How much does Excel certification cost?
A Microsoft Office Specialist exam voucher is $104 on its own or $120 with a built-in retake, direct from the Certiport store — and that voucher is the only fee you cannot avoid. Everything else is optional: our full practice exam is $40 (or $70 for both MO-210 and MO-211), and Certiport also sells a $156 bundle that pairs the retake voucher with its own practice tests. The number that actually matters is not the sticker price, it is how many attempts at the real exam you end up paying for — and that is a preparation problem, not a shopping problem.
Checked against Microsoft’s own published pages on September 16, 2026.
The numbers
The one fee you cannot avoid: the exam voucher
Every path to certification runs through a Microsoft Office Specialist exam voucher, sold directly by Certiport. As of today it is $104 for a plain voucher or $120 for a voucher that already includes one retake if you need it. Certiport also sells a $156 bundle that adds its own CertPREP practice-test license to the retake voucher.
The voucher itself is generic across MOS titles: the same voucher redeems for MO-210 or MO-211, so the certification you are sitting does not change this part of the bill. It expires one year after purchase, which matters if you buy ahead of a semester and then delay.
Everything past this point is a choice, not a requirement — how you prepare, and whether you buy a retake up front or hope you do not need one.
The retake decision is the real cost lever
A voucher with retake costs $16 more than a plain one. Paying for a second attempt after a fail, without having bought the retake option in advance, costs a full second voucher — $104 again at minimum. That asymmetry is the actual financial decision buried inside "how much does it cost": spend $16 now, or risk $104 later.
The honest answer to which is better depends on how confident you are walking in, and confidence is exactly what a timed practice exam is supposed to measure rather than guess at. See our answer on whether MO-210 is hard for why confident everyday Excel users fail it more often than expected — that is the population the retake option actually protects.
What our practice exams add to the bill, and why it usually lowers it
Our practice exams are $40 for MO-210 or MO-211 on their own, or $70 for both, each with a year of access and up to 100 attempts — priced so that running the numbers multiple times to find your gaps does not itself become expensive. Your first full practice exam is free and does not need a card.
The case for spending $40 before the real exam is the same case as the retake voucher, from the other direction: a $40 practice exam that shows you exactly which tasks are costing you points is cheaper than a $104 second voucher bought because you found those gaps on exam day instead.
Certiport's own $156 bundle is worth comparing directly: it pairs a retake voucher with a single-title CertPREP license. If you only need one exam's worth of practice and want everything from one seller, that is a reasonable alternative — the two products are not interchangeable in format, since CertPREP is multiple-choice-style practice and our exams grade the actual workbook you upload.
Money you might not have to spend
If a university or employer requires the certification, ask before you pay retail. Several schools subsidize the voucher fee or run their own reduced-cost testing for students who must certify to stay in a major or graduate — see our page on whether the certification is worth it for more on how that requirement usually works. Employers sometimes reimburse certification costs under a training budget nobody thinks to claim.
What costs people points
The $16 difference between a plain voucher and a retake voucher is small compared to buying two plain vouchers because the first attempt did not go as planned. If you are at all unsure of your readiness, the retake voucher is the cheaper insurance.
It does not. A plain or retake voucher from Certiport is admission to the real exam only. CertPREP practice tests are a separate purchase (bundled at $156 if you want both from Certiport), and so are our own practice exams.
Some institutions negotiate reduced voucher pricing or reimburse the fee outright for students who must certify. Paying out of pocket before checking is money that did not need to leave your account.
A voucher is only valid for one year from purchase. Buying early to lock in a price, then not scheduling in time, converts a paid voucher into a second required purchase.
Related questions
What is the cheapest way to get Excel certified?
A plain $104 voucher if you are confident you will pass first time, paired with enough free or low-cost practice to actually be confident. Our first full practice exam is free, which is the lowest-cost way to find out whether $104 is enough or whether the $120 retake voucher is worth the extra $16.
Does the voucher price differ between MO-210 and MO-211?
No. Vouchers are generic across Microsoft Office Specialist titles — the same $104/$120 voucher redeems for either exam.
Is Certiport's $156 bundle worth it compared to buying separately?
It saves a small amount versus buying the retake voucher and a CertPREP license separately, but CertPREP practice tests are not the same format as ours — they are not graded on an uploaded workbook the way the real exam and our practice exams are. Compare formats, not just price, before choosing.
Do prices ever change?
Yes — Certiport's own pricing pages note prices are subject to change without notice and vary somewhat by country or region. Treat the figures here as current as of the date on this page and confirm on Certiport's store before paying.
Will my school or employer pay for this?
Sometimes. Several universities that require the certification subsidize or reduce the voucher fee, and some employers reimburse certification costs under existing training budgets. Ask before paying retail.
Sources
Read on September 16, 2026. Where this page says something is not published, that means we looked and did not find it — check for yourself.
Keep reading
Find out what you would actually score
Take a full, timed MO-210 practice exam, upload the workbook you built, and get a score out of 1000 with a per-task breakdown of where the points went. Your first one is free.
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