VirusTotal alternative
VirusTotal is a great analyst tool: paste a URL, read what dozens of engines think, thirty seconds to a minute later. It was never built to sit inside a commercial product, and its own terms of service say so. SkanQRCode is a fast URL check API built for exactly that: a verdict in under 500 ms, licensed for commercial use from day one.
Fast URL check API
SkanQRCodevar req = URLRequest(url: URL(string: "https://api.skanqrcode.com/v1/check")!)
req.httpMethod = "POST"
req.setValue("Bearer \(apiKey)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")
req.httpBody = try JSONEncoder().encode(["target": url])
let (data, _) = try await URLSession.shared.data(for: req)
let result = try JSONDecoder().decode(CheckResponse.self, from: data)
if result.action == "block" { return } // never UIApplication.shared.open(url)Comparison
Both keep the same job in mind, tell a caller whether a URL is safe, they are just built for different moments.
FAQ
No. VirusTotal's public API terms of service restrict it to non-commercial use. Shipping it inside a commercial product, a QR scanner app, an MDM tool, an AI agent, requires a separate VirusTotal Enterprise contract.
It depends on whether VirusTotal has already analyzed that URL. A cached result can return quickly; a URL its engines have not seen before commonly takes somewhere around 15 to 60 seconds, often cited around 30 seconds, to finish scanning. That is fine for after-the-fact analysis, and too slow for the window between a QR scan and opening the link.
SkanQRCode is built specifically for that window: a fast path under 500 ms, commercial use on every paid plan, and the same check available as a direct REST API or an MCP server for AI agents.
Not on the public API, per VirusTotal's own terms. SkanQRCode is commercial from day one: the free plan is sandboxed for testing, and every paid plan is explicitly licensed for production use.
Early access
If VirusTotal is the tool you reach for after something already happened, this is the check for the moment before it does.