The Best Affordable Life Coach Certification in 2024

Lovely Impact’s Top Pick: Transformation Life Coach Certification

We’re kicking this party off with our top pick! We’ve chosen Transformation Life Coach Certification by Transformation Academy as the best, most affordable life coach certification for 2 reasons.

Reason #1: You can purchase the certification on Udemy as a new student for as low as $19.99.

Reason #2: Our Co-Founder, Tee, is the most remarkable coach! She has invested thousands of dollars in well-known life coach certifications, and she’s also taken this course we’re recommending now. And in her expert experience, the Transformation Life Coach Certification was the best by leaps and bounds. 

Which is why we’re giving Transformation Life Coach Certification a standing O!

Sample Buyer Review: “Transformation Academy… has done so much good in regards to making education for coaches both accessible and educational. I have enrolled in many of the programs and have nothing but the best to say about the courses and positive momentum I feel in regards to my own coaching practice.”

Read more reviews at Udemy.com

We love life coaches, and we love it when we find a great, affordable life coach certification that gives coaches the tools they need to help themselves and others grow.

Certification programs generally have different focuses, modalities, and methods for training their coaches. This can make it difficult to figure out exactly which program is the best fit for you and the type of coaching you want to do with your clients.

On top of that, a life coach certification can run you anywhere from $12 to $18,000 which adds yet another complex layer to the decision making process!

Equipping yourself with the right knowledge before you choose a certification program to invest in is the best thing gift you can possibly give to yourself and your future clients.

As your biz besties, we’re giving you all of the tools you need to make this decision from a place of informed clarity and confidence instead of stressed-out or stuck confusion.

So, if you want to skip the whole “analysis paralysis” part of the certification process – keep reading!

What is a Life Coach Certification?

A life coaching certification is a certificate program which shows that you have completed necessary course work or classes in order to become a life coach. Additionally, an expert teacher or governing body has evaluated your progress and decided that you have completed the necessary training needed to work directly with clients who need life coaching.

Once you have completed your training, you can call yourself a certified coach!

*Alexa. Play “Upgrade U” by Beyoncé*

It’s important to note that our industry has not been regulated, and some certification programs were created to take advantage of the explosive growth in coaching.

If you haven’t done life coaching before, we highly recommend a certification program because it will teach you how to become a life coach. Coaching certification programs will teach you all about the role you’ll fill and the tools you’ll need to fill it.

Often programs include some sort of training on how to market yourself as a life coach and build your life coaching practice, which is especially helpful if you’re just starting out.

In order to truly fulfill the role of a life coach, there are certain things you should and shouldn’t be doing. Training programs and certifications allow you to be in the know with coaching best practices and trends to ensure you provide your clients with the best tools possible.

What Is A Certified Life Coach?

Great question! A certified life coach is a life coach that has been certified through an accredited certification or life coaching course. 

Do You Need A Certification To Be A Life Coach?

Technically? No.

You do not need a certification to be a life coach.

But wait! Before you close this window and completely write off investing in a certification program – hear us out.

Coaching is not a regulated industry, which means there’s no governing entity that oversees who is allowed to call themself a life coach and who isn’t. It’s not like a medical degree where you have to pass your boards or a law degree where you have to pass the bar exam.

Basically, you can call yourself a life coach without taking any training program or getting certified, if that’s how you roll. But we really don’t recommend that route.

The whole point of a certification program is to learn how to be a life coach.

And let’s be honest, if you’re relatively new to the life coaching industry there are likely a lot of different things you still don’t know about being a life coach. Things that you could really benefit from learning about through a certification program.

So while technically, no, you don’t need a certification to be a life coach, we do recommend investing in one that’s going to train you in the tools and concepts of life coaching so you can be a more effective coach for your clients.

What Should A Life Coach Certification Include?

If you lined up ten life coaches and asked them, what is a life coach, you should, in theory, get the same answer over and over again.

But that’s not how it actually works.

In fact, you’d probably get a variety of responses.

Each life coach certification program teaches the roles and responsibilities of a life coach just a little bit differently, which means there are a ton of variations. Which means there’s a life coach out there for just about everyone.

It also means there’s a unique space for your life coaching practice!

