10 Must-Try Credly Badges Alternatives Worth Considering [+ Reviews]

It's understandable that you want your digital badges and certificates to be useful at every step. As a result, you're searching for the best tools.

Credly may have come to your attention. 

But is Credly the right tool for you? If you are not sure, in today's post, we will try to verify Credly and its alternatives and present you with as many as 10 tools that you can successfully choose instead of this expensive software.

Let's not prolong any more and get started!

What is Credly?

Credly is a business tool that provides credentials to individuals in seconds and enables big organizations to scale global credentialing programs.

With Credly software, you can, for example:

create, manage, issue, and monitor digital badges

gain insights about your workforce

verify employee skills

This platform can be helpful for training providers, employers, as well as for badge earners who can share their achievements on social media sites and thus increase their job opportunities.

However, Credly offers a lot of features and tools, like Acclaim badges, but for a high price. It is a relatively expensive software that not every company will be able to afford. For this reason, it is not an ideal solution for small businesses.

Credly pricing

Although it is difficult to know Credly's price list, as there is no such information made public on their official website, we managed to obtain some details. You can find them in this article:

So if you're not satisfied with Credly badges, need a more flexible solution for your digital credentials, or can't afford to buy this system, take a look at the Credly badges alternatives we've listed below.

01 Certifier: One of the best Credly alternatives

The best Credly alternative is Certifier – a professional certificate maker that can build, manage and issue your certificates in real time. 

Certifier knows that paper-based certificates are no longer helpful in the online world and that digital representations of a person's credentials are now much more effective (and eco-friendly!).

People can easily create and manage all certificates, credentials, diplomas, etc. And even individuals and small companies can issue certificates and badges for achievements.

Best features of this alternative to Credly

Certifier provides you with analytics, marketing insights, recipients’ management, and a free badge templates library. Therefore, your work with this program will be even faster and more productive, and badge holders can enjoy their awards quickly, as delivery is done in a flash. 

In other words, you can focus on more important tasks instead.

Once your recipients give you their email addresses, you can automatically send them their certificates. When they receive an email notification with badge details, they only need to open the message and then save the document or share it on social media platforms.

If you were not familiar with Certifier until now, now is your opportunity to change that.

Certifier’s pricing – one of the most affordable Credly alternatives

You set up the account for free. Then, you can use the free plan or opt to upgrade to the Standard or Professional plan. Either way, Certifier is not an expensive software compared to Credly. You can start any of the plans for free.

A free plan is available for this Credly alternative.

02 Open Badge Factory: Popular alternative to Credly

Open Badge Factory is a digital badge maker that also deserves your attention. This alternative to Credly can be used by small companies, which is a big plus, as with Certifier. In addition, you can work on a variety of badges alone or with a team, as this tool provides you with unique collaborative features.

Best features of this alternative to Credly

OPF, as Credly alternative, has many necessary functions for managing electronic badges so that you can use it successfully to validate competencies and achievements, motivate employees, volunteers, and students, set up learning pathways, monitor individual or company development goals. Moreover, the application is easy to use and intuitive.

OBF’s pricing – expensive alternative to Credly

Open Badge Factory offers three plans: Basic, Premium, and Pro. The highest plan is already quite expensive – you have to pay around $1,345 per year for it. There is, however, a free trial period available.

There is no free plan available for this Credly alternative.

03 Sertifier: One of Credly alternatives for analytics

Sertifier is one of the Credly alternatives to consider if you want to deliver meaningful achievements, meaning both badges and certificates.

Best features of this alternative to Credly

Working with this system is straightforward. Easily design badges with Sertifier's designer, then create your credential details to add further information about the achievement. In the end, publish badges in bulk. 

Sertifier also gives you access to powerful analytics, tracking campaign metrics, measuring badge earner profile and engagement, and calculating the marketing contribution of your badges. With the Enterprise plan, you'll also be able to access custom integrations. 

Sertifier’s pricing – one of the scalable Credly competitors

Pricing for Sertifier is quite flexible and scalable. However, there are only two plans. You can start with a free subscription with limited features, where you can create credentials for up to 5 recipients. You can also subscribe to the Standard plan. The price depends on how many certificates you generate (for example, for issuing 100 certificates, you need to pay $35/month), or you can use it as a subscription tier. The Standard plan includes analytics and LMS integrations.

Some features are not included in any plans. You can get them as add-ons:

• Branding – Advanced customization to align credentials with your brand.

• Support – Priority handling, faster responses, and personalized onboarding.

A free plan is available for this Credly alternative.

04 BadgeCert: Credly competitor focused on security

If you are interested in recognizing accomplishments with 100% verifiable digital badges, you can check out BadgeCert.

Best features of this alternative to Credly

This badge creator will provide you with all the functions you need to design and send badges, as well as many badge-sharing options. It’s one of the Credly competitors that offers technical support, available for any pricing plan.

Here you can also benefit from analytics and real-time data such as badge sharing, badge clicks, and overall earner usage. You'll also have access to an API that will enable your LMS, CRM, or other enterprise systems to generate badges, manage rosters, update settings, and much more.

BadgeCert stresses that it cares about your security and that it does not share your data with other companies. Together with this tool, your company can meet its professional goals, and your customers will be satisfied with the rewards they receive.

Badgecert’s pricing – flexible alternative to Credly

BadgeCert offers several pricing plans to suit different companies of sizes. Starter is priced at $49.95 per month, allowing for up to 200 badge issuances annually. Bronze Plan costs $99.95 per month, and includes up to 500 badge issuances annually. For $149.95 per month, you can subscribe to the Silver plan, which includes up to 1,000 badge issuances annually. Gold is priced at $249.95 per month, offering up to 2,000 badge issuances annually. The Enterprise plan requires more than 2,000 badge issuances per year, and custom pricing is available.

