If you want one AI governance certification and hold no audit or security credential yet, take the IAPP's AIGP: $799 for non-members ($649 for members), 100 questions in 2.75 hours, no prerequisite, renewed every two years. The alternatives depend on your day job. ISACA's AAIA and AAISM are $599 add-ons for people who already hold CISA, CISM or CISSP. An ISO/IEC 42001 lead auditor or lead implementer credential is for people who will audit or build an AI management system. GARP's RAI fits risk teams, and CSA's TAISE is the cheapest bundle with training included. We checked every fee and exam length below on the issuer's own site on October 29, 2026.
Image: Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License.
Pick by the job you already do
- You write or own the AI policy at a company of 10 to 200 people: AIGP. It has no prerequisite and the exam fee is the only required cost for a non-member's first two-year term.
- You audit and hold CISA, CIA, a US CPA or ACCA: AAIA. ISACA will not let you sit it without one of those designations.
- You run security and hold CISM or CISSP: AAISM, the same price and exam length as AAIA.
- You will audit an AI management system for certification, or lead the project to get one certified: an ISO/IEC 42001 lead auditor or lead implementer course and exam.
- You work in model risk or financial risk: GARP's RAI, the longest exam here at four hours.
- You want one cheap, broad course with the exam bundled: CSA's TAISE at $795.
Nobody on a small team needs two of these. And no law asks for one: Article 4 of the EU AI Act, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, tells providers and deployers to "take measures to support the development of AI literacy of their staff" and says it "does not require providers or deployers to guarantee any specific level of AI literacy of any individual."
Fees, exams and prerequisites side by side
Fees in US dollars unless marked. All rows checked October 29, 2026 on the issuer's site.
| Credential | Issuer | Exam | Exam fee | Prerequisite | Keeping it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIGP (AI Governance Professional) | IAPP | 100 questions, 2.75 hours plus a 15-minute break; Pearson VUE center or online | $799 non-member, $649 member; $625 if you retake or already hold an IAPP certification | None | 20 CPE per two-year term; non-members pay a $250 maintenance fee at recertification, members are covered by the $295 yearly membership |
| AAIA (Advanced in AI Audit) | ISACA | 90 questions, 2.5 hours; PSI center or remote | $599 non-member, $459 member, plus $50 application fee | Active CISA, or CIA, US CPA, ACCA and other listed designations | 10 CPE a year, 30 over three years; $35 a year non-member, $20 member |
| AAISM (Advanced in AI Security Management) | ISACA | 90 questions, 2.5 hours; PSI center or remote | $599 non-member, $459 member, plus $50 application fee | Active CISM or CISSP | Same as AAIA; one $20 or $35 fee covers all ISACA Advanced certifications |
| ISO/IEC 42001 Lead Auditor or Lead Implementer | PECB | 80 questions, 3 hours, open book | $1,000 exam only, plus $500 certification application; or a five-day partner course that includes exam, one retake, application fee and first-year maintenance | None for the Provisional grade; five years' experience (two in AI) and 300 hours for the full Lead grade | $390 per three-year cycle; 90 CPD hours per three years for Lead grades |
| ISO/IEC 42001 Lead Auditor course; Lead Implementer course | BSI (UK) | No exam listed; BSI Training Academy certificate on completion | £2,585 + VAT (auditor), £2,600 + VAT (implementer), four days, live online or classroom | None listed | None listed |
| RAI (Risk and AI Certificate) | GARP | 80 questions, 4 hours; Pearson VUE center or online | $750 non-member, $650 member, $625 FRM, RAI or ERP holder (standard); $100 less with early registration; $300 one-time retake | None listed | CPE of 10 credits a year encouraged, not required |
| TAISE (Trusted AI Safety Expert) | Cloud Security Alliance | 60 questions, 120 minutes, 80% to pass | $795 for the 10-module course and two exam attempts, valid two years; no exam-only option | None | Not stated on the CSA page |
Screenshot: IAPP store, AIGP Exam product page, October 29, 2026.
One thing the table does not show: ISO/IEC 42001 has no certificate for people. The standard, which ISO sells for CHF 225, "specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an Artificial Intelligence Management System (AIMS) within organizations." Companies get certified against it. "ISO 42001 lead auditor" is a course and exam from a training body, and the credential carries that body's name: "PECB Certified ISO/IEC 42001 Lead Auditor," or a BSI course certificate.
What each one costs over three years
Our own arithmetic from the fees above, for one person who passes on the first try, before tax and travel. Training is left out unless it is bundled into the price.
| Route | Year 0 | Over the next three years | Three-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIGP, non-member, self-study | $799 exam (first maintenance fee included) | $250 maintenance fee at the two-year renewal | $1,049 |
| AIGP, member, self-study | $649 exam | $295 membership a year, three years | $1,534 |
| AIGP, non-member, with IAPP online course | $799 exam + $1,195 course | $250 at renewal | $2,244 |
| AAIA or AAISM, non-member | $599 exam + $50 application | $35 a year, three years | $754 |
| PECB ISO/IEC 42001 Lead, exam only | $1,000 exam + $500 application | $390 maintenance for the cycle | $1,890 |
| RAI, non-member, standard registration | $750 | Nothing required | $750 |
| TAISE | $795 (course and exam) | Not stated | $795 |
Two things fall out of this. IAPP membership costs more than it saves if the AIGP is your only IAPP credential: $885 of dues over three years against a $250 maintenance fee. And the AAIA and AAISM are the cheapest serious options, but only because the prerequisite (CISA, CISM, CISSP or an accounting designation) is a sunk cost you already paid.
Image: Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License.
One-line verdicts
AIGP. The default for the policy owner. Book the exam, use the free Body of Knowledge and the $60 practice exam, and skip the $1,195 course unless your employer pays.
AAIA. Worth $599 only if you already audit with CISA or a CPA; it is an add-on, not a way into the field.
AAISM. The same logic for CISM and CISSP holders, and the better pick of the two ISACA credentials if your job is securing AI tools rather than auditing them.
PECB ISO/IEC 42001 Lead Auditor or Lead Implementer. Pay for it when a certification audit is on your calendar. New candidates get the Provisional grade; the full Lead Auditor grade needs five years of experience, two of them in AI audit, and 300 audit hours.
BSI ISO/IEC 42001 courses. Four days and £2,585 + VAT buys training and a course certificate, not an examined credential; BSI's page lists no exam. Good for a team member who will sit on the audit, weak as a line on a CV.
RAI. The heaviest load here: four hours, 80 questions, and an average of 100 to 130 hours of preparation by GARP's own estimate. Worth it in banking and insurance model risk, too much for a policy owner at a SaaS company.
TAISE. At $795 with training and two attempts, the cheapest complete package, and the only one sold solely as course plus exam. Its ten modules run from generative AI architecture to cloud security, so it fits engineers better than policy owners.
What we could not confirm
PECB does not publish course prices; its partners set them, so we list only the exam-only fees from PECB's candidate handbook. BSI's course page lists no exam or pass mark. CSA's TAISE page does not say whether the certificate expires or needs renewal fees. None of the issuer pages we read publish pass rates. We also found no data on how many job postings ask for each credential, so we have not ranked them by demand. The fees come from issuer pages that say they change; the IAPP and GARP prices above are as displayed on October 29, 2026.
For what the credential holder actually does at a small company, see AI governance roles and responsibilities. If you are weighing the frameworks rather than the people, start with ISO 42001 vs NIST AI RMF.
