PMP Certification Cost – 3 Components of the PMP Cost

PMP certification cost is a critical aspect for PMP certification aspirants. Many PMP certification candidates consider only the PMP certification cost of exam and training courses. However, there are other aspects of PMP certification cost. What are the different aspects of PMP certification cost? How much money should you plan for getting PMP certification? Are there any other aspects of PMP certification cost other than training program and exam fee?

There are three main costs for PMP certification:

• PMP Certification Training Cost: $50-$3,500
• PMP Exam Fee: $555
• PMP Exam Prep Time: ~six months

We will go over each of these cost items one-by-one in detail.

PMP Certification Cost – Exam Fee

Project Management Institute PMI offers two different pricing for the PMP exam fee. The PMP Certification exam fee is 555 USD for the people who are not a member of PMI and for the PMI members, it is 405 USD. If you choose to become a PMI member at the time of your application, you will just have to pay 555 USD for the exam fee and the membership fee combined.

So, the total amount does not change whether you opt for membership or not. However, opting for membership brings one-year access to PMI resources for free including PMBOK Guide. Therefore, we recommend opting for PMI membership during your PMP application. 

The following table shows the PMP exam fees distribution for PMI members, non-PMI members, and re-attempt.

Note that, the PMP exam fee is only one of the three components of the PMP certification cost. There are other costs such as preparation time and training cost. We have explored all components of PMP certification cost in the following headings.

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PMP Certification Cost: How much does it cost to get a PMP certification?

PMP Certification is a highly valuable qualification for people who are working in the project management field. As the project management field is growing more and more popular, the people who are officially qualified as project managers are much in-demand. If you are working or planning to work in the project management field and if you don’t have a PMP certification yet, you should know the importance of obtaining this qualification. You must probably be searching for the PMP certification cost as well. In this blog post, we will cover PMP certification cost to help you make your financial plans accordingly.

Let’s begin briefly by defining what PMP certification is: PMP is the short name for Project Management Professional. PMP certification is given by Project Management Institute (PMI) and it is the most recognized project management certification for project management professionals.

After helping over 500,000 professionals in more than 180 countries with a 99.6% first attempt pass rate, we have prepared a seven-step PMP study plan. Read this PMP study plan and create your own PMP prep plan accordingly.

Do you want to hear what our students say about our PMP courses? You can watch this video!

So what is the PMP certification cost? Actually, the PMP Certification cost has three main elements. Two of them are pretty obvious: the cost of PMP certification training and the PMP certification exam fee. But there is also another element that you have to be very well aware of: we can call it the ‘hidden’ PMP certification cost. This is the cost of the time you will be spending when you study for the PMP certification exam.

We are going to have a look at these different elements of the PMP Certification cost more thoroughly, in the following headings.

Check our PMP Certification Cost Video

PMP Certification Cost #1: The Cost of 35 Hours of Project Management Training

Before being able to take the PMP Certification Exam, you are required to meet certain criteria. One of the most important items in this PMP eligibility requirement list is to attend a project management course(s) at least for 35 hours. There are also other criteria you have to meet before taking the PMP certification exam.

So how much is the PMP certification cost for training? Well, there is not a single answer for this question. It will depend on whether you are willing to take a PMP certification classroom training or an online PMP certification training. The PMP certification classroom training will also depend on which country you are located to take this project management education, it ranges from 500 USD to 2,000 USD.

There are some examples of how the cost of PMP Certification classroom training varies from one country to another:

As you can see, we can not say there’s a fixed price for PMP Certification classroom training, thus for the PMP certification cost.

There’s also another option to take the PMP certification training: Online PMP Certification Training. Today you can find a great number of Online PMP certification training courses on the web. Most of the people are willing to get an online PMP certification training. What are the advantages of taking an online PMP certification training course? Well, firstly this is an online course, so you don’t have to be present in an actual classroom which is really advantageous for full-time working professionals. Secondly, these online courses cost a lot less than regular classroom teaching, the prices vary between 200 USD and 500 USD.

For instance, Master of Project Academy’s, Online PMP Certification Training costs $470 for annual access and $87 for the monthly subscription. Prices are not the only benefit of online PMP certification training.

