UDEMY CERTIFICATES
Last updated: October 2026. Written by Josh Hutcheson, OnlineCourseing editor. Udemy’s policies were re-read on its help center on 17 October 2026. See our review methodology.
QUICK VERDICT
Is Udemy accredited? No. Udemy’s help center says “Udemy is not an accredited institution” and that its certificates cannot be used for formal accreditation.
Are Udemy certificates worth it? For learning a skill, yes. As a qualification, no: a certificate of completion proves you finished a course, not that you passed an exam.
The exceptions: some Udemy courses carry NASBA continuing education (CPE) credit for accountants, Udemy courses can count toward PMI’s PDU requirements, and Udemy now also sells Google’s AI Professional Certificate. Each of those is recognized because of the certifying body, not because of Udemy.
Worth showing: on LinkedIn and under Professional Development on a resume, when the skill is relevant and you can demonstrate it.
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Two questions send most people here, and they are really one worry: will this certificate count for anything? The short answer is that Udemy is not accredited and its certificate is a record of completion, not a recognized qualification. That does not make it worthless. It makes it a specific tool with specific uses, and there are a few narrow cases where a Udemy course does count toward a formal requirement. This guide covers what the certificate is, where it helps, where it does not, and how it compares with credentials that carry formal weight.
Is Udemy accredited?
No. Udemy’s certificate help article says it directly: “Udemy is not an accredited institution. Certificates demonstrate skills and accomplishments, but they cannot be used for formal accreditation.” Udemy is an open marketplace where independent instructors publish and sell their own courses. It is not a university, does not grant degrees, and is not accredited by a national or regional academic accreditor.
That is a design choice rather than a flaw. Accreditation exists to guarantee a baseline of quality and to make a credential portable between schools, employers and licensing boards. Udemy optimizes for breadth, low prices and lifetime access instead, so the quality of a course depends on its instructor, not on an external stamp.
Ownership has not changed this. Coursera completed its combination with Udemy on 11 May 2026, per Coursera’s quarterly report, but the two still run as separate platforms and Udemy’s certificate policy is unchanged.
What accreditation actually means
“Accredited” is used loosely online, so it helps to separate four different things people mean by it.
| Term | What it is | Does Udemy have it? |
|---|---|---|
| Institutional accreditation | A college or university reviewed by an accreditor (in the US, one recognized by the Department of Education or CHEA), which makes its credits and degrees transferable | No |
| Professional certification | An exam set and proctored by a body such as AWS, CompTIA or PMI | No; Udemy courses can prepare you for these exams |
| Continuing education credit (CPE, CEU, PDU) | Hours a professional body accepts toward keeping a license or certification current | Sometimes, course by course (see below) |
| CPD “accreditation” | A private organization confirming a course is suitable for continuing professional development hours, common in the UK | Some individual courses advertise it; it is not a regulated qualification |
A CEU, in the US sense, is a standard unit of continuing education (one CEU is usually ten contact hours). CPD is a broader idea of logging professional learning. Neither turns a course into a degree or a license, which is the distinction that matters for most job requirements.
What a Udemy certificate actually is
When you finish every curriculum item in a paid Udemy course, the trophy above the course player changes color and you can download a certificate of completion. It names you, the course, the instructor and the date, and it has its own URL. There is no exam behind it, no proctoring and no passing standard: completion is the bar.
Two details catch people out. Free Udemy courses do not issue a certificate, and neither do courses that contain only practice tests, according to Udemy’s help center. If the certificate is part of your goal, confirm the course is paid and includes lectures before you enroll.
Hold onto that frame: the certificate documents effort and exposure, not verified mastery. Used that way it is perfectly legitimate. Presented as more than that, it overstates what it is, and an informed reader of your resume will know.
How to get, download and verify a Udemy certificate
- Complete every lecture, quiz and exercise in a paid course. The trophy icon above the player changes color and a notice says the certificate is ready.
- Click the trophy, then Get Certificate.
- Click Download to save it as a PDF or JPG, or Share to post it with its link.
- Copy the certificate URL from the top right of the certificate. That link is how anyone verifies it.
The certificate is a simple landscape document with the Udemy logo, your name, the course title, the instructor’s name and the completion date, plus its certificate URL. You can change the name or language shown on it from your account settings, which Udemy documents in the same help section. Udemy does not print an expiry date on certificates, and they stay in your account.
Do employers accept Udemy certificates?
