Top 16 agile certifications available today

SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager

The SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager certification guides candidates through the strategic responsibilities required for these roles in the Agile Release Train. It offers tools to work efficiently in remote locations with dispersed teams, and imparts understanding of how product owners and product managers should collaborate to achieve the best customer and business outcomes. Topics include customer-centric design; test processes; collaborating with engineering teams and business stakeholders; how to write epics, features, and stories; and the ways to design, prioritize, build, test, and deliver products with enhanced productivity and superior quality. Certification is coupled with trainings provided by several providers across a range of pricing, and isn’t offered independently.

Cost: From $549 to $1,300

SAFe Scrum Master

The SAFe Scrum Master certification helps candidates coach agile teams to deliver business value, providing tactical skills to be an efficient Scrum master in a SAFe organization. It also offers instruction to facilitate agile events such as iteration planning, standups, and retrospectives, and it imparts knowhow of DevOps implementation for continuous flow and delivery. Certification is coupled with trainings provided by several providers across a range of pricing, and is not offered independently.

Cost: From $500 to $1,300

Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)

The Certified ScrumMaster credential provides an understanding of the Scrum framework and a perspective of team accountabilities, events, and artifacts. It also provides an understanding of how to guide a team to apply Scrum. This interactive course helps increase leadership skills and influence organizational change. In addition to the foundational certification, it’s also offered as advanced proficiency (Certified ScrumMaster Professional). Price for combined certification and training varies depending on the training provider selected and on the delivery channel, whether in-person or online.

Cost: From $499 to $1,500 for CSM Foundational; from $550 to $1,595 for CSM Advanced; from $899 to $1,800 for CSM Professional

Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)

The Certified Scrum Product Owner certification provides an understanding of the framework and principles for efficiently deploying Scrum, as well as the critical skills and tools required to be an effective product owner. Scrum Alliance members can tap into the community to gain access beyond the classroom via resources, events, education, and coaching. Prices for training and certification vary depending on the training providers selected and the delivery channel chosen.

Cost: From $495 to $1,495, for CSPO; upward of $1,500 for CSPO Professional

ICAgile Agile Fundamentals (ICP)

The Agile Fundamentals certification, provided by International Consortium for Agile (ICA), provides a foundational understanding of agile concepts, mindset, and principles. Also known as the ICAgile Certified Professional (ICP), it paves the way for ICAgile’s product and technical certification. With this, you can gain organizational agility without pinning on any particular agile methodology or framework (i.e., SAFe, Scrum, Kanban, XP, DSDM, etc.). Certification is bundled with training from various training providers, which provide both online and in-person courses. Price varies depending on provider and delivery channel.

Cost: From $399 to $1,600

ICAgile Agile Product Ownership (ICP-APO)

The Agile Product Ownership certification from ICAgile imparts knowledge to successfully deliver software, products, and services via key agile practices. Product owners, product managers, business subject matter experts, business analysts, and project managers can take this certification, which is given on successfully completing the class and post-class survey. The certification is bundled with training from various training providers, which provide both online and in-person trainings. Price varies based on provider and delivery channel.

Cost: From $700 to $1,400

ICAgile Agile Team Facilitation (ICP-ATF)

The Agile Team Facilitation certification is intended for professionals who wish to learn how to facilitate and coach agile in a team context. Befitting roles include Scrum master, product owners, business analysts, agile product managers, agile coaches, and those keen on harnessing facilitation capabilities. Certification is bundled with training from various training providers, which provide both online and in-person trainings. Price varies based on provider and delivery channel.

Cost: From $500 to $800

ICAgile Business Agility Foundations (ICP-BAF)

Professionals looking to drive organizational agility in modern business environments may find the Business Agility Foundation certification from ICAgile worthwhile. The ICP-BAF is not a direct substitution for the ICP credential, and those already in possession of the ICP may find the ICP-BAF more useful. Certification is bundled with training from various training providers, which provide both online and in-person instruction. Price varies by provider and delivery channel.

Cost: From $399 to $1,400

ICAgile Agile Project and Delivery Management (ICP-APM)

The Agile Project and Delivery Management certification is aimed at validating candidates’ skills for successful Lean and Agile product delivery. Various approaches including projects and value stream delivery methodologies are taught in the training. Trainees can identify dependencies and blockers, enable rapid feedback and learning, and facilitate incremental value delivery through this training and subsequent certification. The ICP-APM is bundled with online and in-person training from various providers. Prices vary depending on provider and delivery channel.

Cost: From $1,000 to $1,495

PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)

The Agile Certified Professional credential from the Project Management Institute (PMI) covers several approaches to agile such as Scrum, Kanban, Lean, extreme programming, and test-driven development to increase your versatility, no matter how the project spirals out. The three-hour exam has 120 multiple-choice questions. To maintain the PMI-ACP, 30 professional development units in agile topics must be completed every three years. Prerequisites include a secondary degree, 21 contact hours of training in agile practices, 12 months of general project experience within the past five years, and eight months of agile project experience within the past three years.

Cost: Member $435, non-member $495

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