With that in mind, these are the things we believe should be included in whatever life coach certifications you decide to consider or pursue:

1. What it means to be a life coach certified by that program
2. How to effectively listen and communicate with your clients
3. Ways to approach difficult conversations
4. Tools and modalities for coaching your clients
5. How to keep your personal thoughts and feelings out of the equation
6. Strategies for meeting your clients where they’re at

All of the things on this list are important aspects of you becoming an effective life coach.

They will have a direct impact on how well you are able to serve the people you work with. Learning how to manage and use the most effective strategies, tools, skills will benefit your life coaching business in more ways than one.

Did you find a certification program you love, but it doesn’t teach something on the list above? Try adding on some supplemental skills to compliment to your certification. There is no “wrong” or “right” combination of skillsets here. Trust your intuition and go for it! We’ve got your back.

What Does An Accredited Life Coach Certification Mean?

A life coaching certification program that is accredited means that it has been reviewed and certified as credible by an authentic governing entity or body.

This can come from a number of sources, but for life coaching there are a few popular accreditation programs (and their acronyms) that you’ll run into:

• CPD or CEU: Normally, if a coaching program provides you with continuing professional development credits (CPD) or continuing education units (CEU), that program has been certified internationally by the Continuing Professional Development Standards Agency (also referred to as The CPD Standards Agency). 
• ICF-Accredited: A program that is certified by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) has gone through in-depth review and its curriculum has been approved by the leading global organization for coaching standards, professionals, and certifications.

How To Find A Certification That Meets Your Needs

Basically, we recommend you do a LOT of research about coaching certifications.

It’s the worst when you commit to one that ends up not being the right fit. Start by searching for certifications online, asking coaches you respect what their opinions are, and doing your due diligence searching for reviews wherever you can find them.

No matter what program you find one, you should be asking some basic questions about it before signing up.

Questions To Ask About The Certification You’re Considering

It’s in your best interest to NOT sign up for the very first life coach certifications you find. Why? Because not all certification programs are created equal.

Some of them are nothing more than a quick, easy way for the instructors to make money (especially considering how popular life coaching has become over the last few years).

Instead, we recommend doing your research on multiple coaching certifications before choosing the one that’s the best fit for you, your lifestyle, and the type of coach you want to become.

That’s why we’re providing a list of questions for you to ask before choosing the certification program you’ll invest your time and money in.

1. Is the instructor I’ll be learning from an experienced coach with proven success?
2. How long have they been coaching (hopefully long enough to know what they’re talking about)?
3. Does this program focus on the niche topics I’m interested in working with?
4. Will they train me in the coaching tools and methodologies I’ll need, and provide me with a process to use on my clients?
5. What does it take to graduate from their program? How many hours, units, etc?
6. Do they offer or require practice coaching sessions so I can put what I’m learning into action and get feedback?
7. Does the mode of delivery for this certification meet my needs?
8. Can I commit to the length of time this certification requires?
9. Will the certification process include information or assistance in building my coaching practice?
10. Do they offer any after-certification support for their students?
11. Do they have a refund option if this program is not what I expected?

What Is The Best Life Coach Certification?

There are so many life coach certifications out there that cost anywhere from twelve dollars to tens of thousands. And while a whole lot of them are amazing programs, in this guide we’re only focusing on a few we’ve personally taken that we know won’t break the bank.

Because sometimes…you don’t need (or want) to invest thousands of dollars on a career option that may or may not be your forever path. Especially when the training is just as good, if not better, than some of the other options out there.

We are knowledge junkies, and so we’ve both enrolled in and completed more than one certification program.

If you’re wondering “why would they take multiple certification programs?” It’s because we love our clients, and we really want to have a variety of tools, modalities, and experiences to draw from when working with them.

We’re absolutely not saying we think you need to take more than one certification program yourself, simply that we prefer to explore a variety of methods. It’s fun for us!

Having said that, we both discovered something interesting…

That the more cost-effective programs we’ve taken gave us just as much, if not more, than the ones that cost thousands of dollars.

Interesting, right?

So now that we’ve let that slip, we want to tell you exactly which programs we’ve taken and loved, so that if you have an interest in taking them yourself, you know where we recommend you go.

1. Transformation Life Coach Certification by Joeel & Natalie Rivera

11 sections | 121 lectures | 10h total length

We first came across Transformation Academy on Udemy. In fact, we were able to get a few of their certification courses on Udemy for an extremely low price.

Is Transformation Academy Legit? Yes!

