Exam fact
Can you get a food handlers card for free?
Not from NEHA, the National Environmental Health Association: its Professional Food Handler (PFH) course costs $15 as of October 2026, and every card we priced costs something. The studying can be free. In California, the employer has to cover the card: pay for it or pay you back, and count the training time as paid hours.
- ExamPFH
- CheckedOct 13, 2026
- UpdatedOct 14, 2026
On this page 3 sections
Price of NEHA's PFH course
$15
NEHA lists no free version. Its store sells the PFH online certificate course for $15.00 in English or Spanish, as of October 2026. A free practice quiz is still just practice: it gets you ready for the test and gives you no card.
Source: NEHA store, PFH online course · checked Oct 13, 2026
Who pays when you don't
California is the clear case. Health and Safety Code §113948 says the employer must treat the training and exam time as paid hours worked, pay you for the necessary expenses of getting the card, and take you off other duties while you do it. It also bars an employer from requiring an existing card as a condition of hiring. That's the law as amended effective January 1, 2024, as of October 2026.
Outside California, none of the state health agency pages we read (Texas, Illinois, New Mexico, Washington and Oregon) put the cost on the employer. Nothing there stops an employer from paying, either, so ask on your first shift. NEHA's store limits the online course to one purchase per account and sends group orders to store@neha.org, which is the route a restaurant buying for a whole crew would take.
State-run cards aren't free either. Washington's food worker card is $10 and Oregon's is $10, as of October 2026. The full list, each price dated, is on what a food handlers card costs.
What costs nothing
- Drilling questions on the free food handler practice test on this site.
- Reading the topics in the food handler study guide: temperatures, handwashing, allergens, sanitizer.
- Finding out which card your state or county takes, using how to get a food handlers card.
- Asking your manager which provider they accept and who pays, before you buy anything.
Free, or not
Can I get a food handlers card online for free?
We didn't find one among the providers and state programs we checked, as of October 2026: NEHA $15.00, ServSafe $15.00, StateFoodSafety $10.99 with fees, and the Washington and Oregon state cards at $10. In California, the employer has to cover it by law.
Is the practice on this site free?
Yes. The practice test and the timed mock exam cost nothing. Ticket Rail is an independent study site, not affiliated with NEHA, and it doesn't issue cards or certificates.
My California employer asked me to pay for my card. Is that allowed?
You can be asked to front it, but the employer has to pay you back. Section 113948(i) of California's Health and Safety Code says the employer pays for the training time as hours worked and reimburses the necessary expenses of getting the card (as of October 2026). Keep the receipt and show your manager the section.