CertPie vs Credly: Which Is Better for Issuing Certificates?

For most training institutes and coaching centres, CertPie is the better fit than Credly. Credly is an enterprise digital badge network built for large corporations and universities, with no public pricing, no self-serve free plan, and contracts that commonly run into thousands of dollars a year. CertPie is self-serve, starts free, and generates verified PDF certificates from a CSV file in minutes.

Credly is a genuinely different kind of product from CertPie, and the comparison only makes sense once that difference is clear.

What Credly Is Built For

Credly (a Pearson company) is a digital badge and credential network. Organisations issue badges that recipients display on LinkedIn, in email signatures, and on Credly's own public profile pages, where anyone can verify the issuer and the criteria behind the credential. It integrates with corporate learning platforms and LMSs like Skilljar, Bridge, Degreed, and Edcast, and it leans heavily on its network effect: badges are discoverable across Credly's own platform, not just on a link you send.

• A large, established credential network with real recognition among employers
• Deep integrations with enterprise LMS and learning-experience platforms
• Strong social sharing built around LinkedIn and email signatures
• Robust analytics on badge views, shares, and employer verification

Where Credly Falls Short for a Training Institute

No Public Pricing, No Free Plan

Credly does not publish its pricing. Based on publicly available reporting, annual contracts commonly start around $3,000 a year, with setup fees that can run into the thousands depending on volume, and no self-serve free tier. You talk to a sales team before you see a number.

Built for Badges, Not PDF Certificates

Credly's core unit is a digital badge, an image with metadata tied to a public profile page. If what you actually need is a printable, emailable PDF certificate with your institute's branding, a signature, and a QR code that verifies it, that is not Credly's primary workflow.

Not Built for the Indian Market

Pricing, contracts, and support are USD-based and structured around large organisations. There is no INR pricing and no self-serve UPI or card checkout for a coaching centre that wants to start today.

What CertPie Adds

• Self-serve signup and a free plan, no sales call required
• INR pricing with UPI and card payments via Dodo Payments
• Bulk generation from a CSV or Excel file, not one badge at a time
• A QR code and public verification page on every certificate, on the free plan
• One-click email delivery of the certificate PDF, with delivery and view tracking
• A drag-and-drop template editor so the certificate looks like your institute, not a generic badge

When to Use Credly

• You are a large enterprise or university with an existing LMS integration budget
• You want badges discoverable on a public credential network, not just a link
• You have a procurement process and can commit to an annual contract

When to Use CertPie

• You are a coaching centre, training institute, bootcamp, or event organiser issuing 30 to thousands of certificates a month
• You want to start today without a sales call or a contract
• You need INR pricing and a straightforward free plan to try first
• You want a certificate that looks like your brand, with QR verification and email delivery included

Conclusion

Credly is the right tool if you are a large organisation building a long-term badge network with enterprise LMS integrations. For the far more common case, a training institute or coaching centre that needs to issue verified certificates in bulk and get them into inboxes without a procurement cycle, CertPie is built for that job. Start free and generate your first batch today. See all pricing plans.