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A Credly alternative, and when it is not one
Credly is a badge platform built on Open Badges. We are a managed service that issues signed certificates and badges on your behalf. Those are different products for different problems, and the fastest way to use this page is to find out in the next two minutes whether we are the wrong one.
Read this before the comparison table
We do not issue Open Badges. Open Badges is the interoperability standard Credly is built around, and for many organisations it is the whole reason to choose a platform of that kind in the first place. Our credentials are signed and hosted with their own verification page, which covers what most issuers need, but they do not carry Open Badges metadata and conforming software cannot read them.
If an accreditor, a funder, a partner, or a client has named Open Badges as a requirement, stop here. Credly and other Open Badges platforms are the right answer and there is no version of this conversation where we become it.
If somebody told you that you need Open Badges without explaining why, that is worth testing before you buy anything. Open Badges 3.0, explained for issuers gives you four questions that settle it. For most organisations the answer turns out to be no, and the standard is solving a problem they do not have.
What Credly is built for
It is worth describing properly, because a comparison page that caricatures the other product is not useful to anyone deciding between them.
Credly issues badges that follow a published standard, so a badge from one issuer can be read by software written by someone else entirely. Recipients collect badges into an account they keep, across every issuer who uses the standard, and share them onward from there. That combination is genuinely valuable if your badges need to travel through systems you do not control, or if your learners collect credentials from several bodies and want them in one place.
It is also software your organisation operates. Someone on your side learns it, maintains the templates, runs the batches, and handles what comes back. For a team issuing continuously, that is fine and probably preferable. For an organisation issuing twice a year, the tool is forgotten between intakes and relearned each time, and the setup burden is most of the cost.
Side by side
Structure rather than features. Feature lists and prices both move faster than a web page can track, and a stale comparison is worse than none. Confirm current pricing and capabilities with each vendor before deciding.
| Dimension | Credly | Certifications.ng |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A badge platform your organisation operates | A managed issuing service |
| Credential format | Open Badges, the interoperability standard | Signed, hosted credentials. Not Open Badges |
| Certificates as well as badges | Badge-first | Both, from the same recipient list |
| Recipient account required | Yes, and deliberately so | No |
| Where verification lives | The badge's page on the platform | The credential's page, one per recipient |
| Who runs the batch | Your team | Us |
| Where the vendor is | Global | Nigeria, in your working hours |
What the difference feels like
The table above collapses into four practical differences, and these are the ones that show up in the first month rather than in the evaluation.
- Who does the issuing work
Credly: Your team learns the platform, sets up templates, uploads recipients, and runs each batch.
Us: You send a recipient list. We set up the template, run the batch, and handle the corrections that follow.
- What the recipient does
Credly: Accepts the badge and holds it in an account, which is the point: the wallet is what makes badges portable across issuers.
Us: Opens a link. No account, no app, nothing to accept before the credential exists.
- What a verifier does
Credly: Opens the badge page and reads the metadata, which conforming software can also read automatically.
Us: Opens the credential page and sees the record, with a signature the page checks in their own browser.
- What happens to a mistake
Credly: Depends on your workflow. Reissuing generally means the recipient receives and accepts a new badge.
Us: We correct the record and the verification URL does not change, so links already shared keep working.
Choose Credly if
- Open Badges conformance is a stated requirement.
- Your badges must be readable by systems you do not control, or by a partner's platform.
- You want recipients to hold credentials in a portable wallet spanning several issuers.
- You issue continuously and have someone whose job includes running the platform.
Choose us if
- You would rather not run credentialing software, and would rather send a list.
- You issue in bursts, a few times a year, with long gaps between intakes.
- You need certificates and badges from the same process, not badges alone.
- Asking every recipient to register on a platform would lose you a meaningful share of them.
- The problem you are solving is employers not being able to confirm your credentials.
If you are moving from something else
The data usually moves without difficulty: an export of recipients and award details is enough for us to reissue. What does not move is the verification URL. Links your recipients have already shared, on CVs, in email signatures, on LinkedIn profiles, point at the platform that issued them, and nobody can redirect a domain they do not own.
So plan for both being live for a period, and switch on a cohort boundary rather than mid-intake. It is also the strongest argument for asking, of any platform including this one, what happens to those links if you stop paying. Credentials management covers what happens to a credential after issuance here, and the security page sets out how the digital signature on each credential works, including its limits.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Credly used for?
- Credly is a digital badge platform built around the Open Badges standard. Organisations use it to issue badges that recipients collect in a Credly account and share to LinkedIn, and that other systems can read because the metadata follows a published specification. It is software your team operates, and it is strongest where interoperability and a recipient-held badge wallet matter.
- Should we choose Credly or Certifications.ng?
- Choose Credly if you need Open Badges specifically, if a partner or accreditor has named it, or if you want recipients to hold badges in a portable wallet across issuers. Choose us if you would rather not run credentialing software at all: you send a recipient list, we issue signed certificates and badges, and each one gets its own permanent verification page. The dividing line is interoperability versus operational burden, not features.
- Does Certifications.ng support Open Badges?
- No. We issue signed, hosted credentials with their own verification page, and they do not use the Open Badges metadata format. If Open Badges conformance is a requirement for your programme, Credly and other Open Badges platforms are the right answer and we will say so. It is a genuine gap rather than a difference in wording.
- Do recipients need an account to view their credential?
- Not with us. A credential opens at its own URL for anyone holding the link, with no login and no app. That is a deliberate difference from wallet-based platforms, where a recipient account is the point rather than an obstacle. It suits a Nigerian cohort where asking every graduate to register on an unfamiliar platform reliably loses a share of them.
- Can we move credentials we already issued elsewhere?
- Usually yes, if you can export the recipient list and the award details. What does not move is the verification URL: links already shared point at the previous platform, and there is no way to redirect a domain you do not own. Plan for a period where both remain live, and treat the switch as applying to new cohorts first.
Tell us what you are trying to replace
If the honest answer is that you need Open Badges, we will say so in the first five minutes and point you at a platform that issues them.