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Our 35 hours of online PMP certification training is a self-paced course, so rather than attending online live classes, which are pre-scheduled, you pace the course and determine when to study and when to complete. In other words, you can take the course which includes previously recorded training sessions, according to your own timing. This way, we believe that you will be more ready to take the PMP Certification exam because your information on the subject will be more fresh and more interiorized.

What is included in our 35 contact hours of self-paced PMP Training?

If you are more into interactive training rather than following a self-paced PMP training, you can consider enrolling in an instructor-led PMP online class session as well. Prices of instructor-led PMP training change from $800 to $3,500 depending on the country, training provider, and training materials as well.

If you want to take a more detailed look at the differences between PMP Certification classroom training and online training you can read our blog post.

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PMP Certification Cost #2: Preparation Time

At the beginning of the article, we mentioned a hidden cost involved in the PMP Certification cost, which is the preparation time. As most of us are busy professionals, the time we are sparing to take this project management education will cost us our precious leisure time. But you can minimize this effect with a self-paced online PMP certification training course because you will be the only one to decide when to have a lesson or not. For instance, if you are planning to take the PMP Certification exam in the next 3 or 4 months, you can spare only 5 or 6 hours a week to study to pass the exam. Of course, the duration of the training will also depend on your dedication, on your professional experiences, and background in project management. So you will be able to finish the course in a shorter time than 3 or 4 months if your goal is to obtain the Project Management Professional PMP certification earlier.

After helping thousands of professionals to clear their PMP certification exam in their first attempt, we can confidently say you plan around 6 months to get ready for the PMP exam. If you are a full-time working professional, you will need this time to get ready for the exam. You might see several PMP training providers that you will pass the PMP exam in 30 days. This is not impossible, however, it is not easy if you do not have a solid project management background and enough time to dedicate yourself to PMP preparation as well.

Many of our PMP students passed their PMP exam in less than 30 days. Joffrey and Rahul are just two of them and you can read their 30-Day PMP Study tips.

If you are preparing for the PMP Certification exam, you can get more information about PMP study plan.

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PMP Certification Cost #3: Exam Fee

The third item of the PMP cost is the PMP exam fee. After you are finished the 35 hours of project management education, you have to take this PMP Certification exam at a Pearson VUE test center. There are certain steps to complete your PMP application. When PMI accepts your application, you have to schedule your exam date in the nearest Pearson VUE test center.

The following table shows the PMP exam fees distribution for PMI members, non-PMI members, and re-attempt.

The PMP Certification exam fee is 555 USD for the people who are not a member of PMI and for the members it is 405 USD. If you choose to become a PMI member at the time of your application, you will just have to pay 555 USD for the exam fee and the membership fee combined. If you do not opt to become a PMI member, you will pay the same PMP exam fee as well. So, since applying for PMP with membership and as a non-member costs the same, we recommend you to opt for application with PMI membership.

Watch our “What is the PMP® exam fee?” video

The following table shows the PMP exam fees distribution for PMI members, non-PMI members, and re-attempt.

What are the advantages of PMI membership? Its duration is one year and you gain free access for downloading some important documents about project management including the PMBOK.

If you want to have further information on PMI membership you can check out their website.

Summary

So, PMP certification cost depends on mostly which type, of course, you decide to take. If you choose to get your project management education through an online course, the total PMP Certification cost will be approximately ~900 USD for you, including the exam fee. Otherwise, if you will continue your preparation with a PMP certification classroom training, the PMP Certification cost will be approximately 2,700 USD, again the exam fee is included.

However, as we mentioned above, the PMP certification cost does not include only the fees you will pay to the training provider or the exam fee to the PMI. You should take into consideration the cost of the time which you will spend when you are taking the PMP certification training. If you go for a self-paced online PMP certification course, your time management will be more effective so that you will get the most out of the training and lower the PMP certification cost as well.

See our other articles you might be interested in:

The PMP Certification Requirements article will help you to understand the eligibility requirements to sit for the PMP exam. It will be good to know whether you fulfill the PMP eligibility requirements before you start your PMP preparation.

PMP online certification article will help you to understand the advantages and disadvantages of different PMP preparation methods. You will be able to determine the best option to prepare for PMP certification after reading this article.

The PMP exam questions article will help you to see sample PMP exam questions. You will see also answers and rationales for these sample PMP exam questions.

The PMP certification salary article will help you to see the anticipated salary hike after you get the PMP certification!