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

# How scans are counted

> What counts as one scan when a QR Code has a password, age, lead, form, or location gate — and how the data collected through a gate relates to that scan.

A scan is recorded the moment someone opens your QR Code's page or short link — once per visit, regardless of what happens after that. This page explains how that holds true when a QR Code also has a password, age restriction, lead form, linked form, or GPS location gate turned on.

## One scan per visit, gate or no gate

Opening a QR Code that has no gates at all records exactly one scan. A QR Code with one or more gates configured works the same way: the scan is recorded as soon as the gate is shown, and that single scan carries through to whatever the visitor does next.

This means:

* **A gate that's never completed still counts as a scan.** If a visitor sees your password prompt, age check, or lead form and closes the tab without finishing it, that's still one real scan of your QR Code — the same way it would be if there were no gate at all.
* **Multiple gates on one QR Code don't multiply the count.** A QR Code with, say, both an age restriction and a lead form shows both gates in sequence, but the whole sequence — from the first gate to the final page — is one visit, one scan.
* **Data collected through a gate belongs to that same scan.** An age gate's date-of-birth answer, a GPS location gate's coordinates, and a linked form or lead capture's responses are all recorded against the visit that triggered them — they show up together in your [Analytics dashboard](/analytics/dashboard) and [Export Scan Data](/analytics/dashboard#overview-stat-cards), not as separate, disconnected entries.

## What does count as a new scan

A genuinely new page load counts as a new scan — for example, a visitor scanning the same QR Code again later, or opening the link fresh in a new session. This is the same behavior as a QR Code with no gates at all: each real visit is its own scan, which is what **Total Scans** measures.

## Repeat-visibility settings are per QR Code

If you've linked the same form to more than one QR Code (see [Skip button & form gates](/forms/skip-button-and-gates#form-gates-linking-a-form-to-a-qr-code)), each QR Code's own **User-Based Display Rule** setting — for example, hiding the form after someone has already seen or submitted it — is tracked independently per QR Code. A visitor completing or dismissing the form through one QR Code doesn't affect whether the same form still shows on a different QR Code, even though they share the same form.

## Related

* [Analytics dashboard](/analytics/dashboard) — where Total Scans, Unique Scans, and the rest of your scan data live
* [Bot scans](/analytics/bot-scans) — a different kind of scan-counting nuance: automated traffic, not real visitors
* [Skip button & form gates](/forms/skip-button-and-gates) — setting up a password, age, lead, or form gate on a QR Code