Transformation Academy is a legitimate certification program. We were skeptical at first too, but our CMO took a few of their coaching courses, and they were better than the more well-known life coach certifications she paid thousands of dollars for.

They offer a variety of different courses in a few different areas, including life coaching, entrepreneurship, and creating your own online course, etc.

But best part is the numerous life coach certifications in niche specialties. For example, you can become a certified as a business, health, mindset, spiritual, or transformation coach. 

So no matter what area you want to focus on coaching your clients, they likely have a certification course that will teach you how to do that effectively.

The Pricing? As low as $19.99 on Udemy as a new student. Yup. You read that price right!

Or if you purchase directly from their website, it’s $197 for each niche certification. Or, you can take their Master Coach certification course (which is 4 certification tracks in one) for $497 (at the time of this article). Plus, they have a membership option where you can get certified in any and all of their life coaching niches and have access to their business-building resources for $94.95/month.

Sample Buyer Review: “This is one of the most extensive, informative, and professional courses I have taken with Udemy. I am an advent/serial learner, having obtained an MBA online, giving me a love for self-paced education. Joeel and Natalie are both very knowledgeable and present the information with clarity and relativity. No fluff here, this is tangible, quantifiable, quality training.”

Read more reviews at Udemy.com

2. Life Coaching Certification Course (Beginner to Advanced) by Achology

20 sections | 239 lectures | 52h 37m total length

Interestingly, we found the Achology life coach certifications on Udemy as well.

Achology doesn’t offer niche coach certifications, but they do offer courses in other helping modalities like NLP, CBT, and hypnotherapy. So basically, skills that could support you as a life coach.

They also offer a membership option to their site, where you can take all of their available courses, as well as get involved in their community, take advantage of practice coaching sessions with other members, and get feedback on things you’re struggling with.

The Pricing: As low as $21.99 on Udemy as a new student.

You can join their membership for $39/month (or $390/year) and get certified in as many of their certification courses as you want, plus get access to their community.

Sample Buyer Review: “Outstanding course. Very well done. Instructor was very knowledgeable about all the topics presented. His overall character was very authentic and caring. I truly enjoyed taking this class.”

Read more reviews at Udemy.com

Why We Think These Life Coaching Certifications Are Great

Now having a great price on life coach certifications is one thing, but we’re specifically highlighting these two because we’ve experienced them personally and believe them to be effective programs.

But to help you make your decision, we want to explain why we think they’re so great.

Tierra: The reason I love Transformation Academy is that Joel and Natalie get straight to the point and help you master the concepts. They also provide a ton of resources for coaches including forms, exercises, visualizations and more. Additionally, they have a niche for just about every type of coach, from Reiki to business, and even relationships. Many of their certifications are also accredited and can be used towards CEUs. 

Cass: I loved every minute of the Achology Life Coach Certificate and Life Coach Practitioner Diploma. Kain Ramsay takes his 10+ years of experience as a life coach and breaks everything down into understandable concepts and instructions for how to be an effective life coach. He also includes demonstration segments where you can watch him coach using the exact tools and techniques he’s shared throughout the course. And amazingly, he includes all the tools and modalities as PDFs you can download and use on yourself and your clients.

Once You’ve Picked Your Certification

No matter what certification course or program you decide to go through, you have to commit to it. Commit to getting everything you can out of that program.

Maximize your investment.

Work at it so hard you could get a medal or become the teacher’s pet.

Learn what you need to learn so that you can become an effective, strong coach who never doubts you know how to handle any situation or conversation you might find yourself in. Grow that confidence, baby!

And above all else, use each of the tools and strategies you learn on yourself, your peers and your friends (who’ve agreed to it, of course), and anyone else who’s willing to let you practice on them.

Coaching yourself and coaching others is the only way to get the experience you need to feel truly secure and confident in your abilities as a coach. You’ve got this!

What to Do After You Become a Certified Life Coach

Of all the questions we’ve heard or seen in our groups, this question is one of the most commonly asked (it’s also one of our absolute favorites to answer)…

“I just got certified. What do I do next?”

Oh, do we have something that can help you!

We’ve created a free checklist to answer that exact question. It’s 149+ actionable steps you can take to build your coaching business the right way, from soup to nuts. From A to Z. You get the picture.

Save yourself hours of stress and refocus on smart actionable tasks that benefit your business. You can thank us later!

Download The Impact List here.