Certificate Issuer Self-Host Kit

Issue verifiable certificates your students own — unlimited, no per-badge fees

Certificate SaaS charges per head: Certifier Professional is $76/month (≈ $912/year) and Accredible's Launch plan is $45/month for just 50 recipients, on a 12-month contract. This kit does it differently: run the issuer script on your own machine — a CSV of graduates becomes signed Open Badges v2 certificates — and host the public verify page on any static host. One payment of ฿1,490 — about three weeks of Certifier — then issue unlimited, forever.

Get the kit — ฿1,490
One-time payment · ≈ US$42 · free updates for v1.x · instant download

What's inside the kit

13 files in one zip — 31 KB of pure Python standard library plus a single HTML file. Nothing to install, no account to create, nothing running on our servers.

CSV in → badges out

Issuer script — signed Open Badges v2

issue_badges.py reads your graduates CSV and writes Open Badges v2 assertions — badge class + assertion, recipient stored as a salted SHA-256 hash (never a plaintext email), signed with HMAC-SHA256. Pure standard library: no pip install, no API keys.

One HTML file

Static verify page

Anyone with the link pastes a badge and checks it: Open Badges v2 structure, recipient match by email hash, and comparison against the hosted copy on your site. No server, no database — it works from any static host.

800 × 800, unlimited prints

3 badge design templates

Course, completion and excellence designs — render_badge_html.py fills the template and prints a clean 800×800 badge image. Use all three, for every cohort, as often as you like.

For your graduates

LinkedIn share guide

Step-by-step add-to-profile instructions plus ready-to-send email and post templates — so students actually add their certificate and send peers back to your verify page.

GitHub Pages · CF Pages · Netlify

Deploy runbook

Host the verify page and badge copies on any static host's free tier, with an optional Cloudflare Workers/KV path if you outgrow flat files. Your marginal cost per badge stays zero.

13 files, 31 KB

Config, sample CSV & license

A ready-to-edit config, an example CSV, a quickstart README and a single-business license. The whole product is files you own — read every line before you run it.

The honest part: what Open Badges is — and what you're buying

Open Badges is an open standard, not a product. The v2 specification is free for anyone to read. What you're buying is the issuance system built around it: the script, the verify page, the templates and the runbook that turn the standard into issued certificates in minutes.

How public verification works. Your verify page checks the badge's Open Badges v2 structure, proves the recipient by matching a salted email hash, and compares the pasted badge against the hosted copy on your own site — the hosted verification model the standard itself defines.

The signature is issuer-side integrity. Assertions carry an HMAC-SHA256 signature that you, the issuer, can check with your secret key. It is not a public cryptographic check — third parties rely on the hosted copy. We won't dress that up as more than it is.

Also by design: no dashboard, no email sending, no LMS integration. If you want those managed workflows, a monthly SaaS is the honest choice — this kit is for people happy with files, a script and their own hosting.

Who the kit is for

Four issuers who break even with the first cohort.

You issue certificates — and pay per recipient

Certifier Professional is $76/month, Accredible Launch $45/month for 50 recipients on a 12-month contract, and Credly users report ~$3,000/year. ฿1,490 once ≈ three weeks of Certifier — then $0 forever.

You run a bootcamp or cohort program

Pass 50 graduates and Accredible sends you back to a sales quote. With the kit there is no recipient-count question — issuing runs on your own machine, so a cohort of 500 costs the same as a cohort of 5.

You deliver corporate training

Learner data stays in-house: recipients are stored as salted SHA-256 hashes — no plaintext emails inside badge files — and everything is hosted on infrastructure you already control.

Your LMS certificate can't be checked from outside

Most LMS certificates are a PDF nobody can verify. This kit issues the Open Badges v2 structure plus a public verify page, so anyone — an employer included — can check the badge in seconds.

One price. You own it.

No monthly plan, no recipient quota, no subscription.

฿1,490 one-time payment

≈ US$42

  • Free updates for v1.x
  • Instant download after checkout
  • Issue unlimited — no per-badge fees
  • Single-business commercial license

Secure checkout via Stripe · card payments · taxes calculated at checkout

Frequently asked questions

What does the license cover?

A single-business commercial license: one buyer (a person or a company) can issue unlimited certificates for their own courses and programs. Redistributing or reselling the kit files themselves is not allowed — each trainer or teammate needs their own license. Every certificate you issue belongs to you entirely.

Do I get updates?

Yes — every v1.x update (refined scripts, template tweaks, hosting runbook improvements) is free. Re-download any time from your download page with your email and password. If a v2.0 ever ships, existing buyers get a clear upgrade path — never a surprise paywall.

What is the refund policy?

If the kit doesn't fit how you work, email [email protected] within 14 days of purchase and we'll refund you in full — the zip is yours to keep or delete. One refund per purchase; we only ask for optional feedback.

Which badge standard does it use?

Open Badges v2: each issue produces a badge class and an assertion, with the recipient as a salted SHA-256 hash and an HMAC-SHA256 signature for issuer-side integrity. Public verification follows the standard's hosted model — the verify page compares against the hosted copy on your site. And to be clear about what this kit is not: it is not an awarding body or authority; certificates issued with it carry your name, not ours.

Where is everything hosted?

Wherever you want — that's the point. The verify page and badge copies are flat files for any static host: GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages or Netlify, all on the free tier. The issuer script runs on your own computer. Nothing runs on our servers, so nothing can be switched off but you.

Your next cohort's certificates could be live this week

฿1,490 one-time · ≈ US$42 · free updates v1.x · instant download

Get the Certificate Issuer Self-Host Kit — ฿1,490