Choosing Between LMS Digital Badges and Digital Credentialing Platforms: What’s Best for Your Organization?

As education and training leaders, one of the most important decisions you’ll make is how to recognize and validate learner achievements. With the growing demand for credentials that are easily shareable, portable, and trusted by employers, choosing the right solution for issuing digital badges and certificates is essential. But should you rely on the built-in features of your Learning Management System (LMS), or should you invest in a best-of-breed digital credentialing platform like Accredible?

This decision often comes down to your organization's specific needs — whether it’s internal recognition, industry-standard certifications, or wide-scale credentialing. Below, we’ll explore the pros, cons, and ideal use cases for LMS badges and dedicated credentialing platforms to help you decide which solution best fits.

LMS Digital Badges: The Built-in, Cost-Effective Option

Many LMS platforms have built-in badge issuance features, offering a streamlined way to reward learners for course completions or specific achievements. While this can be convenient and affordable, it’s important to understand where LMS badges may fall short for particular use cases.

Pros

• Built-in Functionality: Digital badges are often built into the LMS, making it easy to get started and issue credentials without needing external tools.
• Lower Initial Badging Cost: Since many LMS platforms include badges as part of their feature set, there are often few or no perceived additional costs beyond the LMS subscription.
• Basic Credentialing: Works well for simple, internal recognition or microcredentials within an organization's training program, where they don't need to be shared or used externally or require verification.
• Simple Learner Experience: Since the learner is already familiar with the LMS, they can earn and manage badges on a single platform.
• Immediate Issuance: Badges are automatically issued as learners complete LMS-created content, streamlining the process. (Note: This can also be achieved by integrating with specific digital credential platforms like Accredible.) 

Cons

• Limited Design & Customization: LMS badges usually offer fewer customization options, often limiting branding, metadata, or unique designs.
• No Robust Verification: Most LMS badges do not offer immediate, secure verification features to prevent fraud. Credentials are typically only recognized within the LMS or organization, lacking security features for authenticity checks.
• Limited Credential Metadata: LMS-issued badges generally include limited metadata, which restricts the ability to provide detailed information about what was learned, skills acquired, or evidence of assessments.
• Minimal Tracking & Reporting: Reporting features may be basic, focusing more on course completion than in-depth credential analytics.
• Limited Sharing: LMS badges might not be optimized for social sharing or recognized beyond the issuing organization’s ecosystem, limiting their external usability and value for learners.
• Vendor Lock-in: Switching from one LMS to another can result in lost badges or disrupted credentialing continuity.
• Limited Issuance Flexibility: LMS badges are typically issued based on course completions within the platform, making it difficult to accommodate complex issuing patterns or triggers from external systems or non-LMS activities.
• Lack of Continuous Updates: LMS badge systems are usually just part of a broader learning platform, meaning they may not receive the regular updates, feature enhancements, or dedicated support that specialized badging platforms offer.

Best Use Cases for LMS Badges

• Internal training and compliance programs where recognition stays within the organization.
• Non-academic or informal learning programs where badge portability and verification aren’t as critical.
• Organizations looking for cost-effective ways to encourage course completions.

Digital Credentialing Platforms: Verifiable, Customizable, and Scalable

For organizations needing more robust credentials — credentials that can be verified instantly, come with rich metadata, and are easily shareable — best-of-breed solutions like Accredible offer a more comprehensive approach. These platforms not only issue secure and verifiable credentials but also allow for customization and detailed tracking, making them ideal for both academic institutions and professional certification bodies.

Pros

• Verifiable & Secure Credentials: Digital credential platforms offer immediate, secure verification of credentials, enabling recipients or third parties to confirm the authenticity and prevent fraud.
• Rich Metadata: Digital credentials allow organizations to embed detailed metadata into each credential, such as descriptions of the skills learned, evidence of completed projects, assessments, and standards met — adding value and clarity for employers or educational institutions.
• Custom Branding: Full customization options for badges and certificates allow organizations to maintain a strong brand identity and consistency throughout the learner experience. (Note: Accredible takes this to another level, enabling organizations to fully white-label digital credentials, issuer pages, emails, and learner directories.)
• Advanced Analytics: Provides detailed tracking of how often credentials are shared, viewed, or engaged with, offering insights into their reach and impact.
• Social Sharing: Digital badges and certificates are optimized for social media and can be easily shared on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other platforms, increasing visibility and program referrals.
• Interoperability & Portability: Credentials can be shared across platforms and remain valid even if the issuing institution changes its systems.
• Scalability: Ideal for organizations with large-scale credentialing needs across diverse programs or partnerships.

Cons

• Higher Cost: Typically, using a best-of-breed credentialing platform requires a separate subscription or usage fee. 
• Integration Needs: While many platforms like Accredible integrate with popular LMSs, setting up the connection may require additional configuration.
• Complexity for Small Programs: The depth of features may be more than necessary for small-scale credentialing programs.

Best Use Cases for Digital Credentialing Platforms

• Higher education institutions issuing degrees, certifications, and microcredentials with verifiable evidence of learning.
• Professional certification programs that need to demonstrate skill mastery and offer widely recognized, portable credentials.
• Corporate academies with large-scale, multi-tiered certification or product training programs that rely on detailed credential tracking and sharing.
• Online learning providers or massive open online course (MOOC) platforms that want to enhance the value and visibility of their credentials.

Which Credentialing Solution is Right for You?

Choosing between using your LMS’s built-in digital badges or a best-of-breed platform like Accredible depends on your credentialing needs. Your LMS may be sufficient if you need simple, low-cost badges for internal recognition or informal learning. However, if you aim to issue verifiable, portable, and data-rich credentials that carry real value beyond your organization and boost brand awareness via credential sharing, investing in a platform like Accredible is worth considering.

Many organizations integrate their LMS and a digital credentialing platform to have the best experience for their teams and learners. For example, Workato integrates Accredible with Skilljar, Trimble integrates Accredible with Docebo, and leading universities like Rutgers University, UC Berkeley, and Syracuse University integrate Accredible with Canvas LMS to offer verifiable and shareable digital credentials, automate credential management, and in many cases, automatically issue credentials to learners based on their completion of courses or certifications.

Maven Analytics uses Accredible’s open API to integrate with its in-house guided learning platform, making it much easier for its team to build, track, and maintain credentials with built-in group setup and email capabilities. But it’s had an even more significant impact on learners. Now, they have their own dashboard inside the Maven Analytics platform where they can see all their activities, claim their credentials, and add them to their LinkedIn profile in a few clicks.

“We're an instructor-run business. And so we needed an open API to keep everything in a centralized platform, said Chris Dutton, Founder & Chief Product Officer at Maven Analytics. “I've been so happy with how seamless that integration has been and how easy it's been working with Accredible.”

Ready to Unify Your Credentialing Process?

Accredible integrates with many leading LMS platforms to make credentialing as seamless as possible, allowing you to automatically issue verifiable digital credentials upon course completion. Check out Accredible’s integrations page to learn how to connect your LMS to deliver a unified experience for your learners and streamline your credentialing process.

Want to know the key differences between Accredible’s digital credential platform and the badging capabilities available within most LMS platforms? Watch our 30-minute on-demand webinar.

Curious to see how Accredible can unify your data, tech stack, and learner experience by connecting with your LMS? Schedule a demo today.