Excel certification: which one is worth it?

In short: Microsoft's own Excel certification is the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) exam, delivered through Certiport. Course certificates from colleges, training providers and online platforms confirm that you finished their course. The LearnThisNext certificate confirms that you passed a timed, hands-on test and can be verified online. It is not a Microsoft certification.

Your options at a glance

	Microsoft Office Specialist	Course certificate	LearnThisNext certificate
Issued by	Microsoft	the school or training provider	LearnThisNext
How you earn it	proctored exam based on a published skills outline	attendance, sometimes a final quiz or project	20 hands-on tasks in 45 minutes
Cost	exam fee that varies by country	set by each provider	included in Premium: €7.99 per month or €59.99 per year
Proof	credential in your Microsoft Learn profile	certificate of completion	certificate with a verification link

Microsoft Excel certification (MOS)

When a job ad asks for a "Microsoft Excel certification", it usually means Microsoft Office Specialist. The exams are part of Microsoft's credential program and are taken through Certiport under supervision. There are two Excel levels, each available for Microsoft 365 Apps and for the older Office 2019:

• Excel Associate (exam MO-210 for Microsoft 365 Apps, MO-200 for Office 2019). Microsoft rates it as intermediate. It covers worksheets and workbooks, cells and ranges, tables, formulas and functions, and charts.
• Excel Expert (exam MO-211 for Microsoft 365 Apps, MO-201 for Office 2019). Microsoft rates it as advanced. It adds workbook protection, data validation, formula-based conditional formatting, nested logic, lookups, what-if analysis, simple macros, advanced charts and PivotTables.

Microsoft's exam pages list 50 minutes per exam and say the price depends on the country where you take it, so check with the test provider before you book. For a domain-by-domain breakdown and where to practice each part, see our guide to the MOS Excel exam.

MOS carries the most widely recognized name. It is the right choice if an employer asks for it by name, if you work in a field where formal credentials count, or if you want a certificate that is the same everywhere. Keep in mind that it also tests interface tasks such as page setup, print settings and chart styling in a specific Excel version.

Course certificates

Community colleges, adult education centers, corporate training and online course platforms all hand out certificates. Most of them are certificates of completion: they show that you went through the material. Some include a graded final project or quiz. Before you pay, find out whether there is any test at all and what it measures. A certificate that only proves attendance tells a hiring manager little about what you can do in a spreadsheet.

The LearnThisNext certificate

Our online Excel course ends with a final test: 20 practical tasks in 45 minutes with no hints and no solutions. You write every formula yourself, sort and filter lists and build PivotTables. Answers are also checked against changed data, so a typed-in result does not pass. You need at least 15 correct tasks.

What the certificate shows

• your name, the date and a certificate ID
• that you passed, without a score
• the skill areas you demonstrated, in plain sentences: formulas and references, decisions with IF and IFS, analyzing data by criteria, lookups with VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP and INDEX/MATCH, catching errors and building drop-down lists, text and dates, sorting, filtering and PivotTables, conditional formatting and charts
• a verification link, so anyone, such as a recruiter, can confirm it is genuine

You can print it, save it as a PDF and add it to your LinkedIn profile.

What it is not

It is not a Microsoft certification, not a government or accredited qualification, and LearnThisNext is not a Microsoft or Certiport partner. It shows that you worked through a structured learning path and then solved real tasks under time pressure. Anyone who wants details can open the link and see the areas covered.

Can you get an Excel certification for free?

A certificate backed by a real exam is rarely free. MOS has an exam fee and most courses charge for their certificate. With us, every lesson and its exercises are free. The final test and certificate need Premium and an account with a confirmed email address, and you can retake the test as often as you like.

Free and without sign-up are our practice tests. The Excel skills test places you on a level in a few minutes, and the Excel assessment test mirrors the kind of test employers use before hiring. Neither gives a certificate, but both show you what to practice next.

Which one should you choose?

• The job ad names Microsoft certification: take MOS Excel Associate, or Expert for analyst roles.
• Your employer pays for classroom training: a college or provider course with a final test.
• You want real skill plus a certificate you can share: our course and final test. It is also solid groundwork for MOS, because the formula topics overlap.

Whatever you pick, many employers still ask you to solve a short task during hiring. Our list of Excel interview questions shows what tends to come up, and the guide to Excel skills on your resume helps you describe your level.

Frequently asked questions