PMP vs PMI-ACP: Which one to Choose in 2024?

There are many certifications available in the market that could take your career forward or help you perform better. If you meet the stringent requirements Project Management courses are usually the frontrunner. This is the certification that is always in demand and most professionals in project management aspire to   become PMP certified. The certification is not easy though. After completing the training PMP exam preparation can take a few months.  

Owing to the rapid adoption of Agile practices across industries, project managers also want to get certified in Agile and Scrum. PMI–ACP or Agile Certified Practitioner has become PMI’s fastest growing program. If you are a project manager this is a course that could help you perform better in Agile environments or in adopting agile practices to your projects.  This has given rise to the PMP vs PMI-ACP discussion among professionals who want to progress in their project management career.  

Know more about importance of Project Charter.

PMI PMP Vs PMI ACP: Key Differences

While both PMP and PMI-ACP certifications will benefit anyone trying to advance their career in project management, the exact focus of what you will learn will be different. 

Whether you should attempt to achieve the PMP certification, or the PMI-ACP certification would depend on your future goals and current experience as well.  While PMI-ACP certification focuses on Agile Project Management and building your skills and knowledge to lead projects in project management, the PMP Certification is more focused on core project management topics than on the approaches. It does address project management under Agile, Waterfall, and Hybrid approaches but this is not the core focus of the program. Let's discuss the differences between PMP and PMI-ACP in a very detailed way:

1. PMP vs PMI ACP: Eligibility

PMI provides clear guidelines for the prerequisites needed for its certifications. PMP and PMI-ACP certifications have different requirements prescribed. 

Requirement Type	PMP	PMI-ACP
Academic	A high school diploma, associate’s degree, an equivalent qualification, or a four-year degree	No academic requirement prescribed
Work Experience	60 months of work experience in leading projects. (36 months of work experience in leading projects if you have a four-year degree)	2000 hours of general project management experience (Not required if you hold an active PMP or a PgMP® certification.) 1500 hours of experience working with Agile methodologies and Agile teams
Training	35 hours of project management training needed (Not required if you hold an active CAPM® Certification)	21 hours of Training in Agile practices needed from an Authorized Training Partner

B. PMP vs PMI ACP: Study time

Both PMP and PMI-ACP have an exam that you will have to clear to become certified. While there is no prescribed schedule or timeframe for how long you will take to prepare for these exams, they need at least a few weeks to a few months of preparation time. Out of the two PMPs would take more time for you to prepare since the syllabus covered is larger, and the exam is also longer.  
Participating in online PMP bootcamps can provide individuals with a flexible and interactive learning environment to prepare for the PMP certification exam

PMP	PMI-ACP
Based on PMBOK® Guide but can include any project management-related topic	Based on Agile practices
Few months of preparation time	Few weeks of preparation time (subject to proper guidance and practice)
Practice tests recommended	Practice tests recommended

C. PMP vs PMI ACP: Exam Pattern

PMI Exams are designed to validate your knowledge and skills in the respective courses.  

PMP	PMI-ACP
230 minutes long	180 minutes
180 questions	120 questions
Multiple choice questions, multiple response questions, fill-in-the-blank questions, matching questions, and hot spot questions	Multiple choice questions
Online and Physical Proctored Exams	Online Proctored Exams

D. PMI-ACP vs PMP: Exam Cost

The qualifying exams for both PMP and PMI-ACP require you to pay an exam fee. The PMI-ACP Exam fee is lower than that of PMP. If you are a PMI member you will get a significant discount on the exam fees. The exact exam fee will depend on your location. You can find your location specific exam fees on the PMI page.  

E. PMP vs PMI ACP: Job Roles

One of the key factors that should influence your decision regarding which certification you should choose is your current role and the direction you want to take in your career. Project management and knowledge of Agile practices are involved in both courses, but the focus is different.  

PMP	PMI-ACP
Focus on Project Leadership	Focus on Agile methodologies or implementation
Coordinating between different teams working on a project	Working with a team, coaching, and mentoring to improve their performance.
Meeting Project goals and updating stakeholders	Leading Agile processes or transformation
Identify and solve problems affecting the projects	Manage the team to ensure that results are delivered according to Agile processes.

F. PMP vs PMI ACP: Salary and Job Outlook

Project Management is growing fast across the world, generating millions of jobs every year. Agile adoption is also on the rise with more organizations across the world seeing the benefits of Agile Methodology.

