by Fabiana Pereira Hotz, CEO, Claristrat Institute
Tuition at the best-known executive coaching programs runs from $4,300 to $24,500. We tend to judge a program by its price, because the price is the one thing it states plainly. What we are really buying is harder to read: the coach we will have become a year later, and whether anyone has yet asked that coach for help.
Tuition, side by side
Every figure comes from the school’s own site. Where a school’s pages give two prices, both are shown.
What the price includes
Before you compare tuition, compare what it pays for. Three things matter most to a working executive: how many months the program will take, whether the ten hours of mentor coaching the ICF requires are included, and what support continues after you graduate. The table below sets them out, school by school.
| Program | Tuition | Length | ICF accreditation | Mentor coaching | After you graduate | Cohort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ClaristratProfessional Certificate | $8,000 | 12 weeks | Level 1 (ACC). Level 2 expected 2027 | Included, 10 hours | A year of supervision and sales coaching | 6 to 8 |
| EricksonArt & Science of Coaching, Level 1 | $4,300 + tax | Not published | Levels 1 to 3; this tier reaches ACC | 3 hours one-to-one | Alumni community | Not published |
| iPECCoach Training Program | $9,995 | 7 to 10 months | Level 2 | Not stated | Graduate support, length not stated | Not published |
| Co-ActiveCPCC certification | $12,470 to $15,500 | 6 to 8 months | Level 2 | Its pages disagree | Alumni community | Pods of 9 to 10 |
| GeorgetownCertificate in Leadership Coaching | $13,995 | 8 months | Level 2 | Not stated | Not stated | Not published |
| Hudson InstituteHudson Coach Certification | $15,500 to $16,500, plus extras | 9 months | Level 2 | Mentor calls, hours not stated | Alumni community | Up to 45 |
| ColumbiaCoaching Certification Program | $20,700 to $24,500 | 7 to 12 months | Not accredited, by choice | Not stated | Alumni association | Not published |
Compare Claristrat with
As each school publishes it, read October 2026: Erickson, iPEC, Co-Active, Georgetown, Hudson Institute, Columbia.
Where Claristrat stands
Our Professional Certificate costs $8,000, or five payments of $1,600. It runs 12 weeks, live online, with six to eight senior peers. The ten hours of mentor coaching the ICF requires are included. So are four private coaching sessions for you, three Hogan assessments with a debrief, and five observed sessions with written feedback.
Then comes the part no other school on this list publishes: monthly supervision, and sales coaching on how to package, price and win senior clients, for a full year after the program. The first year after certification is when a new coach signs the first clients. None of the other schools on this list describes any help with that year. Ours is included in the tuition.
Claristrat is accredited by the ICF at Level 1, the route to the ACC credential. Level 2, the route to the PCC, is expected in 2027. The 24-week Advanced Certificate costs $16,000 and begins with the same twelve weeks.
The one program that costs less
Erickson’s Level 1 costs $4,300 plus tax, the only tuition on this list below ours. It is the entry tier: the PCC-level bundle costs $8,300. Its pricing page lists three hours of one-to-one mentoring. It does not publish how long the program takes or how many people share a class, and after graduation it offers an alumni community. Its program and pricing pages describe no supervision and no help finding clients.
The two most expensive options
INSEAD’s Coaching Certificate costs €23,600 plus VAT and is taught on campus at Fontainebleau, eleven and a half days spread across seven months, so for most participants flights and hotels come on top. Columbia charges $20,700 to $24,500 and says on its own FAQ that it will not seek accreditation from the ICF; its graduates apply through the ICF’s portfolio route.
What the ICF charges
The certificate comes from the school. The credential comes from the ICF, once you have logged the coaching hours it asks for, and the ICF charges its own application and exam fee. It sets and revises that fee on its credential pages, so check the figure there.
What the hours cost
The Professional asks for two live sessions a week of two and a half hours, plus one to four hours on your own: 110 hours over twelve weeks, mentor coaching included. Of the programs that publish a length, it is the shortest by three months. For a senior leader, those months are often the larger cost.
Is it worth it
That depends on what you will do with it. Two of our essays answer with numbers: what an executive coaching career earns, ramp included, and what a serious program teaches. When you are ready, see the cohort dates.