Certifications, awards and partner tiers are three different things. Here is how to read them.
When you are comparing Umbraco suppliers, at least four different kinds of credential get waved at you: Certified Master, Certified Professional, MVP, and the partner tiers. They are not interchangeable, they sit at different levels, and only some of them can legitimately be claimed by the person or company in front of you. This post explains what each one actually is, so you can read a credentials page the way it deserves to be read.
Certified Professional is Umbraco's individual certification, earned by passing the official training courses and exams. Certified Master is the highest individual Umbraco certification, sitting above Certified Professional and earned by completing the full official training and examination path.
Crucially, both certifications belong to a named person, not to a company. "We are certified" means nothing until you know which individual holds the certificate, at which level, and whether that person will actually be working on your project. In our team, William Steed is an Umbraco Certified Master, having first earned his Certified Professional certification at age 15, one of the youngest people to do so.
Umbraco's Most Valued People (MVP) award is different again. It is not a certification you sit an exam for; it is an annual recognition Umbraco gives to individuals for their contribution to the Umbraco community, through code, writing, speaking and helping others. It is awarded per year, so "MVP" without a year attached tells you less than it appears to.
Our founder, Simon Steed, was named an Umbraco MVP in 2026. That tells you Umbraco itself recognised his contribution to the platform's community that year. It does not, on its own, tell you what he can build, which is why we list it alongside the track record (more than 200 Umbraco sites since 2008, across every major version from v4 through to v17) rather than instead of it.
The partner tiers (Silver, Gold and Platinum) are the credential most often misread. They are commercial partnerships between Umbraco HQ and a registered company. They involve ongoing commitments and give the partner company direct access to Umbraco HQ support. Two things follow from that.
First, a partnership cannot be claimed by an individual. A developer who works, or once worked, at a partner company does not personally hold the partnership and does not take it with them when they leave.
Second, which entity holds the partnership matters. If a supplier shows a Silver Partner badge, the precise question is: which registered company holds this partnership, and is that the company I would be contracting with? If the answer involves a different entity from the one on the invoice, you should understand why before you sign.
Because we are asking you to apply this scrutiny to everyone, here is our own answer in the same terms. The Umbraco Silver Partnership is held directly by the company, one of fewer than 150 Silver Partners worldwide. Simon Antony is a brand of Simplepage Ltd, registered in the Isle of Man (company number 139122C), and Simplepage Ltd is the entity you contract with. Simon Steed is an Umbraco MVP 2026. William Steed is an Umbraco Certified Master. All three claims can be verified with Umbraco HQ or the companies registry.
Ask which entity holds the partnership, and which named person holds which certification. A serious supplier answers in one sentence, the way we just did. Vagueness on this question is not a technicality; credentials only mean something when they are attached to the exact person or company doing your work.
Tell us what you're working on and we'll come back within one working day.
An Umbraco Silver Partner agency in Llandudno, North Wales and the Isle of Man, building and looking after Umbraco and .NET websites for businesses and agencies across the UK and beyond. Simon Antony is a brand of Simplepage Ltd.
Maesgwyn, 3 Claremont rd,
Llandudno, North Wales, LL30 2UF