ITIL Foundation (Version 5)
ITIL Foundation certifies that you know the vocabulary of IT service management: how services are defined, delivered and improved, and what the words in your ticketing system are supposed to mean.
An hour, forty questions, closed book, and no prerequisite.
Exam facts
- Exam code
- ITIL Foundation V5
- Level
- Foundational
- Field
- IT service management
- Duration
- 60 minutes
- Questions
- 40 multiple-choice questions, closed book
- Passing score
- 65 % (26 of 40)
- Languages
- English, German, Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, SpanishITIL 4 Foundation remains bookable in 12 languages; Version 5 launched with nine.
- Price
- 644 EUR (read 12 September 2026)
- Validity
- 3 years, renewable
- Exam delivery
- Online proctored through PeopleCert or via accredited training organisations; exams are sold bundled with official learning material or a course
Prerequisites: None.
Renewal: Every three years: 60 CPD points through PeopleCert Plus membership, another module of the ITIL suite, or a retake
Source: exam page at PeopleCert · Price: PeopleCert Exam Bundle incl. VAT (exam voucher, official eBook, learning material), read 2026-09-12; the bare exam is sold only through accredited training organisations. eLearning bundles 1,349 / 1,596 EUR.
How to prepare
Book the exam
Delivered by Online proctored through PeopleCert or via accredited training organisations; exams are sold bundled with official learning material or a course. Schedule with PeopleCert (opens in a new tab)
It is the most widely held IT certificate in large organisations, and the reason is straightforward: enterprises and outsourcing contracts name it, so departments buy it in bulk. That gives it unusual recognition and an unusual reputation, because a great many holders sat it because a manager booked them onto a course rather than because they wanted it.
You cannot buy a bare exam, and two versions are current
PeopleCert sells bundles rather than standalone sittings to individuals, so the figure you pay includes materials and, on the larger packages, training and a resit. Separately, Version 5 arrived during 2026 and the earlier Foundation stayed purchasable next to it, a bridge module serving people who already hold one. Before booking anything, confirm which version your employer or the contract actually names, because both are purchasable today.
What it is worth, plainly
- Strong for anyone working on or beside a large organisation's service desk, where the vocabulary is genuinely the shared language.
- Strong where a contract or framework names it, which is common in outsourcing and public-sector IT.
- Weak as a standalone CV line for a technical role, where it signals exposure rather than capability.
- Weak for small organisations, whose processes rarely resemble the framework closely enough for the vocabulary to pay off.
- Useful regardless as an explanation of why your organisation does the strange things it does, which is not nothing.
| Aspect | ITIL Foundation (Version 5) | ITIL 4 Foundation |
|---|---|---|
| Questions and time | 40 in 60 minutes, closed book | 40 in 60 minutes, closed book |
| Pass mark | 65 %, 26 of 40 | 65 % |
| Languages | Nine | Twelve |
| Renewal | Every three years | Every three years |
| Route for existing holders | Bridge module from ITIL 4 | Not applicable |
| Status on the day we read the pages | On sale | Still on sale |
The table says the exam did not change shape between versions; the syllabus did. For a candidate that means the decision is about which vocabulary your organisation will speak for the next three years, and the answer is written in the contract or the job description rather than in either syllabus. Where nothing names a version, sit the current one. Where an employer has already trained a department on the previous one and holds a bridge budget, follow the department. The three extra languages on the older paper are a real consideration for candidates outside the nine Version 5 launched with.
What it costs and how it is kept
Individuals buy a bundle: the exam voucher, the official eBook and learning material at the entry tier, with eLearning tiers above it that add training and, at the top, a resit. The bare exam is sold only through accredited training organisations, which is why a company-booked course looks so much cheaper per head than a private purchase. Holding the certificate runs on a three-year cycle: 60 continuing-professional-development points through PeopleCert Plus membership, or another module of the ITIL suite, or a retake. For anyone planning to climb into the practitioner or specialist modules the second route renews the foundation as a side effect.
On the day
Forty multiple-choice questions, sixty minutes, closed book, and a pass at 26 correct. It is a vocabulary exam and rewards precision about terms that sound alike: a service against a product, an incident against a problem, a practice against a process. Candidates who work in a ticketing system every day and have never been told what the words are supposed to mean find the last week of preparation the most useful part of the whole exercise.
