BLS Certification Cost for Nurses, With ACLS, PALS and CCRN Fees

Basic Life Support (BLS) is the certification almost every clinical job asks for, and the first one a nursing student pays for. The short answer: the American Heart Association's online BLS course costs $38, plus a hands-on skills session priced by the training center that runs it, and the card is valid for two years. Advanced courses cost more (the AHA's online ACLS and PALS courses are $178 each), and a specialty credential such as CCRN is a different kind of expense: an exam fee of $260 to $375 and a renewal every three years. This guide gives the issuers' own published prices, read in October 2026, what each fee buys, and how often you pay it again.

What BLS certification is and who needs it

BLS is the healthcare-provider level of CPR: high-quality chest compressions and ventilation for adults, children and infants, use of an automated external defibrillator, relief of choking, and working as a resuscitation team. It is issued as a course completion card by a training organization, not by a state board, which is why a hospital can ask for it from a nurse, a nursing assistant, a therapist or a medical student alike. The two issuers most employers name are the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Red Cross; both run the course in a classroom, or as a blended course with the lessons online and a skills session in person.

Whether you need it depends on the job, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics describes the pattern in its outlook for each role. Registered nursing positions "may require cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), basic life support (BLS), or advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) certification"; for licensed practical nurses, some employers "require or prefer" CPR or BLS certification; and orderly jobs "might require certification in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or basic life support (BLS)". Nursing assistants need a state certification and registry listing first, with BLS on top where the employer asks for it. In practice most nursing programs require a current BLS card before the first clinical placement, so the cost arrives before the first paycheck.

How much BLS certification costs

There is no single national price for a BLS class, because the organization that writes the course and the training center that teaches it are different businesses. The AHA publishes the price of the online half of its course and leaves the in-person half to the training center; the Red Cross prices each class at the location where it is held. What the issuers publish, read on 17 October 2026:

Two things in that table decide what you actually pay. First, the AHA's $38 is half a course: until you have booked a skills session you do not know the total, and a center's fee for the session is usually larger than the online fee. Second, the volume price is the clue that many employers and schools provide BLS, or run their own sessions, because they buy the course by the hundred. Before paying for a class yourself, ask your program or your unit's educator whether one is provided. If you hold a Red Cross or AHA card from another job, it is the card's expiry date, not where you earned it, that matters to most employers, so a valid card usually carries over.

For scale, the card itself is a small part of the price: the AHA sells the BLS Provider eCard to training centers for $3.60 and the ACLS and PALS Provider eCards for $7.25. What you pay for is the course and the instructor's time, not the credential.

How long BLS lasts and what renewal costs

An AHA BLS Provider course completion card is valid for two years, and the Red Cross issues a two-year certification for its instructor-led and blended BLS courses. There is no cheaper "renewal" product from either issuer: renewing means completing the course again before the card expires, and it costs the same as the first time. Two years is also the cycle a hospital's education department works to, which is why BLS is the certification most often provided at work. Keep the eCard where you can find it: an expired BLS card is a common reason an offer is held up at onboarding, and it is the first thing a new employer's compliance team checks.

What ACLS certification costs

Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) is the next level for nurses in emergency departments, intensive care, telemetry, procedural areas and anywhere a cardiac arrest is managed by a team with medications and rhythms, and most employers that require it require a current BLS card alongside it. The AHA's online course, HeartCode ACLS, is $178.00 (bought 50 or more at a time, $160 each), and the price includes access to the ACLS Provider Manual eBook. As with BLS, you then complete a hands-on skills session with an AHA ACLS instructor or a compatible manikin at a training center, which sets its own fee, before you receive the course completion card. The pattern to budget for is therefore the online fee plus the center's session fee, with the session usually the larger figure, and the whole amount again at each renewal. Nurses who need both BLS and ACLS often find a center that runs the skills sessions together, which saves a second booking fee.

What PALS certification costs

Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) is the pediatric counterpart of ACLS, required in pediatric emergency, intensive care and many pediatric inpatient units. The AHA's online course, HeartCode PALS, is priced like ACLS at $178.00 ($160 each for 50 or more), includes the PALS Provider Manual eBook, and is completed with a hands-on skills session that the training center prices separately. A nurse moving into pediatric critical care commonly carries BLS, PALS and, in some units, ACLS, so the certification budget there is the highest among the common cards.

