Entry-level IT and cloud certifications available to Filipinos, with real exam specs, the free government routes that actually exist, and the ones that are advertised as free but are not.
IT certification advice in the Philippines has a consistent problem: the prices are copied from years-old blog posts, half the "free scholarships" are not open to the public, and at least one commonly recommended exam has been retired.
So here is a roundup built the other way round. Exam specifications come from the vendors' own pages. Prices are given only where a vendor publishes them officially, and where they do not, we say that plainly rather than repeating a number we cannot stand behind.
| Certification | Exam code | Price | Format | Valid for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner | CLF-C02 | USD 100 (official) | 90 min, 65 questions, pass 700 | 3 years |
| AWS Certified AI Practitioner | AIF-C01 | USD 100 (official) | 90 min, 65 questions, pass 700 | 3 years |
| Azure AI Fundamentals | AI-901 | Not officially published | 45 min, pass 700 | Never expires |
| Azure Fundamentals | AZ-900 | Not officially published | 45 min, pass 700 | Never expires |
| CompTIA A+ | 220-1201 + 220-1202 | See price note below | 90 min each, pass 675 and 700 of 900 | 3 years |
| CompTIA Network+ | N10-009 | See price note below | 90 min, pass 720 of 900 | 3 years |
| CompTIA Security+ | SY0-701 | See price note below | 90 min, pass 750 of 900 | 3 years |
| Cisco CCNA | 200-301 | See price note below | Via Pearson VUE, no prerequisites | 3 years, 30 CE credits to renew |
| Google career certificates | Not an exam | USD 20/month in PH (official) | Coursera, self-paced | Not applicable |
Our price note, and why it matters. Only three figures above are officially published and verifiable: the two AWS exams at USD 100 each, and Google's Philippine subscription price of USD 20 a month after a 7-day trial. Microsoft renders exam prices dynamically and its own country price list is currently broken. CompTIA's and Cisco's stores could not be read directly. Widely circulated figures for those exams come from resellers and blogs, and CompTIA is reported to have raised prices in mid-2026, so older numbers are likely wrong. Get your price at checkout, not from an article.
TESDA Online Program. Free MOOCs on e-tesda.gov.ph with no tuition or registration fee. Confirmed ICT courses include Microsoft's Azure AI Fundamentals, Microsoft Security, Compliance and Identity Fundamentals (SC-900), IBM SkillsBuild, and Microsoft Digital Literacy. Two caveats we verified: there is no Cisco content on e-TESDA, and while an AWS subcategory exists, no AWS course is currently indexed in it.
AWS Skill Builder. Over 600 free courses including AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials, straight from AWS at aws.amazon.com/training/digital. The training is free; the exam is not.
AWS re/Start. A free 12-week full-time program for unemployed and underemployed people that prepares participants for Cloud Practitioner. It has been delivered in the Philippines with Edukasyon.ph since 2022, and AWS states the program is free to the learner.
Cisco Networking Academy. Free introductory courses including Networking Basics and a 6-hour Introduction to Cybersecurity, at netacad.com.
Microsoft Learn. Free official study paths for every Microsoft certification, including AI-901 and AZ-900.
You will see the DICT ICT Academy's CompTIA program shared as free CompTIA certification for Filipinos. The program is real and covers ITF+, A+, Network+, and Security+.
But read DICT's own wording: it is offered free of cost to DICT and CICC employees. It is not a public scholarship, and presenting it as one has sent a lot of people down a dead end. If you work for either agency, contact them about it. If you do not, this is not a route open to you.
Similarly, DICT's digitaljobsPH is real and free for unemployed and underemployed people, PWDs, out-of-school youth, former OFWs, and seniors, but it teaches freelancing and digital skills rather than vendor certification.
This trips people up constantly, so to be explicit about what we could not find any official basis for:
None of this makes those programs less valuable. It just means that if your goal is a specific vendor certification, budget for the exam fee yourself.
A recurring trap when searching for local IT training: several international brokers publish "Manila" landing pages with no verifiable Philippine address, office, or phone. Those are marketing microsites, not local providers. The ones below we could confirm have an actual local presence.
To find others yourself, use the vendors' own locators rather than a blog list: Cisco's academy locator, AWS training partners, and Pearson VUE's test centre locator.
Exam codes, durations, passing scores, and validity periods above come from the vendors' own certification pages, checked on 29 August 2026. We publish a price only where the vendor publishes it officially, which is why the AWS and Google figures appear and the Microsoft, CompTIA, and Cisco ones do not. Where a certification has been retired or is about to change version, we say so by name.
Browse related programs in the certifications hub or every no-cost option in the free courses hub.
CompTIA A+ is the traditional entry point for helpdesk and support roles, though it requires passing two exams. If you want cloud or AI, AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and AWS Certified AI Practitioner are both officially priced at USD 100 and have free study material through AWS Skill Builder. Microsoft's Fundamentals certifications have the advantage of never expiring.
Only some vendors publish verifiable prices. AWS lists USD 100 for both Cloud Practitioner and AI Practitioner. Google's career certificates are USD 20 a month in the Philippines after a 7-day trial. Microsoft renders prices dynamically and its country price list is currently unavailable, while CompTIA and Cisco prices circulating online come from resellers rather than official stores and may be out of date following a reported 2026 CompTIA price increase. Check the price at checkout.
The DICT ICT Academy runs a CompTIA program covering ITF+, A+, Network+, and Security+, but DICT states it is free of cost to DICT and CICC employees. It is not a public scholarship. If you do not work for either agency, it is not open to you, despite how it is often shared online.
Not for vendor exams, based on what we could verify. TESDA scholarships such as TWSP, STEP, and PESFA fund training and TESDA's own National Certificate competency assessments. DOST-SEI and CHED fund degree programs. We found no official source showing any of them paying for CompTIA, Cisco, AWS, or Microsoft exam vouchers.
Microsoft Fundamentals certifications, including Azure AI Fundamentals and Azure Fundamentals, do not expire. AWS, CompTIA, and Cisco certifications are all valid for three years. Microsoft's Associate and Expert certifications expire annually but renew free through an online assessment.
Yes. Pearson VUE's OnVUE online proctoring restricts delivery only in a specific list of countries and the Philippines is not among them. You will need a walled room with a closed door, a room scan, and government ID matching your certification profile exactly.