PMP	PMI-ACP
Project Leadership Roles	Leading Agile Teams
$ 94,941 Average Annual Salary	$ 112,000 Average Annual Salary
Earns 16% higher than non-certified professionals	No official data available
11 % Estimated Job Growth	22% Estimated Job Growth

PMP vs PMI ACP: Pros and Cons

Any professional working with agile methods and project management will benefit from both these courses. Many professionals who do get certified take other courses to stay updated with the latest innovations, this also helps them maintain their certification.

A. Pros of getting certified

PMP	PMI-ACP
Number 1 certification in Project Management	PMI’s fastest growing certification
Millions of jobs being created every year	Increasing importance due to rapid Agile adoptions
Comprehensive understanding of Project Management knowledge and Practice	Focus on Agile Practices and Improving Team Performance
Improves Project Leadership Skills	Improves team management skills and helps to drive performance using Agile methods

B. Cons of getting certified

PMP	PMI-ACP
Requires extensive preparation	Focuses mostly on Agile practices
PMP Exam is difficult	Not as difficult as the PMP exam
Too many candidates for the best project leadership roles	Decreased relevance in organizations that do not plan to implement agile practices

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PMP Certification Training	Prince2 Certification Training	PMI-CAPM Certification
PgMP Certification Training	Prince2 Foundation Certification	Project Management Masters Program
Prince2 Agile Certification	PMI-RMP Certification Training	Prince2 Practitioner Certification

PMP vs PMP ACP: Methodologies or Approaches

Project management has been around as a profession for a long time. You could say it is as old as civilization itself. The way we have done projects has changed over the decades. The most significant of these changes have been the adoption of Agile methodology. Agile adoption is growing but it is not complete. There are a few organizations who have not tried Agile or use Agile Methods in an extremely limited manner.  Some organizations have implemented Agile partially and have found that beneficial but do not want to go ahead. There are also organizations that have not been successful in scaling Agile across the enterprise or are not in favor of doing that.

If organizations have not adopted the Agile Methodology, what are they following? They are following the traditional Waterfall methodology. In addition to construction and IT, software development is a popular application of the waterfall model. For example, the waterfall software development life cycle, or waterfall SDLC, is widely used for managing software engineering projects. 

Waterfall Methodology

Waterfall methodology is seen in older and bigger companies where projects are planned and completed in stages. Things go from stage 1 to stage 2 only when stage 1 is complete or nearly completed. One example is where things go to the next stage even at partial completion in designing prototypes. First, the customer receives a prototype of the system. The prototype is intended to assess the feasibility of the system as well as to make sure that the system will meet the requirements of the customer.

It depends on detailed planning and the assumption that there will not be a lot of unforeseen factors affecting the project. This method is not without its merits. Certain organizations might prefer to use this method and find success in doing that. The limitation of this method is sometimes it takes more time when an unforeseen event occurs, and it is not suitable for a fast-changing market. 

This made way for the Agile methodology which is more flexible and adaptive. Even though this development started in software development it quickly spread to other industries and now a sizable proportion of organizations rely on the Agile methodology.

How to Choose Between PMP and PMI-ACP

The choice between the two certifications becomes easy once you know which one is more relevant to your career and experience. If you are in a role or are aspiring to a role where you will be expected to take charge of a complex project involving many teams and different stakeholders, PMP is a certification that is more suitable. If you see yourself in a role where you will be leading a team involved in a project and coaching them to follow Agile practices and improve their performance, then PMI-ACP is more suitable for you.  

There is also an overlap between the certifications. Even if you are in a project management role where you are not required to lead Agile practices, you can still benefit from the PMI-ACP certification to improve processes or suggest the implementation of Agile practices at least partially in some teams. It is also applicable the other way around where even if your role has more to do with leading a small team, a PMP certification will give you project management skills that you can use within your team and help you coordinate better with other teams.  PMP’s syllabus includes approaches like Waterfall, Agile, and Hybrid models. 

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Which Certification is Better: PMP or PMI-ACP?

In terms of difficulty and value the PMP certification is harder and can be seen as more valuable as it is a little harder to attain. This does not necessarily mean that this one is better for you. You should pick the certification course after carefully considering your PMP vs PMI-ACP requirements and the profile that you are interested in. You should also pay attention to the training provider you are depending on. Programs like  KnowledgeHut PMP certification training includes practice tests and scheduled training plans dedicated to PMP Exam prep. Such dedicated training will improve your chances of getting certified in your first attempt.