ICF coach training · published tuition, two schools
Symbiosis Coaching vs Coach Training Alliance
On published tuition these two look closer than any other pairing in this category. They are not. CTA sells the mentoring and the evaluation an ICF application requires as separate purchases, and it offers no Level 2 pathway at all — so the comparison depends entirely on where you intend to end up.
Coach Training Alliance does not include the ten mentor coaching hours or the performance evaluation in its published tuition. Group mentor coaching covering seven of the ten hours is listed at $699; the remaining three one-on-one hours are contracted directly with a mentor at $150 to $250 per hour. The evaluation is priced separately again.Coach Training Alliance offers no ICF Level 2 pathway, so a student seeking a PCC would need to complete the additional training requirement elsewhere.CTA runs rotating promotional codes, currently $750 off, so the effective price is often below the $3,949 list figure. Discounts move constantly and are not a stable basis for comparison.All tuition figures are the schools' own published prices, verified August 20, 2026, pay-in-full, US dollars, before promotional codes.Background details — founding dates, graduate numbers, credentials awarded, class format — come from each school's own public company materials rather than the tuition pages linked below. Promotional descriptions have not been reproduced; where a school does not publish a detail, this page says so rather than inferring it.
The full analysisThis page compares two schools. The complete study puts six ICF-accredited providers side by side on the same basis — tuition, accredited hours, what each package includes, cost per training hour, standalone options and payment terms — with a source link behind every figure.
Compare all six schoolsThe short answer
Which one should you choose?
Choose Symbiosis Coaching
Choose Symbiosis if you intend to reach an ACC or a PCC. Everything the ICF requires is inside one published price, there is nothing further to buy, and the Level 2 pathway exists — which at CTA it does not. If you want a credential rather than a certificate, this is the difference that decides it.
Cost is where this comparison starts, not where it ends. Every requirement an ICF application makes — the ten mentor coaching hours, the performance evaluation — sits inside the published tuition rather than alongside it. So do four accelerators, which stay with you free for life after you graduate.
The structure is yours to choose. Take a single certification at $1,599 and start practising, or build a Level 1 or Level 2 pathway across two, three or four core programs, reaching up to 325 accredited hours. Classes are live and instructor-led at 10am, 2pm and 8pm New York time, so a working schedule almost anywhere in the world can accommodate one.
- Ten mentor coaching hours and the ICF performance evaluation
- Coaching hours the ICF counts as paid, through Symbiosis Credentium
- Ten full-length ACC or PCC practice tests
- Live instructor-led classes at 10am, 2pm and 8pm New York time
- Standalone certification or a full pathway — 65 to 325 accredited hours
- Four accelerators, free for life after graduation
Choose Coach Training Alliance
Choose CTA if you already have a mentor coach you want to keep, or if you are certain a certificate is all you need and a credential is not the goal. Its unbundled structure genuinely suits a student who does not need every component, and its rotating promotional codes — currently $750 off — mean the effective price is often below list. CTA also facilitates reciprocal peer coaching toward the logged-hours requirement, which makes it the only school besides Symbiosis Coaching that addresses that problem at all.
Included, not sold separately
Four accelerators, no extra fee
Training hours are the part every school prices. What happens between finishing a course and being good enough — and credentialed enough — to charge for it is where the packages actually diverge. These come with a Symbiosis Coaching program and are not an upsell after enrollment.
Questions
Common questions
Which is more cost effective, Symbiosis Coaching or Coach Training Alliance?
On published tuition the Symbiosis ACC pathway is $2,623 against $3,949 at CTA, 34% less. The realistic gap is much wider, because CTA prices mentoring and the performance evaluation separately. Adding group mentor coaching at $699 and three one-on-one hours at $150 to $250 each puts a realistic CTA route to an ACC at roughly $5,100 to $5,400 before the evaluation is priced in.
Does Coach Training Alliance include the ten mentor coaching hours?
No. CTA lists group mentor coaching covering seven of the ten required hours at $699, with the remaining three one-on-one hours contracted directly with a mentor at $150 to $250 per hour. The performance evaluation is priced separately again. Symbiosis Coaching includes all three inside its tuition.
Can I get a PCC through Coach Training Alliance?
Not through CTA alone. It offers no ICF Level 2 pathway, so a student wanting a PCC would need to complete the additional training requirement elsewhere. Symbiosis Coaching offers Level 2 pathways from $4,147, carrying 135 to 325 accredited hours depending on how many core programs you combine.
Does either school help with the coaching hours the ICF requires?
Both do, differently. CTA facilitates reciprocal peer coaching toward the requirement, which is more than most schools offer. Symbiosis Coaching includes Symbiosis Credentium, where sessions are bartered coaching that the ICF counts as paid — which satisfies the harder half of the requirement, since an ACC needs 75 of its 100 hours to be paid.
Is the $3,949 price the amount I would actually pay?
Rarely, in either direction. CTA runs rotating promotional codes, currently $750 off, so the effective price is often below list. But the published figure also excludes mentoring and the evaluation, so the total cost of reaching an ACC is higher than $3,949 regardless of any discount.
Can I get certified without committing to an ICF credential pathway?
At Symbiosis Coaching, yes. Every core program — Certified Life Coach, Executive Coach, Organizational Development Coach and NLP Coach — is sold standalone at $1,599 and carries 65 to 95 ICF training hours with a certificate. CTA publishes no accredited unit below the Certified Coach Program at $3,949, so the smallest purchase that counts toward a credential there is more than twice the Symbiosis price.
Next stepSymbiosis Coaching publishes full tuition for every pathway and every standalone program, with instalment options shown at checkout — no quote request and no call required to see a price. Compare it against what Coach Training Alliance lists before you decide.