Best Botox Training in 2027… The Updated Buyer’s Guide is Now Released

This is the 2027 release of the A-T.com Buyer’s Guide applied to the seven aesthetic training providers that currently meet our inclusion threshold.  It is factually compiled from publicly available information on each provider’s website. Shoppers asking “which Botox training course is best” deserve a consistent framework, not a collection of marketing claims. Below, each of the 8 Buyer’s Guide criteria is listed on its own, followed by the providers whose websites publicly disclose that they meet that criterion.

Where a criterion is not publicly disclosed by a provider, that provider is simply not listed under that criterion. The absence of a check is not a judgment: it is a prompt to ask the provider a specific question before paying any non-refundable tuition. Every provider reviewed in this guide has non-refundable deposits or significant cancellation fees. A question asked before enrollment is worth more than a dispute after.  Many factors determine the best training including proximity and availability, but one should never have any lingering questions before paying non-refundable tuition based on incomplete information.

For the full definition of each criterion and the reasoning behind the framework, see the A-T.com Buyer’s Guide Criteria and the companion article Shopping for Aesthetic Training in 2027: 8 Questions to Ask First.

Eligibility and methodology

Inclusion threshold: Only providers with at least five publicly listed U.S. training locations are considered in this guide. This excludes single-city or small regional preceptorships, and keeps the comparison relevant to shoppers whose searches are generic rather than regional. The seven providers reviewed are AAFE, AMET, MedAesthetics Training, Empire Medical Training, AAOPM, PracticalCME, and Dermainstitute.us. Each has its own full A-T.com review page, linked throughout.

What is not scored in this guide: course dates, tuition price, specific training city, and seat availability are intentionally excluded. All seven providers operate at multiple U.S. locations and run courses on a frequent enough schedule that these factors depend on the individual shopper’s situation rather than on provider quality.

Note on total course cost: If a provider offers an advanced or Level 2 course beyond the foundational Botox and filler course, the total investment to complete a full training pathway should includes both the Level 1 and Level 2 tuition, both sets of travel expenses, and any prerequisite online courses sold separately. Comparing only the Level 1 price understates the total cost for shoppers who intend to complete both levels. Six of the seven providers reviewed offer an advanced or Level 2 course and one must weigh these additional costs.

Source: Scoring reflects publicly available information on each provider’s website as of November 2026. Links to each full review are included under each provider name in the section below the criteria.

The 8 Buyer’s Guide criteria

Criterion 1: Instructor Transparency

The provider publishes the name and credentials of the specific instructor teaching each hands-on course date and location, so the shopper knows who will train them before they register.

✅ Providers meeting this criterion:

Question to ask any other provider before paying: “Who specifically is the lead hands-on instructor for the date and location I am registering for, what is their professional degree, and in what U.S. state are they licensed? Please confirm by email so I have it in writing.”

Criterion 2: Location Transparency

The provider publishes the exact venue name and street address of each course location, so the shopper can verify the venue type (clinical office, hotel, conference center) and plan travel.

✅ Providers meeting this criterion:

Question to ask any other provider before paying: “What is the exact venue name and street address for the date I am registering for? Is this a clinical office, a hotel conference room, or another type of venue?”

Criterion 3: CME Accreditation

The provider holds, or holds through joint providership with, accreditation from one or more recognized medical education bodies (AMA PRA Category 1 Credit for physicians, ANCC contact hours for nurses, AANP credit for nurse practitioners, AAFP Prescribed Credit, AGD PACE for dentists, AAPA for physician assistants). Accreditation is verifiable in the accrediting body’s public provider directory.  Note that some credit providers like AAFP depend on state boards to offer credit as “equivalency” and not direct.

✅ Providers meeting this criterion:

Question to ask any other provider before paying: “Which specific accrediting bodies accredit this course, and what is the provider ID I can use to verify this on the accrediting body’s public directory? How many credit hours are awarded, and are any hours labeled pharmacology or pharmacotherapeutic?”

Criterion 4: Small Groups

The provider publishes a maximum attendee count per hands-on instructor, so the shopper can calculate expected one-on-one time with the trainer.  Some providers might have multiple instructors at hands-on that reduce the ratio in larger classes, but no other provider stated or guaranteed that.

