                                            |
| **Printed ads, postcards, inserts** | $0.10 – $2        | Single use                                            | Direct mail, publications, campaigns                                                                                     |
| **NFC inlays and chips**            | $1 – $10          | 5–10 years                                            | Products, tap-to-scan installations. Can encode the same Link as the printed code, so both routes lead to the same place |

Costs vary enormously by quantity, region and finish. Treat the columns above as an order of magnitude for scoping, not a quote.

## Choose by environment

* **Indoors, clean** — standard vinyl.
* **Outdoors, weather** — UV-resistant weatherproof vinyl, or metal.
* **Harsh: salt water, constant wash-down, abrasion, chemicals, heat** — engraved or photo-anodized metal. A boat or a wash bay is a different specification from a generator sitting in a yard.
* **Embedded in or attached to a product** — a sticker or an NFC inlay, depending on whether the code needs to be visible.

## Choose by how long it has to last

* **Under a year** — vinyl stickers, printed material.
* **One to five years** — weatherproof vinyl, rigid signs.
* **Ten years and up** — metal plaques, engraved signs. Anything expected to outlive the software it currently points at belongs here, since the Link is what stays fixed and the destination is what changes.

## Choose by what it goes on

* **Equipment and plant** — stickers for consumables and light gear, metal plaques for anything with a service life.
* **Facilities and rooms** — rigid signs and plaques.
* **Marketing** — large format, printed ads, postcards.
* **Products** — stickers, NFC inlays.

## Mixing grades in one deployment

You can run several different materials against a single numbering scheme. The tag only carries a URL, so what it is made of is a separate decision from what it points to: the plaques on your fixed plant and the stickers on your hand tools can be consecutive numbers in the same range, produced by different suppliers, in different runs, and still resolve through the same Collection with the same destination template.

That is worth planning for before the first order, because it means you do not have to decide the material for every future item now — only for the items you are printing now.

## Related

* [What Is Media?](/media/what-is-media) — Media as an entity, and what QRtub records about it
* [Tips for Print-First Deployments](/print-first/tips) — practical advice on numbering, spares and readable text
* [Choosing Your Print Production Method](/print-shop/choosing-a-method) — which of the two production flows your chosen material needs
* [Gang Sheets and Composite-Sheet Production](/print-shop/gang-sheets) — why the durable materials above are produced differently