Credly alternatives: 11 digital credentialing tools compared
People look for a Credly alternative when they want to see a price before a sales call, when they do not wish to join a Pearson-owned network, or when a small programme finds the platform larger than its needs. They move to self-serve badge tools with a free allowance, to Open Badges specialists, or to institutional systems that also handle transcripts.
Short answer: Certifier, Open Badge Factory and Awero head the list of Credly alternatives drawn from our digital credentialing software ranking. We open the ranking with smaller vendors and put the established brands from fourth place onward. Certifier is the one to try if you want published prices and a yearly allowance you can try before talking to anyone. The 11 entries that follow are all ranked in Best Digital Credentialing Software in 2026; each one explains what sets it apart from Credly.
Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
Built for: Product certification bodies that want a large existing badge network
Not for: Small teams wanting published prices or a free trial
01
Why buyers look past Credly
01
Pricing sits behind a contact form
The pricing page on Credly's own site is a demo request form that asks for company, job title and profession, and it lists no plans or figures. A buyer cannot compare a yearly cost with other vendors before talking to sales, which slows down small training teams and associations that only need to issue a few hundred badges.
02
The network is part of the offer
Credly describes itself as a network of more than 3,700 providers and employers, with 200,000 credentials in its catalogue. That helps discoverability, but it also means your badges live inside a Pearson-owned marketplace. Organisations that want their own branded pages, or a neutral Open Badges tool, look elsewhere.
03
Scope is wide for a small programme
The product pages cover corporate learning, higher education, associations, certification providers and workforce skills management, plus professional services. A single course provider can end up paying for a suite built around employer analytics, when a certificate designer with a spreadsheet import would have done the job.
you are a university that wants badges alongside transcripts and diplomas
#12
03
What each one does differently
1
Certifier
Poland · Published
Certifier, run by Certifier sp. z o.o. in Krakow, gives a permanent Starter plan covering 250 certificates or badges a year, with badges that follow Open Badges 3.0. Paid tiers raise the yearly cap, up to 50,000 on the slider. Your own domain and sender emails are a separately priced branding add-on, so budget for that when a school wants its name on every page.
Switch from Credly if you want published prices and a yearly allowance you can try before talking to anyone.
Open Badge Factory Oy of Oulu, Finland, sells yearly licences at Basic, Premium and Pro, with Enterprise on quote and a 60-day trial. Issuing caps climb from 5,000 to 50,000 badges a year. Basic stops at ten badge classes, and API access starts only at Pro, which matters if your learning system should hand out badges automatically.
Switch from Credly if you want a Nordic, Open Badges focused vendor with a published licence ladder.
Awero VšĮ in Vilnius is the new name for Badgecraft and builds Open Badges around learning programmes and quests. Personal use is free up to 100 users, and yearly licences then rise in four steps, with 5,000 users the stated ceiling. Licences are activated by emailing the company, and API links are arranged by enquiry.
Switch from Credly if your programme is built around learning quests and you want a Vilnius-based Open Badges vendor.
Openbadges.me comes from MyKnowledgeMap, with a York address, and prices by recipient count rather than badge count. Badges are unlimited at every tier, while recipients are capped at 10 on the free tier and then 500, 1000 and 3000. White labelling is by enquiry, and single sign-on carries a set-up fee plus yearly maintenance.
Switch from Credly if you issue many different badges to a modest number of people and want that priced by head.
Sertifier lists a Delaware head office and an Istanbul office, and charges by the number of people credentialed in a year, with a free plan that stops at 25 people. Branding, advanced analytics, extra seats, departments and priority support are optional add-ons. SSO and SAML belong to the enterprise arrangement, which has no published figure.
Switch from Credly if you want a self-serve price per recipient with add-ons chosen one at a time.
Certopus is sold by DevSquirrel Technologies Private Limited and offers a free plan with a certificate and badge builder. Its pricing page contradicts itself, giving the free tier 250 credentials on one card and 50 a year in the table below. Professional adds white labelling, custom SMTP and unlimited events, while on-premise deployment is an Enterprise item.
Switch from Credly if you mostly need a certificate designer for events and want to start on a free plan.
Badge List is pitched at enterprises, coaches, educators and intern programmes. The free plan allows one admin and 100 recipients, and only that admin awards badges. Team gives three admins and 200 recipients, Org gives 500 recipients and unlimited admins, and anything above 500 means contacting the vendor.
Switch from Credly if your badges recognise internal culture, coaching or internships rather than formal certification.
VerifyEd Ltd of Poole, Dorset, writes credentials to the XRPL blockchain and gives learners a wallet. You choose an annual subscription or pay-as-you-go credentials that never expire. Subscription allowances do not roll over, and subscriptions renew automatically after a year. The pricing text we retrieved showed no amounts, so cost needs the live page.