What a question looks like
Written by us in the exam's style. It is not a real question from any question bank, and we do not publish those.
A user reports that an application is slow. Investigation shows the same degradation has recurred monthly for half a year, each time resolved by restarting a service. How should this be classified within the framework?
Each individual report is an incident, and the recurring underlying fault is something else with its own management practice. The exam tests whether you can hold that distinction, which sounds like pedantry until you notice that organisations which never make it spend years restarting the same service. Most Foundation questions turn on a boundary of exactly this kind.
What it costs to get and to keep
| Item | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Exam bundle | 644 EUR | including VAT. PeopleCert sells bundles rather than bare exams to individuals, and larger packages adding training and a resit cost substantially more (read 12 September 2026) |
| Renewal every three years | not published | sixty continuing-development points, obtainable through the vendor's membership, by taking a further module of the suite, or by resitting (read 12 September 2026) |
| Version bridge | not published | a bridge module exists for holders of the previous version rather than a full resit. Worth checking before paying for a fresh Foundation (read 12 September 2026) |
How much preparation, from where you are
- You work on a service desk
- Short. Most of the material describes what you already do, and the study is mapping your organisation's words onto the framework's. The definitional boundaries are where marks are lost.
- You are technical and have been booked onto it
- Also short, and more useful than you expect. The value is not the certificate but understanding why the process around you is shaped as it is, which tends to reduce the friction of arguing with it.
- You are moving into service management
- A sensible entry point, and be aware it is vocabulary rather than practice. Nothing here teaches you to run a service; it teaches you to discuss one precisely.
What passing this does not prove
- Whether you could improve a service, as opposed to describing it.
- Any tooling, despite the framework being sold largely through tooling.
- Whether the processes you learned survive contact with an understaffed desk.
- Anything above Foundation depth, which is where the framework becomes demanding.
Against the alternatives
- CSA — ServiceNow Certified System Administrator (CSA)
- ServiceNow's administrator certificate covers the platform many organisations actually implement this framework in. Complementary rather than competing, and considerably more hands-on.
- PRINCE2 Foundation (Version 7) — PRINCE2 7 Foundation
- Same vendor, same bundle model, different discipline: projects rather than services. People in operations roles frequently end up with both without planning to.
- AZ-900 — Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
- A cheaper entry certificate covering platform vocabulary rather than process vocabulary. If you can only justify one, choose by which conversations you keep failing to follow.
ITIL Foundation V5 — quick answers
Which version should I sit?
Whichever your employer or contract names, and check rather than assume, because both Version 5 and the previous ITIL 4 Foundation were purchasable on the same day we looked. If you already hold the older one, a bridge module exists and is cheaper than starting again.
Why can I not just buy the exam?
PeopleCert sells bundles to individuals, so a purchase includes materials and, at the higher tiers, training and a resit. That makes it look expensive next to a bare exam fee elsewhere. Compare the bundles rather than comparing a bundle against somebody else's exam-only price.
Is it worth it if my organisation ignores the framework?
Less, and not nothing. The vocabulary travels to your next employer, who may well use it, and understanding the model makes it easier to explain why your current process produces the results it does. As a CV line on its own, though, it signals exposure rather than skill.
What is the bridge module?
A shorter route to the Version 5 Foundation for people who already hold ITIL 4 Foundation, covering what changed rather than the whole syllabus. It is the sensible purchase for a department that certified on the previous version and now has a contract naming the new one; it is not a shortcut for anyone starting fresh.
Is it hard?
Not in the way technical exams are. Sixty-five percent on forty multiple-choice questions is a forgiving threshold, and the difficulty is entirely in the vocabulary: several terms that mean specific, different things in the framework are used interchangeably in most workplaces. Candidates who study the definitions rather than the narrative pass comfortably; candidates who rely on years of service-desk experience are surprised.
What comes next
Concepts this exam draws on
Glossary entries with the reason each one matters for ITIL Foundation V5.
- Uptime & SLA
Service level management is a Foundation practice.
- Managed Hosting
Service provision as ITIL frames it: value, warranty, utility.
- Incident Management
The incident, problem and change practices are the heart of the Foundation syllabus.
Last reviewed 12 September 2026 · Getting Digital