Mostly, employers weigh the skill behind the certificate, not the certificate. A Udemy completion certificate will not satisfy a job requirement that calls for a degree or a named credential. What it can do is signal initiative: you spent your own time and money learning something relevant. That is a real, if modest, positive.
Hiring threads say the same thing in plainer words. In a September 2026 r/JobsPhilippines thread, commenters agreed that Udemy courses are good value for learning but that the certificates themselves hold little weight, and drew the distinction that matters: certifications, which require passing an exam, are different from certificates. In r/technicalwriting, the most-upvoted answer was to list the skills you learned rather than the courses.
In regulated professions (law, medicine, teaching, accounting) a Udemy course carries no formal standing on its own; those roles require accredited or licensed qualifications. Who taught the course can matter, though: a course from a widely known instructor in a field reads differently from an anonymous one.
The exceptions: when a Udemy course does count
NASBA CPE credit for accountants
Udemy, Inc. is listed on NASBA’s National Registry of CPE Sponsors with registry ID 144336 and approval for QAS Self Study. That means specific Udemy courses that meet NASBA’s standards can award CPE credit that state boards of accountancy accept, subject to each state’s own rules. Udemy’s help center lists the eligible courses and the extra requirements, which include completing all course content and the review questions in each section. It is a course-level approval; most Udemy courses do not carry it.
PMI PDUs for PMP holders
PMI’s continuing certification system lists “courses from other third party providers” and self-paced online learning among the ways to earn professional development units. So a relevant Udemy project management course can count toward your PDUs, reported by you. PMI lists Authorized Training Partner courses separately from those third-party courses, and a standard Udemy course falls in the second group. Check that the course content fits PMI’s Talent Triangle and keep the certificate as evidence. Our PMP certification requirements guide covers the 35 contact hours needed to sit the exam.
Google’s AI Professional Certificate, sold on Udemy
Udemy’s pricing page now promotes Google’s AI Professional Certificate, with purchase options from $20.00 a month and what it calls industry-recognized credentials from Google. That credential is issued by Google, not by Udemy, which is exactly why it carries more weight than a standard completion certificate. Google also runs its Career Certificates on Coursera, backed by an employer consortium of over 150 US companies, if a recognized entry-level credential is the goal (see the Google Career Certificates on Coursera).
Can you put a Udemy certificate on your resume or LinkedIn?
Yes, with judgment. Done well it strengthens your profile; done carelessly it reads as padding. List it where it belongs, and only list what is relevant.
On a resume: put relevant courses under “Professional Development” or “Certifications and Training,” not under Education, which signals degrees. Name the course and tie it to something you can show: “Completed an advanced SQL course on Udemy; built the reporting queries behind our weekly sales dashboard.” A recruiter in this r/resumes thread suggested linking to a list of courses instead of printing them all; another commenter credited a job offer to the initiative a Udemy course showed.
On LinkedIn: this is the better home. Add the course yourself under Licenses and Certifications, with the course name, Udemy as the issuing organization, the completion date and the certificate URL as the credential link. Udemy’s Share button posts the certificate to your feed, which is different from adding it to your profile. Keep the list curated: three relevant, recent courses read as focused; fifteen read as filler.
The one rule in both places: never imply it is a degree, a license or an accredited credential.
When a Udemy certificate is, and isn’t, worth showing
| Worth showing when | Skip it, or do not rely on it, when |
|---|---|
| The skill is directly relevant to the job | The course has nothing to do with the role |
| You can demonstrate the skill in a project or work sample | The role legally requires an accredited or licensed credential |
| You are changing careers and need to show momentum | You would be presenting it as equal to a degree |
| It sits in LinkedIn’s Licenses and Certifications section | It is listed under Education on a resume |
| The instructor or course is well known in the field | You are stacking ten unrelated certificates to look busy |
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Udemy certificate vs accredited and professional certs
If you need a credential that carries weight with employers, Udemy is the wrong tool, and that is fine. Here is how the common options compare on recognition.
| Credential | What it proves | Employer recognition |
|---|---|---|
| Udemy certificate of completion | You completed a course | Low: a supporting signal |
| Udemy course with NASBA CPE credit | Completion plus NASBA’s self-study standards | Accepted toward CPA CPE, subject to state rules |
| Coursera Professional Certificate (Google, IBM, Meta) | Graded coursework from a named company | Moderate to strong for entry-level roles |
| Industry certification (AWS, CompTIA, Cisco) | You passed a proctored exam to a set standard | Strong; often named in job requirements |
| PMP | Experience plus an exam, governed by PMI | Strong professional qualification |
| Accredited degree or diploma | Validated by an external academic accreditor | The baseline many roles require |
The pattern is simple: recognition follows how the credential is earned. The more an outside body checks your performance against a fixed standard, the more weight it carries. Udemy’s completion model sits at the low end by design, which is why it is cheap and accessible. If you need recognition, a Coursera Professional Certificate or an industry exam is the better spend; if you need the skill, Udemy is hard to beat on price.
