Certification Tiers

Pricing built for every operator.

Four tiers, cumulative scope. Each higher tier includes everything below it, so you can start with a lightweight registry listing or move straight to a board-ready enterprise audit.

Compare Tiers Talk to ACF

From $299 for launch-stage agents·10 days for the most common production review·4 tiers from identity to enterprise audit

At a glance

Certify the level of trust your buyers actually need.

Operators can register a single agent version, add adversarial resistance testing at Tier 3, or scope multiple agent versions under an enterprise audit pathway.

identity checks in Tier 1

behavioral tests in Tier 2

tests including adversarial, Tier 3+

Compare the paths

Choose the certification depth that matches deployment risk, buyer scrutiny, and internal governance needs.

Tier 1

Identity

$299 + $149/yr

For lightweight verification, public registry presence, and early trust signals.

Most common

Tier 2

Behavioral Analysis

$799 + $449/yr

The standard production choice with all four ACF behavioral suites included.

Tier 3

Compliance

$1,799 + $999/yr

Add the full adversarial resistance suite — the scope regulated buyers ask for.

Tier 4

Enterprise Audit

$4,500 + $2,500/yr

Board-ready reporting, architecture review, and multi-version enterprise scope.

Contact for Enterprise

Cumulative structure — Each tier includes the deliverables and evidence from every lower tier.

Annual recertification — Keep registry status current and preserve buyer confidence with yearly renewal.

Custom volume pricing — Teams certifying multiple agents or product lines can access discounted enterprise terms.

Design Partner Program

Founding operators get early certification leverage.

7 slots remaining. Design partners receive Tier 1 + Tier 2 certification free ($1,098 value), a permanent 30% discount on future certification, and a founding listing in the registry.

Tier 1 + Tier 2 certification	Free
Permanent discount	30% off
Registry placement	Founding badge

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Tier 1

Identity

$299

$149/yr recertification

Entry-level certification covering agent identity verification and basic behavioral screening. Establishes a verifiable registry entry for operators beginning their certification journey or working with low-risk deployments.

Single agent version · 14-day turnaround

Included

Identity verification (15 tests)
Registry entry with public listing
Verification API access
ACF Tier 1 certificate (PDF + digital)
Certification result summary (PASS / N/A per suite)

Best fit

Operators launching an initial public-facing agent
Low-risk deployments needing a verifiable listing
Teams that want a lightweight first trust signal

Tier 2

Most common

Behavioral Analysis

$799

$449/yr recertification

Full behavioral certification across three ACF suites: 22 tests covering commitment boundaries, consistency, and hallucination detection. This is the standard choice for production AI deployments. Adversarial resistance is tested at Tier 3 and above.

All Tier 1 inclusions · 10-day turnaround

Test suites

Commitment Boundary

8 tests

Consistency

7 tests

Hallucination Detection

7 tests

Deliverables

All Tier 1 inclusions
Certification result summary — PASS or FAIL for each suite
Failure-type guidance on any suite that does not pass, so remediation can be targeted
CB / CS / HD results on registry listing

ACF reports outcomes, not numbers. Test-level results and numeric scores are never published and are never released to the operator — a certification is a threshold that is met or is not, and publishing the margin would turn it into a leaderboard.

Most operators start here

Tier 3

Compliance-ready

Compliance

$1,799

$999/yr recertification

All Tier 2 behavioral testing plus the Adversarial Resistance suite — 10 tests covering prompt injection through retrieved documents and email, jailbreak and roleplay overrides, data exfiltration, and scope drift induced by verbose or chain-of-thought output. This is the tier regulated buyers ask for, and the only one that certifies an agent against deliberate attack.

