State of Digital
Credentials
2026
We surveyed 214 credential program managers across corporate L&D, higher education, and professional associations on platform choices, adoption barriers, budget trends, and where the industry is heading.
Read full report ↓summary
Adoption & Growth
Digital credential adoption accelerated significantly between 2024 and 2026. The majority of organizations in our survey now run active credential programs — a milestone that would have seemed ambitious three years ago.
What type of credentials are being issued?
"We started with course completion certificates in 2022. By 2025 we had expanded to 14 different badge types across skills, compliance, and onboarding. The platform became infrastructure, not just a nice-to-have."
Platform Selection
How do organizations choose a digital credential platform? We asked respondents to rank the factors that drove their platform decision — the results challenge some common assumptions about what buyers actually care about.
Top purchase criteria (ranked 1st by respondents)
Ease of use ranks first despite being the hardest criterion to evaluate from a product page or demo. Respondents consistently described "time-to-first-credential" as the single most telling signal during a trial — if the first badge takes more than 20 minutes, most buyers move on.
How platforms are discovered
"I asked in three different Slack communities and got a consistent recommendation within 24 hours. No amount of Google Ads from a vendor would have had the same effect."
Budget & Spend
Credential program budgets grew across every segment in 2026. We asked respondents about total annual spend — including platform fees, design, administration time, and any related technology costs.
Annual platform spend by organization size
| Organization size | Median spend | Range (25th–75th pct) | YoY change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–50 employees | $780 | $0–$1,800 | +18% |
| 51–200 employees | $2,400 | $600–$5,200 | +31% |
| 201–1,000 employees | $8,400 | $3,000–$18,000 | +27% |
| 1,001–5,000 employees | $28,000 | $12,000–$55,000 | +38% |
| 5,000+ employees | $61,000 | $24,000–$180,000 | +22% |
"We calculated that digital badges increased our course completion rate by 23%. When I showed that number to the CFO, the budget conversation became much easier."
Switching & Churn
Platform switching intent is at a record high. 41% of active credential program managers told us they are "likely" or "very likely" to switch platforms in the next 12 months — up from 29% in our 2024 survey.
Top reasons for switching (among those who switched in the past 2 years)
Despite high switching intent, the average time between deciding to switch and actually switching is 8.4 months. The main barrier is data migration — 72% of those who delayed a switch cited difficulty exporting existing credential records as the primary obstacle. Platforms with clean data export tools have a structural retention advantage.
Sharing & Analytics
The value of a digital credential program is partly in what happens after issuance — whether recipients share credentials and whether organizations can measure the impact. Our data reveals a significant gap between what organizations want and what most platforms deliver.
Where recipients share credentials
"We can see that 84% of our badge earners add the badge to their LinkedIn within two weeks of receiving it. That data is the single most powerful thing we show to internal stakeholders when justifying the program budget."
Open Badge Standards & Compliance
Open Badge 3.0 was finalized in 2022, yet adoption among credential programs remains uneven. We asked respondents about their standards awareness, current compliance status, and upgrade plans.
Despite Open Badge 3.0 being finalized nearly four years ago, only 29% of credential programs have upgraded. The most common reason cited: their current platform doesn't yet support 3.0, and switching is perceived as too disruptive. Platforms that offer seamless 2.0-to-3.0 migration will have a significant competitive advantage in 2026–2027.
Barriers to Open Badge 3.0 adoption
Outlook & Trends
We asked respondents to identify the trends they expect to have the most impact on their credential programs in the next two years. The results point toward a maturing market where interoperability and AI-assisted design are top of mind.
Trends expected to have the most impact (next 24 months)
"The question isn't whether digital credentials will become the standard — they already are for our sector. The question is whether the platforms will keep up with what we actually need from them."
The State of Digital Credentials 2026 report is based on an online survey conducted in Q1 2026 (January–March). A total of 214 respondents completed the survey. Respondents were credential program managers, L&D professionals, HR leaders, and higher education administrators from 11 countries (United States 38%, United Kingdom 19%, Germany 11%, Netherlands 8%, Poland 6%, Australia 5%, Canada 4%, France 3%, other 6%).
Organization sizes ranged from under 50 employees (18%) to over 5,000 employees (14%). Respondents were recruited via LinkedIn outreach, edtech community newsletters, and the DigitalCredentialPlatforms.com audience. The survey was anonymous; no personally identifiable information was collected.
All percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number. "n=" values reflect the number of respondents who selected that option. Where respondents could select multiple answers, totals exceed 100%.
Citation: DigitalCredentialPlatforms.com, "State of Digital Credentials 2026," June 2026. Free to cite with attribution and link to this page.