PMP vs PRINCE2 vs ITIL Comparison

A common question is what really is the difference between PMP and Prince2 and which one I should go for. Here are some high level differences between the project management standards namely , PRINCE2 (PRojects IN a Controlled Environment) and the PMP (Project Management Professional).

	PRINCE2	PMBOK for PMP
Levels	3 Levels, Foundation, Practitioner and Professional	1 Level PMP.
Organization	APM Group, UK	PMI , USA
Recognition	Worldwide	Worldwide
Approach	Process-based – defines What, How, When, and who can do a series of management processes. It dictates the right process to follow	Knowledge based – Tools & Techniques and best practices that can be applied when managing projects
Roles	Defines the roles of everyone involved in a project	Focuses on the project manager's role
Content	Business case, Products/ Project planning, Project Assurance, Management by Exception, Clear roles and responsibility Definition, these topics not fully covered by PMP	Covers Procurement, EVM, Critical Path, Communication Management, HR Management, not covered by PRINCE2. PMP gives details of PM Roles and not many details on other’s roles.
What	Practical Project Management Methodology	PMP / PMBoK – comprehensive info about all aspects of project management.
Numbers	70K PRINCE2 Practitioners	240K PMI members and 200K PMP certified
Countries	Popular in UK, Europe	Popular in USA, India etc.
	Highly prescriptive on processes	Large descriptive, some places prescriptive.
	Business case driven	Customer requirements driven
Questions	75 , 50% passing	200, 61% passing
Hours	4 hours	1 hour
Eligibility	Not Mandated	4500 of PM experience
Training	Not Mandated	35 contact hours from Registered education provider
Price	200 Pounds	555USD
Recertification	N/A for Foundation. All PRINCE2 Practitioners should be re-registered within 3-5 calendar years of their original certification.	Required every 3 years. 60 PDUs needed

I think PMP takes the good approach for purposes of teaching the subject content of each knowledge area, but not as effective when it comes to providing guidance for running a particular project.

Prince2 would be applicable more if you are looking for a PM job in the UK or for a company that utilised the Prince2 methods. Prince2 and PMP are not competitors, but mutually exclusive. PM can benefit by doing both of these certifications.

PRINCE2 or PMP just by itself may not make you a better project manager, you need project management experience, take the course, study and get certified, when you go back to managing projects, you are equipped with a whole new set of tools, techniques and knowledge. Its cyclic process since when you apply your newly learnt skills, you will earn more skills and with time become a better project manager. Those who do not put the knowledge into use will not become better PMs. If you are looking at a certification from the point of view of gaining knowledge, then they both complement each other. However if you are looking at it as a marketing tool, then it depends upon which country you are working. PMP appears to have a wider following in North America and parts of Asia, whereas PRINCE2 appears to have its followers in Europe (and maybe Australia). Both certifications are good and has lots of benefit , I strongly encourage you to take up atleast one of them.

Comparison with ITIL 

ITIL is one of the fastest growing frameworks, and helps organizations increase IT efficiency, improve quality, and control costs. ITIL® is a framework is mainly for management of IT Services across the entire lifecyle. Activities in the framework are combined in processes to focus on continual improvement of process, product, people and partner relations.

ITIL addresses how IT organisations as a whole should operate, PMP addresses how individual projects within the organisation can be delivered. They are both complementary and mutually exclusive. ITIL applies mainly to IT industry where as PMP claims to be universal and independent of domain.

ITIL is process focussed (like PRINCE2) and not technology focussed, meaning you dont need to know the technology. In todays competitive market, ITIL certification is a big plus as it positions you as service management expert. The world is shrinking so its no longer true that only IT services professionals will do ITIL. So if you do that in addition to doing PMP then you will definitely have an edge in market.