Spoiler Alert: You can’t get a free Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) or Common Mark Certificate (CMC) due to the manual validation that’s required.
Mark certificates are key to displaying your brand’s logo upfront in recipients’ inboxes and in the sender field of emails on Gmail, Yahoo, Apple Mail, and other major email clients. But a Common or Verified Mark Certificate isn’t something you can get for free — here’s why.
Free VMC Certificates Don’t Exist, But There Is Good News…
While we can’t give you a BIMI VMC or CMC certificate for free, we do offer the next best thing: a 10% discount!
Common Mark Certificate Promo Codes | Verified Mark Certificate Promo Codes |
1-year certificate: CMC1save10 | 1-year certificate: VMC1save10 |
2-Year certificate: CMC2save10 | 2-Year certificate: VMC2save10 |
3-year certificate: CMC3save10 | 3-year certificate: VMC3save10 |
Why You Can’t Get a Free Verified Mark Certificate or CMC
There are several key reasons why you can’t get a BIMI CMC or VMC certificate for free:
1. Every Organization Must Be Vetted Before a Certificate Can Be Issued
Much like organization and extended validation (OV/EV) SSL/TLS certificates, both types of mark certificates also require manual business verification processes. This process involves having trained validation experts at a certification authority (CA) like DigiCert manually vet that you are who you say you are.
As you can imagine, this doesn’t happen for free. This process requires people, and businesses need money to pay them and keep their lights on. (You know, basic business stuff).
This is true for both Common Mark Certificates and Verified Mark Certificates. Hence why you can’t get a BIMI VMC certificate for free or a CMC for the same reason.
2. Your Logo and Other Technical Compliance Requirements Must Be Verified
As you likely know, Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) is a technical standard that has specific requirements. This includes everything from Domain Name System (DNS) records to specific logo formatting and file extension requirements.
The issuing CA must ensure everything is up to snuff before it’ll issue your VMC or CMC:
- Your company has a registered trademark (for VMC certificates). The Mark Verification Authority (e.g., DigiCert) has to ensure that your logo actually has a verifiable registered trademark.
- The logo is properly formatted. Your image must meet certain criteria to be compliant with the BIMI standard. For more specifics, take a look at our more detailed resource that examines how to convert your file into the appropriate format.
3. Trademark Registrations Cost Money (in the Case of VMCs)
The last reason you can’t get a VMC certificate for free is that a VMC requires your organization to have a trademarked logo. This is literally one of the key requirements of being able to get one of these certificates and, in the case of a verified mark certificate, what allows it to display a verified blue checkmark in Gmail and Yahoo and prevent it from being offered for at no cost.

As you likely know, you can’t get a registered trademark for your logo for free — while costs vary based on which of the 17 countries’ trademark offices are recognized for the purposes of VMCs, the point is that there are still costs involved.
For example, here’s a quick peak at the cost of a registered trademark through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), plus there are other potential additional costs as well:

For VMCs: No trademark = no certificate = no verified checkmark. Capisce?
Get 10% Off Your Purchase of a New Verified Mark Certificate
Add a verified checkmark to your outbound emails using a VMC so recipients know they’re legitimate and can feel safe opening your messages.
What Options Do You Have If You Don’t Have a Trademarked Logo?
If getting a VMC is out of the question because you don’t have a registered trademark or government-claimed mark for your logo, there is good news: you can get a Common Mark Certificate (CMC) instead.
While this BIMI certificate isn’t free, this type of lower-cost mark certificate is great for businesses that want to display their logo in Gmail recipients’ inboxes without needing to go through the process of trademarking stuff.
Get 10% Off Your Purchase of a New Common Mark Certificate
Add your organization’s verified brand logo to your outbound emails without needing to have a trademarked logo.