What do data science certificates really cost?
Eleven ways to a data science credential, from £32-a-month subscriptions to £8,000 bootcamps, priced by what it costs to finish at each provider's own stated pace.
Last checked: 1 Nov 2026 · every price read off the vendor's own page, monthly billing · no affiliate links
The short answer
Self-paced subscriptions cost about £100–£330 to finish: Codecademy about £96 and DataCamp about £108 (both at our assumed 10 hours a week), the IBM certificate £172 and Google's two £258 on Coursera Plus at £43 a month, Dataquest about £329.
A university name costs about £1,000–£1,100: MITx MicroMasters $1,350 and HarvardX's certificate $1,481.
Bootcamps cost 30 to 80 times as much: Le Wagon £7,900 for two months full-time online; Springboard $1,890 a month, $11,340 over its six months ($9,900 if paid upfront).
Pace is the price. Subscriptions charge by the month, so finishing faster costs less: the totals here use each provider's own stated pace.
Exams on their own: Microsoft's Power BI Data Analyst exam (PL-300) is £106; Google Cloud's Professional Data Engineer exam is $200 plus tax.
Sales come and go: Udacity was 50% off on the day we checked (£94 instead of £187 a month); this page uses the list price.
When the cheapest is not the answer
- Employers hire skills, not certificates. A portfolio of real projects usually counts for more than the badge; most of these programmes include projects you can show.
- Bootcamps sell time and support. Mentors, career services and a cohort cost money; a subscription gives you the material and leaves the discipline to you.
- Check what "certificate" means. A course certificate, a professional certificate and a vendor exam are different things; employers weigh them differently.
- Dollar prices may add tax at checkout, and move with the exchange rate.
Who made this page
An AI agent read each tool's pricing page in a real browser, switched it to monthly billing, and copied the sentence behind every figure; code checked each sentence was really on the page before it could be used. This page replaces an older article on getting a data science job on this site.
There are no affiliate links on this page. If that changes, each paid link will be marked (Ad), with a plain link beside it, and the order will stay what it is: by price, nothing else.
How the numbers are worked out
total to finish = monthly price × the provider's own stated months (or the one-off tuition); where only hours are given, 10 hours a week is assumed
| Programme | Total to finish | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| Google Data Analytics (Coursera)6 months at 10 hours a week; Coursera Plus | £258.006 months x £43 Coursera Plus | £43.00Coursera Plus, billed monthly (covers this certificate) |
| Google Advanced Data Analytics (Coursera)6 months at 10 hours a week; Coursera Plus | £258.006 months x £43 Coursera Plus | £43.00Coursera Plus, billed monthly |
| IBM Data Science (Coursera)4 months at 10 hours a week; Coursera Plus | £172.004 months x £43 Coursera Plus | £43.00Coursera Plus, billed monthly |
| DataCamp Associate Data Scientist90 hours; we assume 10 a week | £108.003 months x £36 (90 hr track at 10 h/week, our assumption) | £36.00Premium, monthly billing |
| Codecademy Data Scientist path95 hours; we assume 10 a week | £95.973 months x £31.99 (95 h path at 10 h/week, our assumption) | £31.99Pro, billed monthly |
| Dataquest Data Scientist path9 months at 5 hours a week | £329.139 months x $49 · $441.00 | £36.57Premium, monthly · $49.00 |
| Udacity Data Scientist Nanodegree4 months on average; list price, not the sale | £748.004 months x £187 list (promo: 4 x £94 = £376; 4-month bundle £317.50 promo) | £187.00Monthly Subscription list price (promo £94 for first 4 months) |
| MITx MicroMasters, Statistics & Data Science18–24 months at 10–16 hours a week | £1,007.55Bundle price · $1,350.00 | no planNot a subscription |
| HarvardX Data Science certificateself-paced, 9 courses | £1,105.31Series price · $1,481.00 | no planNot a subscription |
| Springboard Data Science Career Track6 months at 20–25 hours a week | £8,463.38Month-to-month estimate for 6 months (upfront: $9,900; list $13,900) · $11,340.00 | £1,410.56Month-to-month · $1,890.00 |
| Le Wagon Data Science & AI (online)2 months full-time | £7,900.00Full-time online, 23 Nov 2026 – 5 Feb 2027 | no planNot a subscription |
Exchange rates. ECB euro reference rates of 30 October 2026: 1 EUR = 0.83380 GBP, 1 EUR = 1.1172 USD, so 1 USD = 0.74633 GBP.
Left out: General Assembly — Data Science Bootcamp page says 'Sorry, this course is not available in your area.' for a UK visitor; catalog lists 480 hours | 12 weeks but no price, and the financing page publishes no tuition.; Microsoft Azure Data Scientist Associate (DP-100) — Retired: 'This certification and the renewal assessment are retired.' Replaced in the table by PL-300.; edX MITx MicroMasters page — edx.org/masters/micromasters/mitx-statistics-and-data-science says the programme is no longer available on edX; MIT IDSS page used instead.; Coursera per-certificate UK price — Not shown logged out; would need Enroll (sign-up). Coursera Plus used, with the £36–£58 per-programme range noted..
If you'll recommend one: what each pays you
From each provider's own affiliate page. Coursera says certificate purchases are excluded from its commission. Springboard, Dataquest, Le Wagon and General Assembly publish no programme. This plays no part in the order.
| Platform | Commission | Cookie |
|---|---|---|
| Coursera | 15%–45% baseline on eligible purchases (up to 45%) | 30 days |
| DataCamp | 15–20% of yearly subscriptions; 50–80% of the first month on monthly | 30 days |
| Codecademy | At least 7% for content creators (5% coupon/loyalty) | not stated |
| edX | Not published ('competitive commission') | 60 days |
There are no affiliate links on this page. The research is done by AI agents reading each vendor's own pricing pages. Product names and logos are trademarks of their owners, used only to identify the products compared. No analytics cookies, no tracking scripts, no third-party requests. A personal project, separate from the author's day job.