Is Udemy accredited in the UK, Canada, Australia or South Africa?
No, and the answer does not change by country. Udemy is not accredited anywhere, because it is not an education provider in the regulated sense. In the UK, regulated qualifications sit on Ofqual’s register; in Australia, nationally recognized training comes from registered training organizations; Canada and South Africa have their own provincial or national frameworks. A Udemy course that says “CPD accredited” has been reviewed by a private CPD organization, which is useful for logging hours but is not one of those regulated qualifications. Our John Academy review explains the same CPD distinction for UK course sellers.
Pros and cons: the value of a Udemy certificate
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Documents real time spent on a specific skill | Not accredited; not a recognized qualification |
| Signals self-directed learning, which interviewers notice | Completion-based: no exam and no graded standard |
| Cheap during promotions, with lifetime access to the material | Course quality varies widely by instructor |
| Verifiable by URL and easy to add to LinkedIn | No standing for regulated or licensed professions |
| A few courses carry NASBA CPE credit | The certificate alone rarely moves a hiring decision |
So, is it worth it? The bottom line
Match the tool to the goal. If you want to learn a skill for work, a side project or curiosity, Udemy is good value, and the certificate is a fine thing to log on LinkedIn. If you want a credential that satisfies a job requirement or a license, Udemy cannot give you that, and no amount of resume placement changes it; you want an accredited program or an industry exam.
The trap is treating the certificate as the prize. The skill is the prize. Use Udemy to build something real, show that work, and let the certificate play its honest supporting role. For the full platform verdict (pricing, course quality, refunds and support) see our Udemy review; to pick a course, start with our best Udemy courses list or check what Udemy costs and the Personal Plan options.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Udemy accredited?
No. Udemy’s own help center says Udemy is not an accredited institution and that its certificates cannot be used for formal accreditation. Udemy is a course marketplace, not a college or a training body approved by an education regulator. Individual courses can carry separate approvals, such as NASBA continuing education credit for accountants, but that applies to the course, not to Udemy.
Are Udemy certificates worth it?
For learning, yes; as a credential, rarely. A Udemy certificate proves you finished every lecture of a course, not that you passed an exam. It is worth listing when the skill is relevant to the job and you can show it in a project. It will not satisfy a requirement for a degree, a license or an industry certification.
Do employers accept Udemy certificates?
Employers rarely weigh the certificate itself. They weigh the skill behind it, so a Udemy certificate helps most as supporting evidence next to a project, a portfolio or a recognized exam. Recruiters on Reddit suggest listing relevant courses briefly rather than filling a resume with them.
Are Udemy certificates free?
No. Udemy issues certificates of completion only for paid courses. Its help center says free courses and courses that contain only practice tests do not offer a certificate of completion.
How do I verify a Udemy certificate?
Every Udemy certificate has its own URL, shown at the top right of the certificate and included when you share it. Anyone can open that link to see the certificate on Udemy’s site, which is how an employer can check it is genuine.
Do Udemy certificates expire?
Udemy does not print an expiry date on its certificates of completion, and they stay in your account. Remember that the skill can date even if the certificate does not: a 2021 certificate in a fast-moving tool says less than a recent one.
Can Udemy courses count for PMP PDUs or CPE credit?
Often, yes, but through the certifying body’s rules rather than Udemy accreditation. PMI’s continuing certification system lists courses from third-party providers and online learning among the ways to earn PDUs, and Udemy, Inc. is a NASBA registry sponsor (ID 144336) for self-study CPE on eligible courses. Check the course page and the certifying body’s rules before you rely on it.
Is Udemy accredited in the UK, Canada or Australia?
No. Udemy is not accredited in any country. Formal qualifications in those countries come through regulated bodies, and some Udemy courses advertise CPD accreditation from a private CPD organization, which records learning hours but is not a regulated qualification.
Related guides: Udemy Review (2026) · Are Coursera Certificates Worth It? · Are edX Certificates Worth It? · Coursera Review · Free certifications for your resume