How much does a Meta certification exam cost?
A Meta certification exam costs the equivalent of US$99 to US$150 depending on your country, with the exact price shown during checkout. Meta does not publish one fixed USD price. Retakes carry a five-day wait; the entry-level Digital Marketing Associate grants a free second attempt, while every later attempt is charged at the full fee.
The One Published Fee: a Range, Not a Price Tag
Meta's exam-cost FAQ is the family's only public fee statement: Meta Certification exams cost the equivalent of USD 99 to USD 150, depending on your country, and you see the exact cost displayed during the checkout process. Meta deliberately prices by country rather than publishing one flat USD figure per exam code.
That has two practical consequences. First, any third-party site quoting a single global Meta exam price is guessing - the honest answer is a range plus "check at checkout." Second, your budget lands somewhere between roughly US$99 and US$150 per attempt wherever you sit the exam, whether that is the entry-level DMA or an intermediate professional credential.
The fee covers one attempt, online through Pearson OnVUE from your office or home, or in person at a Pearson test center - the delivery route does not change the published range.
| Exam | Fee (by country) | Questions / time | Passing score | Validity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Marketing Associate (100-101) | US$99-150 equivalent | 60 / 90 minutes | 700 of 1,000 | 2 years |
| Media Buying Professional (410-101) | US$99-150 equivalent | 60 / 105 minutes | 700 of 1,000 | 12 months |
| Media Planning Professional (400-101) | US$99-150 equivalent | Professional tier | 700 of 1,000 | 12-24 months |
| Creative Strategy Professional (300-101) | US$99-150 equivalent | Professional tier | 700 of 1,000 | 12-24 months |
| Marketing Science Professional (200-101) | US$99-150 equivalent | Professional tier | 700 of 1,000 | 12-24 months |
Scroll horizontally to view all columns.
Retake Economics: the Five-Day Wait and the DMA's Free Second Attempt
Meta's retake FAQ sets the family rule: if you fail the exam, you are eligible to retake it after five days, there is no limit to the number of times an exam can be taken, and the full fee is charged each time. No attempt cap also means no lockout - the cost of persistence is money and calendar, not eligibility.
The entry-level DMA softens that rule once: Meta's 100-101 exam page states that after a failed attempt you are eligible to schedule a second exam free of charge after the five-day waiting period. Attempts beyond the first two cost the regular exam fee. The intermediate professional exams, including Media Buying, publish no free-retake language - budget the full fee for every attempt.
The arithmetic is simple and worth doing before exam day: a two-attempt DMA path costs one fee (the second attempt is free), while a two-attempt professional path costs two full fees. Every failed attempt also costs five calendar days before you can sit again.
The 24-Hour Boundary and Other Fee Traps
The scheduling rule with teeth: cancel or reschedule at least 24 hours before the appointment, or the absence counts as an exam attempt. On the DMA, that burned attempt consumes your free second sitting; on a professional exam, it costs a full fee. Treat the booking as final inside the last day.
At-home sittings add a technical forfeit risk. Pearson publishes that failing to meet the OnVUE minimums on exam day - Windows 10 or macOS 14 or higher, webcam, microphone and speaker with no headphones, one display, 6 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up, all other applications closed - can result in immediate cancellation and fee forfeiture. Run the system test on the same device and network before the day.
Meta's exam page adds the misconduct boundary: violations can bar you from Meta Certification exams for up to three years. The full prohibited-technology list - virtual machines, VPNs, secondary displays, phones, tablets, watches, smart or AI devices, corporate or public networks - is on Pearson's Meta OnVUE page.
Recertification Windows: Two Years for the DMA, Twelve Months for Professionals
Meta's recertification FAQ splits the family by tier. The Digital Marketing Associate expires two years from the date it was issued, and you become eligible for recertification six months before the expiration date - renewing means retaking the current 100-101 exam.
The professional credentials - Media Buying, Media Planning, Marketing Science, Creative Strategy, and the specialist family - run shorter clocks: most are valid for one year, some for two, with recertification eligibility opening six months before expiry. The Media Buying Professional page states its validity directly: 12 months from the day it is earned.
The lapsed-credential rule is the expensive one: Meta states that if your certification has already lapsed, the refresh option is no longer available and you retake the full proctored exam at the full fee. The recertification window is a calendar appointment worth setting the day your badge arrives.
Where Each Meta Credential Sits
Meta's certification hub organizes the family by role and level. The beginner tier is the Digital Marketing Associate (100-101). The intermediate tier includes the Media Buying Professional (410-101) and Media Planning Professional (400-101). The advanced tier includes the Marketing Science Professional (200-101), with the Creative Strategy Professional (300-101) alongside them.
All of them share the same delivery rails - online proctored from your office or home through Pearson OnVUE, or at a Pearson test center - and the same fee range, the same 700-of-1,000 passing point, and the same five-day retake wait. What changes by tier is validity: two years at associate level, one year on the professional side for the credentials we verified.
Pick the credential that matches the work you actually do: the DMA if you are breaking in, Media Buying if you run spend, Media Planning if you architect campaigns, Marketing Science if you live in measurement. The exam pages linked from the hub carry each credential's own format block.
What a Meta Certification Actually Costs You
The clean budget: one attempt at the equivalent of US$99 to US$150 by country, exact price shown at checkout. The risks that inflate it are all published: the five-day retake wait at full fee (with the DMA's single free second attempt as the exception), the 24-hour cancellation boundary that counts an absence as an attempt, the OnVUE technical minimums that can forfeit a fee before the exam starts, and the recertification clocks - two years for the DMA, 12 months for the Media Buying Professional.
If you want the sitting handled by someone who runs these every week, Exam Assist handles the exam sitting end to end, and the service fee is due only after the agreed result posts. Start with the take my Meta DMA exam page or the take my Meta Media Buying exam page.