Moodle certificates: when they are enough and when to add a separate tool

If your courses run in Moodle, you may not need anything else to issue certificates. Moodle has good certificate plugins, and for learners who just need a PDF at the end of a course they do the job. This guide covers what those options can do and when a separate certificate tool makes more sense.

Moodle's certificate options

Certificates in Moodle come from plugins. These are the main options.

Course certificate and Certificate manager. These two plugins come from the Moodle Workplace team and are also available for standard Moodle LMS from the plugins directory. The Certificate manager (tool_certificate) is where you design templates. The Course certificate activity (mod_coursecertificate) issues them inside a course. Some features, such as issuing through dynamic rules, are only in Moodle Workplace.

Custom certificate. This community plugin (mod_customcert), maintained by Mark Nelson, lets you design PDF certificates in the browser by adding elements such as the student's name and dragging them into place. It is free to download from the plugins directory.

What they do well

Both plugins cover the basics a course needs:

1. Issue on completion. Add the certificate as an activity and use Moodle's access restrictions, for example "passed the final quiz". The certificate becomes available once the learner meets them.
2. Send a PDF. Course certificate can send learners a PDF copy automatically when they meet the restrictions. Custom certificate can email the PDF to students, teachers or others through a scheduled task.
3. Give each certificate a code. Both assign a unique code. With Custom certificate you can switch on "Allow anyone to verify a certificate", so people with the verification link can check a code without logging in. Course certificate templates can include a QR code that users scan to validate.
4. Keep a record. Learners see their certificates under "My certificates" in their profile, and teachers can see who has been issued one.

If every learner takes the course in Moodle and a PDF in their profile is all they need, this is enough. Use it.

When a separate tool helps

The limits show up when certificates have to work outside the course.

The first is people who were never in Moodle. A workshop, a webinar or an on-site training day often has participants without a Moodle account. Moodle's certificates are issued to users of your Moodle site, so you would have to create accounts and enrol everyone first.

Branding is the second. Certificates, emails and verification screens come from your Moodle site, under its name and look. That suits your own courses. It suits training you deliver under a client's name less well.

Then there is verification. In Moodle it usually means someone types a code into a form on your site. An employer looking at a certificate on LinkedIn just wants to click a link and see that it is real.

Languages are the last gap. If you train groups in several countries, each group needs its certificate, its email and its verification page in its own language.

How Diplino fits next to Moodle

Diplino is a separate tool. It does not connect to Moodle. You export or type a participant list, save it as a CSV file, and upload it. Each participant gets a personal certificate by email with your logo and colours, and from the Pro plan there is no Diplino branding. Diplino also sends an automatic reminder to participants who have not opened their certificate, and shows you which emails bounced or were not opened so you can resend them.

Every certificate has its own verification page and QR code. Correcting a name or resending does not use up a certificate, because there is no fee per certificate. Certificates, emails and the verification page work in nine languages: English, Swedish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Norwegian. Data is hosted in the EU, with a DPA on every plan.

One sensible split is to keep Moodle certificates for learners inside your courses and use Diplino for events, external participants and anything that needs a public verification page.

You can test your design with as many free sample certificates as you like. They are watermarked and cannot be verified. The Free plan includes 10 real certificates, and paid plans start at 12 EUR a month billed annually.

Create a free sample certificate