free tool · ean-13 barcode generator · nothing leaves your browser
EAN-13 barcode generator
For products sold in shops and on marketplaces.
EAN-13 is the 13-digit barcode on retail packs. Type the first 12 digits of a number issued to your company by GS1 India, and the generator adds the check digit and draws the barcode for your pack artwork or labels. It also makes UPC-A for buyers in the US and Canada, and ITF-14 for outer cartons. Free, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
Type 12 digits and the check digit is added for you. For products sold in shops, use only numbers issued to your company by GS1 India.
Printing opens your browser's print window. Choose your label printer, or “Save as PDF” to get a PDF of the labels. Set the scale to 100% (“actual size”), and print one sheet on plain paper first to check it lines up.
loading the generator…
start with your gs1 numbers
Start with your GS1 numbers
The barcode is only a picture of a number. What retailers and marketplaces care about is the number: it has to be registered to your company with GS1, so their systems can match it to your product.
Register with GS1 India. You get a company prefix and create a number (GTIN) for each product from it. Our guide to GS1 barcode registration in India covers when you need it, the steps and the documents.
One number for each variant. Every size, flavour, colour and pack quantity needs its own GTIN.
Don't buy numbers from resellers. Those numbers are registered to another company, and many buyers check.
The samples aren't real. The generator's sample numbers start with 200, a range GS1 keeps for in-store use, so they don't belong to any company's product.
what the 13 digits mean
What the 13 digits of an EAN-13 mean
- Company prefix
- The first digits, issued to your company by GS1. Numbers issued in India start with 890
- Product reference
- The next digits, which you assign to each of your products from your block
- Check digit
- The last digit, calculated from the other twelve. The generator adds it
- Country
- 890 shows where the number was issued, not where the product was made
- Scanners
- Every retail scanner, everywhere, and phone apps
upc or ean in india
UPC or EAN in India?
UPC-A is the 12-digit barcode used mainly in the US and Canada. EAN-13 is the 13-digit version used in India and most other countries. They're the same family: a UPC-A number is an EAN-13 number with a 0 in front, so scanners everywhere read both.
| EAN-13 | UPC-A | |
|---|---|---|
| Digits | 13 | 12 |
| Used mainly in | India and most of the world | The US and Canada |
| Numbers issued by | GS1 India, for Indian companies | GS1 US |
| You need it when | You sell in shops or on marketplaces, in India or abroad | A buyer in the US or Canada asks for a 12-digit UPC |
If a form asks for a “UPC”, check its options first: many accept any GTIN, including an EAN-13 from GS1 India. If a buyer insists on UPC-A, choose UPC-A in the generator's list and type the first 11 digits.
itf-14 for outer cartons
Outer cartons: ITF-14
A carton of 12 or 24 packs needs its own number too: a 14-digit GTIN made from the pack's number with a packaging digit in front and a new check digit at the end. On corrugated cartons it's usually printed as ITF-14, a barcode with wide bars that print cleanly on rough board.
Choose ITF-14 in the generator and type the first 13 digits. If a buyer wants batch numbers or dates on the carton label as well, they'll usually ask for GS1-128 instead. Ask for their label specification rather than guessing.
barcodes that scan at the counter
Print it so it scans at the counter
Keep the white margins. EAN-13 needs a blank margin of 11 bar widths on the left and 7 on the right. Don't let pack graphics or a label edge touch them.
Don't cut the height. Trimming the bars to fit a pack design is a common reason codes fail at the billing counter.
Follow GS1's size. GS1 sets a standard size and limits how far you can scale it. GS1 India's guidelines give the figures; ask your packaging vendor to follow them.
Dark bars on a light background. Black on white is safest. Red bars and dark or shiny backgrounds cause most failures.
Scan the proof. Ask for a printed proof and scan it before the full print run.
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questions — and what the scan connects to
The barcode gets you on the shelf.
Keeping the shelf full is the harder part. Retail orders bring their own scatter: purchase orders in email, delivery schedules on WhatsApp, stock and dispatch in Excel, and a buyer's portal on top.
We build custom systems for small and medium manufacturers that bring it into one place, from enquiry to dispatch, and your team uses them through Youno, a work chat app as simple as WhatsApp.
Book a callCan I make an EAN-13 barcode for free?
Drawing the barcode is free here. The number inside it isn't something you can make up: for products sold in shops and on marketplaces, it must be issued to your company by GS1 India.
Can I use my own 13-digit number?
Not on a product that someone else's system will scan. A made-up number can belong to another company's product, and retailers and marketplaces check numbers against GS1's records. Your own numbers are fine on internal labels, in Code 128.
Why do Indian barcodes start with 890?
890 is the prefix GS1 India issues company numbers from. It shows where the number was issued, not where the product was made.
Do I need a UPC barcode to sell online?
Usually not in India. Many marketplace forms list UPC, EAN and GTIN as options, and an EAN-13 from GS1 India is a valid GTIN. Check the options on the form, and ask before you buy a separate UPC number.
What's the check digit?
The last digit, calculated from the other twelve, so a scanner can tell when it has misread the code. Type the first 12 digits and the generator adds it. If you type all 13, it checks yours.
Can I make many EAN-13 barcodes at once?
Yes. Switch to “Many labels” and paste your list of GTINs from Excel, with the product name in a second column if you want it printed on the label. Then print them, or download every code in one ZIP.