Yes, PDUs can be entirely free — PMI counts a PDU the same whether it cost money or not, toward the 60 you need for PMP, PgMP, PfMP or PMI-PBA, 30 for PMI-ACP or PMI-RMP, or 15 for CAPM. Pay only when you need the exact category mix delivered faster than free content can manage before your three-year cycle closes.
30
PMI-ACP and PMI-RMP need 30 PDUs every three years, of which at least 18 must be Education.
15
CAPM needs 15 PDUs every three years, of which at least 9 must be Education.
3
A continuing certification cycle runs three years from the date the certification was earned or last renewed.
No. PMI’s continuing certification requirements count PDUs by category and by the number of hours, not by what you paid for them. A three-year cycle asks for 60 PDUs for PMP, PgMP, PfMP and PMI-PBA; 30 PDUs for PMI-ACP and PMI-RMP, of which at least 18 must be Education; and 15 PDUs for CAPM, of which at least 9 must be Education.
A PDU earned from a free webinar and a PDU earned from a paid course sit in the same ledger and count the same toward those totals. If cost were the only question, free would always win.
The difference isn’t in how PMI grades them — it’s in how reliably they get you to the right number, in the right categories, before your cycle ends. A continuing certification cycle runs three years from the date you earned or last renewed the certification, and that clock does not pause while you go looking for free content.
Free PDUs tend to arrive one at a time, from different providers, on whatever topics happen to be offered when you look. Nothing guarantees the mix lines up with what your specific credential requires. For the full picture of what counts and how the totals break down, see What are PDUs, and how many do I need?
Free is a reasonable choice if you are early in your three-year cycle, only need a small number of PDUs to finish the total, or want to see what a PDU activity looks like before committing to anything larger.
If you have time on your side and a small gap to close, there is no reason to pay for something PMI will accept for free.
Paying starts to make sense once the arithmetic gets specific. For a 60-PDU cycle, at least 35 of the 60 must be Education, and inside that 35, a minimum of 8 must sit in each of Ways of Working, Power Skills and Business Acumen — 24 of the 35 fixed by that rule, leaving 11 Education PDUs free to place anywhere. Giving Back PDUs are optional and capped at 25 in a 60-PDU cycle. The detail on how those minimums split out is on How many PDUs do I need in each Talent Triangle area?
Hitting 8 PDUs in each Talent Triangle area by piecing together free webinars one topic at a time, close to a renewal deadline, is usually where people run out of time — not out of PDUs.
The target changes, but the logic doesn’t. PMI-ACP and PMI-RMP need 30 PDUs every three years, with at least 18 in Education. CAPM needs 15 PDUs every three years, with at least 9 in Education.
The smaller the total, the more realistic it is to fill the whole cycle with free PDUs — as long as you check the Education minimum before you rely on that plan, rather than after.
If you are still weighing free against paid, the sensible next step is not to commit to either side yet. Try the free PDU toward PMP renewal first: it costs nothing, it counts toward your 60, and it lets you judge the format for yourself before you decide whether to keep collecting for free or pay to close the rest of the gap in one step.
Yes — PMI doesn’t distinguish free from paid, so you only need to reach the total for your credential (60, 30 or 15) and meet its Education minimum.
A continuing certification cycle runs three years from the date you earned or last renewed the certification.
No — in a 60-PDU cycle, 35 must be Education at minimum, and up to 25 can come from Giving Back, which is optional.
Yes — PMI totals every PDU together regardless of cost, so combining free and paid activities to reach 60, 30 or 15 is fine.
Last reviewed: September 2026
Everything below is pre-approved for PMI's CCR. Hold two certifications? The 60-PDU PMP pack counts for both.
