SQL Certification: 6 Courses and Exams Compared in 2026

This is the SQL certification Microsoft issues today for people who write T-SQL for a living. You earn it by passing one proctored exam, DP-800, in 120 minutes, with 700 out of 1,000 needed to pass. The exam covers three domains: design and develop database solutions (35 to 40%), secure, optimize and deploy them (35 to 40%), and implement AI capabilities in database solutions (25 to 30%). That last part is new: embeddings, vectors and models inside SQL Server, Azure SQL and SQL databases in Microsoft Fabric.

The prep is free. Microsoft Learn gives you three learning paths that add up to roughly 18 hours of reading and labs (7 hr 11 min, 7 hr 31 min and 3 hr 40 min), plus an exam sandbox to see the question types. The exam itself costs $165 in the US. After a year, you renew by passing a free online assessment, so the long-run cost stays at one exam fee. Fail once? You can retake it 24 hours later.

Be honest about the level: Microsoft rates it intermediate and expects you to already write T-SQL and know your way around CI/CD in GitHub. A beginner who has never written a JOIN should start lower (see the step-by-step section).

DataCamp's SQL Associate is a platform certification, not a vendor one, but it is a serious one. You pass two exams within 30 days of registering: a timed exam (SQ101, up to two hours) on data management theory, database design, data quality and PostgreSQL queries, then a practical exam (SQ501P) where you solve a business problem in SQL. You get four hours and two attempts for the practical, and grading is automatic, so you get the result in moments.

Preparation sits inside the same subscription: the SQL Fundamentals track alone is 26 hours of interactive exercises. The certification is included in Premium, so you pay nothing extra for the exams. On price, note that the certification page says $25 per month while the pricing page says $28 per month billed annually: budget on the pricing page. For a manager, the Teams plan adds an admin dashboard, progress tracking and license management at the same $28 per seat per month on annual billing, from two people up.

ONLC runs instructor-led SQL classes live online, with sessions on the calendar every month. Fundamentals teaches you to connect to a SQL Server database, filter with search conditions, calculate with functions, sort results and retrieve data from several tables. Advanced picks up from there: nested queries, inserting, updating and deleting data, changing table structure, views, indexes and transactions. Each course is listed at a $395 fee.

For a company, the useful line is the group option: ONLC can deliver the class for your group, priced on quote. Your people learn together, ask questions live, and nobody has to find the motivation to finish a video course alone. The limit is the credential. These are classes, not certifications: you walk away with skills, and you would still sit a vendor exam (like DP-800) if you need a verified title.

If your team also builds dashboards, our Power BI training and Excel training pages rank the courses that sit on top of these SQL skills.

Three courses from UC Davis: SQL for Data Science (16 hours), SQL Problem Solving (10 hours) and a 35-hour capstone where you write a project proposal, pick your data, compute metrics and present your findings. No prior coding experience required. Count about two months at ten hours a week.

The specialization is included with Coursera Plus, and you finish with a shareable career certificate from University of California, Davis. Coursera Plus costs $59 a month after a 7-day trial, so finishing faster costs you less. For a team, Coursera sells business plans on quote. The certificate is a certificate of completion: it shows you finished a university-designed program, not that a vendor verified your skills.

For analytics on the marketing side, Google Analytics training pairs well with a SQL certificate.

Codecademy's skill path is short and practical: 17 hours, 9 units, 16 lessons, 19 projects and 6 quizzes. You go from your first SELECT to aggregates, joins, a unit on using AI to write SQL, then setting up a database on your own computer and analyzing real data. It ends with a certificate of completion.

The Plus plan costs $14.99 a month billed annually, or $29.99 if you pay month to month. With 17 hours of content, a motivated learner can finish in a month on monthly billing. Team plans are on quote. Don't oversell the certificate: it proves you finished a beginner path, nothing more.

W3Schools sells an online multiple-choice exam on the whole of SQL, from the basics to real-world use. You buy it for $95, take it when you're ready, and three attempts and the matching course are included. Pass and you get a "Certified SQL Developer" certificate the same day, with a verification link and QR code. W3Schools says its certificates never expire.

The catch is written on the page itself: no scheduling, no proctor. That makes it easy and cheap, and it is why a strict employer won't weigh it like a proctored vendor exam. Use it as proof you covered the basics, not as your main credential.