To earn an ICF credential at any level, you need documented coaching hours. Specific, accurate, auditable coaching hours. The exact counts vary by credential level, but the requirement is the same: you need a record that can hold up to scrutiny, organized in a way you can actually report from.
Most coaches do this in a spreadsheet. A lot of them do it badly, not out of carelessness, but because no one hands you a good system at the start and the problem seems small until it suddenly is not.
We built a coaching log into CredentialPrep and made it free to use. No subscription required.
What it does
The coaching log tracks the things ICF actually cares about:
- Sessions by client, with date, duration, and session type
- Paid vs. pro-bono classification, which matters for the paid-hours thresholds at every credential level
- Running totals so you always know where you stand without having to count manually
- Client records with a unique record per person, so you can see your full history with each client
You can log a single session, log across a date range if you are catching up from memory, or import from a spreadsheet.
The CSV import
If you have been tracking hours in the standard ICF coaching log spreadsheet format, you can import that file directly. The importer reads the client name, session dates, and paid and pro-bono hour columns, shows you a preview before committing anything, and adds the sessions to your log.
This matters for coaches who have years of history in an existing file and do not want to re-enter it manually. It also matters if you are applying soon and need to consolidate records from multiple places into one clean log.
Why it is free
The ICF coaching log requirement is not about exam prep or session evaluation. It is administrative. It is a logistics problem every credential candidate has to solve. Paywalling a solution to a logistics problem felt wrong, so we did not.
The free plan includes the full coaching log with no session limit and no expiration.
If you want exam practice questions or transcript evaluations, those are in the paid plans. The log is not.
If you already have a tracking system
If you have a spreadsheet that is working, you do not need to switch. The existing post on how to track ICF coaching hours covers what a good tracking system needs, regardless of what tool you use.
If your spreadsheet is not working, or if you are just starting out and want something that handles the structure for you, the coaching log is at credentialprep.co/app#log. Free account, no credit card.