A free plan is NOT available for this Credly alternative.

05 Accredible: Feature-rich Credly alternative

Accredible is another alternative to Credly, very popular when it comes to issuing digital credentials and badges. It will enable you to professionally manage certificates, diplomas, badges, blockchain credentials, and wallet cards. And all this in one place.

Best features of this alternative to Credly

Accredible has many advanced features. For example, it enables you, as an issuer, to be at the center of the recipient experience through its branding and white labeling options.

What's more, Accredible works with credible organizations, so many integrations are waiting for you to enhance your capabilities. It is a tool that organizations and universities can consider. Unfortunately, for small businesses, it may be a too complex platform.

Accredible’s pricing – Credly alternative with hidden costs

Accredible's pricing consists of three plans: Launch, Connect, and Growth. But we only know the value of the first plan. The others have custom pricing, so you'll have to contact the sales team to find out how much they cost.

A free plan is NOT available for this Credly alternative.

06 Open Badges: Versatile Credly alternative

It's time for Open Badges – an intuitive tool you might have heard of, too. Originally developed by Mozilla, Open Badges is now managed by IMS Global Learning Consortium®. 

Best features of this alternative to Credly

With Open Badges, you can design, award, manage, and store badges and access powerful analytics and reporting tools. It’s one of the Credly alternatives that makes your learners' qualifications more widely recognized.

Open Badges provides a versatile, secure, and easy-to-use way of quickly implementing your badges and credentials. If you have no experience with creating such online badges, you don't need to worry, as it will explain in simple steps how to take the first steps.

Open Badge’s pricing – cost-effective Credly alternative

The platform provides five plans. Starter, Small, Medium, Large and Enterprise. The first plan, Starter, is free (with considerable limitations), and you can create certifications for up to 10 badge recipients and unlimited badges PA with this plan. The paid plans start at $55 per month. The Enterprise plan comes with custom billing.

A free plan is available for this Credly alternative.

07 Virtualbadge.io: best Credly alternative

With VirtualBadge, your users are transformed into loyal brand advocates by receiving unique appreciation tokens and credentials. In addition, such documents are 100% social media-friendly.

Best features of this alternative to Credly

What does this system offer? Among other things, easy certificate management, building your online reputation, saving time, or increasing your brand recognition.

VirtualBadge.io works in a simple way, but that doesn't mean it's a basic tool – quite the opposite. Whether you want to send a badge to an email address, verify skill tags on a badge image, or track user engagement, this system will support you every step of the way.

Virtual Badge’s pricing – one of the Credly competitors with flexible pricing

The price list also consists of four plans. You have a choice of Lite, Growth, Plus, and Enterprise, and the prices depend on how many certifications you generate - for example when subscribing to the Growth plan, you pay $75/month for creating 50 certificates or badges. The Lite plan limits you to issuing a maximum of 50 certifications per month. There is no free plan here, but there is a free trial. The Enterprise plan offers personalized pricing.

A free plan is NOT available for this Credly alternative.

08 eNetBadges: one of the reliable Credly competitors for learners

eNetBadges is a simple-to-use platform with which you will be able to create and manage digital badges. 

Best features of this alternative to Credly

This tool can be used by your company for a variety of purposes, such as for real-time verification, elevating hiring practices, and promoting engagement. It helps to promote positive learning behavior by incentivizing learners and enables employers to determine whether candidates meet standards where badges are aligned.

eNetBadges pricing – alternative to Credly without pricing information

eNetBadges does not provide pricing information. In order to obtain these details, you will need to contact them directly.

A free plan is NOT available for this Credly alternative.

09 HyperStack: Customizable alternative to Credly

You don't need any experience to use the HyperStack tool. Although it offers many design options, it is easy to use.

Best features of this alternative to Credly

Hyperstack allows you to take customization and branding to a whole new level with a variety of features. From your own domain and email address, you can issue digital certificates and badges with completely customizable branding and verification pages. Also, you can benefit from a digital wallet that lets you store, manage, and share credentials.

With such possibilities, you will be able to issue thousands of badges in just a few minutes. So you save a lot and gain even more.

Hyperstack’s pricing – best Credly alternative at a reasonable price

At Hyperstack, you can choose from three plans: Standard, Premium or Enterprise. The Standard plan is free for up to 20 recipients. The prices depend on how many recipients you have in your database, for example, for 250 recipients, you need to pay $11.03 when subscribing to the Standard plan. The Enterprise plan is available at custom pricing.

A free plan is available for this Credly alternative.

10 Canvas Credentials: Alternative to Credly for educators

Our last but not least suggestion is Canvas Credentials from Instructure. Canvas Credentials is an inclusive digital credentialing network. It allows you to issue badges to everyone, not just your employees or students, for their learning outcomes.

Best features of this alternative to Credly

Canvas Credentials provides customization, documentation, training, analytics, data security, badge management, and much more. It's not just a seamless way for skills and achievement validation.

What's more, Instructure has more learning products in its portfolio that you can take advantage of. So, if you think this whole case of creating and issuing badges is complicated, you may change your mind thanks to Canvas Credentials.

Canvas Credential’s pricing – alternative to Credly with no public pricing transparency

To figure out how to use Canvas Credentials, request a demo to learn more information.

A free plan is NOT available for this Credly alternative.

Pick one of the Credly alternatives

So as you can see, Credly is not the only digital badging platform for your badge requirements. We hope this article will help you make the right decision and choose a satisfactory badging program. 

To increase customer success and issue badge certificates, bet on Certifier. Book a free 45-minute demo and see how easy it is.