32 tests across all four suites · 12-day turnaround

Adversarial Resistance suite

Indirect prompt injection via retrieved documents and inbound email
Jailbreak, roleplay override, and claimed-system-instruction resistance
Gradual persona replacement and recursive self-modification
Data exfiltration attempts, and scope drift under verbose or reasoning-heavy output

Additional scope

All Tier 2 inclusions
AR results on registry listing
Best for regulated buyer workflows

Industry overlay modules — in development

ACF-FIN, ACF-HLTH, ACF-LEGAL, ACF-GOV, and ACF-EU are published specifications, not yet a testable deliverable. No overlay tests are executed today and no regulatory evidence package is issued. Tier 3 is priced on the behavioral scope above; overlays will be offered separately once they run. Ask to be notified if a specific overlay gates your deployment.

Tier 4

Board-ready

Enterprise Audit

$4,500

$2,500/yr recertification

The most comprehensive certification offering. Includes a full architecture review, board-ready reporting, and all Tier 3 deliverables for enterprise deployments needing external audit evidence for procurement, legal, or governance purposes.

Contact for Enterprise

Up to 3 agent versions · priority turnaround in 8 days

Enterprise additions

Architecture review by senior ACF auditor
Board-ready certification report
All regulatory modules included
Dedicated audit liaison
Annual monitoring retainer available

Deliverables

All Tier 3 inclusions
Architecture review report
Board-ready summary document
Custom scope available for large deployments

Add-Ons

Available with any tier. Applied at checkout or added post-certification.

Add-On	Price	Description
Private Registry Listing	$200/yr	Certificate issued and verifiable but excluded from public registry browse
Third-Party Viewer Access	$150/yr	Grant named third parties (auditors, procurement teams) view-only access to the certification result summary
Certificate Transfer	$350	Transfer registry ownership between operator entities (e.g., acquisition, rebrand)
Annual Monitoring Retainer	From $1,200/yr	Quarterly behavioral drift checks with alert notifications. Available for Tier 2+.

Industry Overlay Modules

Published specifications, in development. Each module defines a set of industry-specific behavioral tests and a regulatory evidence package for that sector. None of them run yet: no overlay tests are executed as part of a certification today and no overlay evidence package is issued, so the modules are not currently sold. They are documented here because operators in these sectors ask what ACF intends to cover, and because a standard that publishes its roadmap can be held to it.

ACF-FIN Financial Services

Fiduciary advice boundaries, suitability disclosures, investment recommendation guardrails, and financial data handling controls.

Aligned: SEC Reg BI, CFPB, FINRA 2111, MiFID II

Planned tests: FIN-01, FIN-02, FIN-03, FIN-04, FIN-05

ACF-HLTH Healthcare

HIPAA controls, clinical advice boundaries, patient data handling, and medical device software classification awareness.

Aligned: HIPAA, Cures Act, FDA SaMD, AMA

Planned tests: HLTH-01, HLTH-02, HLTH-03, HLTH-04, HLTH-05

ACF-LEGAL Legal

UPL detection, legal advice boundary enforcement, jurisdictional disclaimer controls, and privilege-adjacent content handling.

Aligned: ABA Model Rules, UPL statutes

Planned tests: LEG-01, LEG-02, LEG-03, LEG-04

ACF-GOV Government

Accessibility compliance, equity and bias controls, public records handling, and government-specific deployment guardrails.

Aligned: Section 508, WCAG 2.1, EO 13985, NIST AI RMF

Planned tests: GOV-01, GOV-02, GOV-03, GOV-04

ACF-EU EU / Regulatory

Articles 9–15 risk management mapping, technical documentation requirements, human oversight provisions, and transparency obligations.

Planned tests: EU-01, EU-02, EU-03, EU-04, EU-05, EU-06

The ACF-EU module produces evidence to support CE marking efforts under the EU AI Act. It is not a substitute for a notified body conformity assessment.

Volume Discounts

Volume	Discount	Notes
2–4 certifications	10% per unit	Same tier required across all units
5–9 certifications	15% per unit	Mixed tiers allowed; discount applied to each
10–24 certifications	20% per unit	Dedicated account manager included
25+ certifications	Custom	Enterprise agreement — contact registry@acfstandards.org

Have questions before registering?

Review the FAQ for common questions about scope, turnaround, recertification, and how ACF compares to internal audits.

Read the FAQ Contact Us