Digital badges vs PDF certificates
A certificate is a document you can print. A badge is a link anyone can check. You can send both.
Side by side
The left column is a PDF certificate sent by mail merge. The right column is a badge from Incredify, including the parts that are not in its favor.
| Question | PDF certificate by mail merge | Badge from Incredify |
|---|---|---|
| What the participant receives | A document, usually attached to an email. | Unless you turn the email off when issuing, an email with a link to their badge page. They need no account. They can also download the badge image as a PNG with the signed credential inside it, or the credential as a JSON-LD data file. There is no PDF. |
| Their name on it | Printed on the document, different for each person. | Not on the badge image, which is one design shared by everyone who earns it. The name appears on the badge page, in the line “Issued by [your organization] to [name] on [date]”, if you entered a name. |
| Printing | Prints as a document, with a different name on each copy. It needs no website to read. | Printing the badge page (or saving it as a PDF from the browser’s print dialog) gives a short record with the badge, the issuer, the date, the recipient’s name if you entered one, and the description and criteria. A valid badge also prints its credential address and a line saying that a printed copy is not proof on its own and to check the badge at that address. A revoked badge prints its Revoked notice instead. |
| Attaching to an application | Attach the file. | Send the link, or attach the PNG or the data file. We cannot say which employers, application systems or wallets accept those files. |
| Checking it is genuine | A copy can be edited, and there is usually no built-in check. Confirming one typically means contacting whoever issued it. | A Verify button on the badge page checks the issuer’s digital signature and that the badge is not revoked or expired. It relies on the key Incredify publishes at incredify.net, and it needs the badge page to be reachable. |
| Correcting or withdrawing it | A sent file stays with the recipient. You can send a corrected copy, but you cannot recall the first one. | You can revoke a badge, and its page then says Revoked and Verify fails. Copies of the image or data file saved earlier are not changed. You cannot set an expiry date today. |
| Putting it on LinkedIn | The participant adds it to their profile by hand. | An Add to LinkedIn button opens LinkedIn’s add-to-profile form with the details filled in. |
| Your effort per cohort | A mail merge from your spreadsheet. | Design the badge once. Then upload a CSV with an email column and an optional name column, up to 1,000 rows per file, or type up to 25 addresses. |
What a participant gets from a badge
An email with a link
Unless you turn the email off when issuing, each participant gets an email with a link to their badge page. They do not need an account.
A badge page
The page shows the badge image, the badge name, the issuer, the recipient’s name if you entered one, the date, the description, the criteria, and any skills and evidence you added. It also shows the credential URL and credential ID.
Verify, Share and Add to LinkedIn
Verify checks the issuer’s digital signature and that the badge is not revoked or expired. Add to LinkedIn opens LinkedIn’s add-to-profile form, filled in. Share sends the link on.
Two downloads
The badge image as a PNG with the signed credential inside it, and the credential as a JSON-LD data file.
A printed page
Printing the badge page (or saving it as a PDF from the browser’s print dialog) gives a short record with the badge, the issuer, the date, the recipient’s name if you entered one, and the description and criteria. A valid badge also prints its credential address and a line saying that a printed copy is not proof on its own and to check the badge at that address. A revoked badge prints its Revoked notice instead.
Badge pages are public to anyone with the link, and they show the recipient’s name. Search engines are asked not to list them.
What a badge does not replace
- It is not a certificate document with the person’s name on the image. The image is shared by everyone who earns the badge.
- There is no PDF. Incredify does not produce certificates.
- You cannot set an expiry date today.
- There is no field for hours or credits. Put them in the description as plain text.
- There is no link to a learning management system or student system.
- We cannot say which employers, application systems or wallets accept the files.
If your participants need a named document to file, keep sending the PDF. A badge can go out beside it.
Is it more work than a mail merge?
You start from the same spreadsheet: a column of addresses and a column of names. Save it as a CSV with an email column and an optional name column, and upload it. One file can hold up to 1,000 rows.
For a small group you can instead type up to 25 addresses, or issue to one person. The one extra job is the badge design, which you make once. See how to issue digital badges for the steps, or the badge maker for the designer.
What it costs
The free plan covers 100 badges issued per calendar year. For a program sending several hundred a year, the Starter plan covers 2,500 badges a year for $276 a year. See pricing for every plan.
Questions
- Is a digital badge the same as a digital certificate?
- No. A certificate is a document, usually a PDF, that you print or attach. A badge is a link to a page the issuer controls plus a signed record. Incredify issues badges. It does not produce certificates or PDFs.
- Can the badge show the participant’s name?
- On the badge page, yes, if you entered a name: it reads “Issued by [your organization] to [name] on [date]”. Not on the badge image. The image is one design shared by everyone who earns it, so it can carry the words “Certificate of Completion” but not a different name for each person.
- Can participants print it?
- Yes. Printing the badge page (or saving it as a PDF from the browser’s print dialog) gives a short record with the badge, the issuer, the date, the recipient’s name if you entered one, and the description and criteria. A valid badge also prints its credential address and a line saying that a printed copy is not proof on its own and to check the badge at that address. A revoked badge prints its Revoked notice instead.
- Can I send both a badge and a PDF certificate?
- Yes. If participants need a named document to file, keep sending the PDF, and send the badge beside it.
- Can an employer check it without an account?
- Yes, if they have the link. The badge page is public to anyone with the link, and the Verify button needs no account. It checks the issuer’s digital signature and that the badge is not revoked or expired, and it relies on the key Incredify publishes at incredify.net. Badge pages show the recipient’s name, and search engines are asked not to list them.
- Can a badge expire?
- Not today. You cannot set an expiry date. You can revoke a badge, and its page then says Revoked.
Try one badge beside your next certificate
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