Switch from Credly if you want credentials that can be checked on a public ledger and a pay-as-you-go option.
CertifyMe sells Essentials, Professional and Enterprise plans on a minimum of 250 students a year, with the price left off the page. Essentials carries CertifyMe branding, three templates and one admin account. Custom domains and white-label email begin at Professional, and the SSO row reads available only for Enterprise. Its terms are governed by Indian law.
Switch from Credly if you run a school or institute and think in students per year rather than badges issued.
Accredible trades as EdInvent, Inc., and its terms are governed by California law. Launch is a published entry plan on a 12-month term billed monthly, covering 50 recipients. Connect and Growth are quoted and add pathways, wallet cards, white labelling and dedicated success staff. It suits a team that outgrows a small plan but still wants the entry price visible.
Switch from Credly if you want the closest like-for-like programme but with one published entry price.
Parchment calls itself an Instructure company, with an address in Scottsdale, Arizona. It covers transcripts, diplomas and, through Digitary, international credentials in six countries. Higher-education badges are one offering without tiers, and all prices come through a quote. It is more platform than most training providers need.
Switch from Credly if you are a university that wants badges alongside transcripts and diplomas.
You want to see a price and try it before any sales call
Certifier: Starter covers 250 certificates or badges a year on Open Badges 3.0, and paid tiers go up to 50,000.
02
You issue badges inside a European learning programme
Open Badge Factory: Yearly licences from 5,000 badges, a 60-day trial, and API access only at the Pro level.
03
You want to pay per person credentialed
Sertifier: A free plan for 25 people, then a published price by recipients, with branding and analytics as add-ons.
04
You want your own ledger-backed credentials
VerifyEd: Credentials are written to the XRPL blockchain, bought as a subscription or pay-as-you-go.
05
You are a university that also issues transcripts
Parchment: It sits with Instructure and covers transcripts, diplomas and international credentials through Digitary, priced by quote.
04
When Credly is still the right choice
Credly stays the right choice when your learners are IT or professional certification candidates and you want your badges to appear in the same place as many other certifications. Its integration list covers Canvas, Cornerstone, Docebo, Degreed and Zapier among others, and its customer success team helps design collections and stackable credentials. If employers searching a shared network is the point, a smaller tool will not replace that.
05
What moving off Credly involves
01
Earners hold the badges, not you
Badges already issued sit in earners' Credly accounts and on public badge links. Tell earners before you switch, ask them to keep their existing badges, and agree whether past badges are re-issued from the new tool or left in place alongside new ones.
02
Integrations have to be rebuilt
Your learning system may issue badges through a Credly connector. List every course trigger, webhook or Zapier step that does this, and check whether the new tool offers the same link at the plan you intend to buy. Some tools reserve API access for their top published tier.
03
Check the badge standard before migrating
Badge metadata such as criteria, skills and expiry must carry across. Confirm that the new tool supports the Open Badges version you need and can import your templates, so that verification links keep working for employers.
06
Questions about replacing Credly
6 answers
How much does Credly cost?
Credly does not publish prices. The pricing page we read redirects to a contact form asking for company details, so any cost comes from a sales conversation and a demo. Several tools below publish plans, which makes a rough comparison possible beforehand.
Who owns Credly?
The Credly site presents the platform as Credly by Pearson and lists Pearson TalentLens and Faethm by Pearson among other Pearson products. Our category record describes it as a wholly-owned subsidiary of NCS Pearson, Inc.
Is there a free alternative to Credly?
Certifier gives 250 certificates or badges a year on its Starter plan, Badge List 100 recipients, Sertifier 25 people, Openbadges.me 10 recipients and Awero 100 users for personal use.
Certopus shows a free plan, though its page gives two different caps. Open Badge Factory offers a 60-day trial instead.
Which Credly alternatives use Open Badges?
Certifier follows Open Badges 3.0, and Open Badge Factory, Awero and Openbadges.me are built around Open Badges. Check the version each supports and whether recipients can export their badges before you commit.
Can I issue badges from my LMS without Credly?
Credly's own list names Canvas, Docebo, Cornerstone and others. Among the alternatives, Open Badge Factory places API access at Pro level and Awero handles API integrations by enquiry. Confirm the connector you need with the vendor before you plan a cutover.
Do any alternatives use a blockchain?
VerifyEd stores credentials on the XRPL ledger and gives learners a wallet. Most other tools verify through a hosted badge page, so decide whether ledger storage is a real requirement or a preference.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Checked and edited by Sebastiaan Smits, last on 10 November 2026. The editorial process explains the method.