CCRN: requirements, exam fee and renewal

CCRN is different from the life-support cards. It is a specialty nursing certification in acute and critical care, granted by the AACN Certification Corporation to nurses who meet an experience requirement and pass an exam, and it is renewed every three years rather than re-taken every two. It is voluntary, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics notes of nursing certifications generally, but some employers require or pay for it, and many critical care units treat it as the mark of an experienced ICU nurse.

Eligibility

To sit the CCRN (Adult) exam through the direct care pathway you need a current, unencumbered RN or APRN license in the United States and one of two clinical practice options: 1,750 hours in direct care of acutely or critically ill adult patients during the previous two years, with 875 of those hours in the most recent year, or 2,000 hours during the previous five years, with 144 of them in the most recent year. The hours must be in a U.S. or Canadian facility or one comparable to U.S. standards, most of them must be with critically ill patients, and a clinical supervisor or colleague must be able to verify them if you are audited. Pediatric and neonatal CCRN exams have the same structure with their own patient populations.

Exam fees and format

The exam is a 3-hour test of 150 multiple-choice items, 125 of them scored; the remaining 25 are unscored items being trialed for future exams. Fees are payable in U.S. funds and the handbook says they are subject to change without notice. The member and nonmember gap is $115 on the initial exam, so a nurse who intends to certify and renew often finds AACN membership pays for itself; groups of ten or more applying together get a discount, and employers can pre-purchase exam vouchers at a further discount, which is worth asking about before you pay the full fee.

Renewal every three years

CCRN certification is granted for three years, starting on the first day of the month in which you pass. To renew by continuing education you need 100 Synergy CERPs (continuing education recognition points) over the three-year period, at least 60 of them in Category A and at least 10 each in Categories B and C, plus 432 hours of direct care of acutely or critically ill patients during the period, with 144 of those hours in the last year; that works out to about 12 hours a month. The alternative is to renew by exam, at the retest fee. A nurse who no longer meets the practice requirement can hold inactive status for up to three years to get back into eligibility without losing the credential, though the CCRN letters may not be used while inactive. There is a 90-day grace period after the expiry date to submit a renewal, but hours and CERPs earned during the grace period do not count. Keep your CERP records for three years after each renewal date in case of audit. Our guides to CEUs for nurses and nurse CE requirements by state cover where the continuing education comes from and how it overlaps with license renewal.

Adding it up

For a new graduate the certification bill is modest next to licensure: a BLS card at the AHA's $38 online fee plus a skills session, repeated every two years. A move to critical care or the emergency department adds ACLS at $178 online plus a session, and pediatrics adds PALS at the same price. CCRN is the first fee that is not a course but an exam, $260 as a member or $375 as a nonmember, followed by $150 or $230 every three years to renew by CERPs. Every one of these is an ordinary professional expense that many hospitals reimburse, and the volume prices above are the reason to ask before paying: the course your employer buys for $34 a seat is the one you would pay $38 plus a session fee for on your own.

When you compare offers, look for the units that list the certifications they require and the ones they provide. The registered nurse jobs on our board show the employer and unit for each opening, with state pages for California, Texas and Florida; BLS is the one card that also follows you into LPN jobs and CNA jobs. For the rest of the first-year checklist, see transferring a nursing license to another state and the new grad RN salary by state.

Sources

• American Heart Association, Shop CPR, HeartCode BLS Online, price, volume price, skills session sold separately and two-year card validity, read 17 October 2026.
• American Heart Association, Shop CPR, HeartCode ACLS Online, price, volume price and included Provider Manual eBook, read 17 October 2026.
• American Heart Association, Shop CPR, HeartCode PALS Online, price, volume price and included Provider Manual eBook, read 17 October 2026.
• American Heart Association, Shop CPR, BLS Provider eCard and ACLS Provider eCard, card prices, read 17 October 2026.
• American Red Cross, BLS classes and training, course formats and two-year certification, read 17 October 2026.
• AACN Certification Corporation, CCRN (Adult) certification, eligibility and exam fees, read 17 October 2026.
• AACN Certification Corporation, CCRN Exam Handbook, Direct Care Pathway, July 2026 edition, fees, exam format and certification period, read 17 October 2026.
• AACN Certification Corporation, CCRN Renewal Handbook, Direct Care Pathway, July 2026 edition, renewal fees, CERP and practice-hour requirements, inactive status and grace period, read 17 October 2026.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Registered Nurses, licenses, certifications and registrations, read 17 October 2026.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses, licenses, certifications and registrations, read 17 October 2026.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Nursing Assistants and Orderlies, licenses, certifications and registrations, read 17 October 2026.