✅ Providers meeting this criterion:

Question to ask any other provider before paying: “What is the maximum number of attendees per hands-on instructor at this course? If more than one instructor is present, what is the maximum total attendee count?”

Criterion 5: Product Included

The provider supplies neurotoxin and dermal filler to each attendee for hands-on injection, with specific quantities published or confirmed in writing at registration. The shopper does not pay separately for product.

✅Providers meeting this criterion:

Question to ask any other provider before paying: “How many units of neurotoxin and how much dermal filler are included in my tuition for the hands-on session? Is any product supplied in a shared among attendees treating the same patient?, or does each attendee receive their own allotment and patient?”

Criterion 6: Own Patients, No Paid Models

The provider either requires attendees to bring their own patient for hands-on injection or supplies volunteer patients at no additional charge to the attendee. The provider does not recruit paid models who charge attendees to be injected.

✅ Providers meeting this criterion:

Question to ask any other provider before paying: “Can I bring my own patient for the hands-on injection session? If I rely on your model patients, do they pay to be injected, or do I pay an additional fee per model, or does your tuition include model access at no additional charge?”

Criterion 7: Online Access

The provider includes an online course (either as a prerequisite or as part of the training package) with a publicly disclosed access duration and update policy.

✅ Providers meeting this criterion:

Question to ask any other provider before paying: “Is an online course included in my tuition, or sold separately? For how long will I have access to the online course materials after enrollment? Are updates to the online curriculum included at no additional charge?”

Criterion 8: A-T.com Core Curriculum

The provider’s published course outline covers the core aesthetic injection curriculum that includes all cosmetic FDA-approved uses for toxins: glabellar lines, crow’s feet, forehead lines, platysma bands, and the linear folds and lip indications for filler:  naso-labial, marionette, lip body, peri-oral lines plus vascular occlusion management, and hyaluronidase use.

✅ Providers meeting this criterion in a single course:  

Question to ask any other provider before paying: “Does the Level 1 course outline publicly list coverage of: glabellar lines, crow’s feet, forehead lines, lip augmentation, vascular occlusion management, and hyaluronidase use? If any of these are reserved for Level 2, is Level 2 required to complete a core aesthetic injector curriculum?”

Which criteria matter most for your situation

“Best” is situational. The 8 criteria matter differently depending on your role, your training partner, and your credentialing needs. No provider is named as the “winner” for any shopper situation. Use the lists above and the questions in the companion blog to confirm what matters most for you.

If you are a physician seeking AMA PRA Category 1 CME: Focus on Criterion 3. Confirm the specific credit hours awarded and ask for the ACCME joint provider’s name and public directory listing so you can verify accreditation independently.

If you are a physician and a nurse enrolling together and each need CME credit in your own specialty: The physician needs AMA PRA Category 1 Credit. The nurse needs ANCC contact hours (and possibly AANP credit, depending on your state’s board of nursing). Both credit pathways must be present in the same course for one enrollment to cover both learners. Not all providers that claim CME credit cover both. Ask: “Does this course carry both AMA PRA Category 1 Credit for physicians AND ANCC contact hours for registered nurses? Please provide the ACCME joint provider’s name and ANCC provider number so I can verify both before registering.”

If you are a nurse practitioner seeking AANP credit: AANP credit is not awarded by every provider that offers ANCC nursing credit. Ask: “Does this course carry AANP credit specifically? How many of the awarded credit hours are categorized as pharmacology?”

If you are Family Practice MD or DO, then AAFP credit will be slightly preferable to AMA Category 1 due to ease of logging your credits into the AAFP CME dashboard each year.  However, you must be certain that you know the session number for each live event since the training provider must provide this to AAFP in advance.

If you are a dentist: Focus on AGD PACE accreditation specifically. Ask the provider for their AGD PACE Provider ID and expiration dates for the certification eligibility window.

If you are planning to complete both a foundational and an advanced course: Compare total cost (both tuitions, both sets of travel, any separately sold online prerequisites) rather than foundational tuition alone. Six of the seven providers reviewed offer an advanced or Level 2 course, so the full training pathway investment is meaningfully higher than the foundational course price.

Frequently asked questions

How is this ranking different from other “best Botox training” lists online?

This guide does not declare a winner. It lists which providers publicly disclose that they meet each of 8 specific criteria. Shoppers use the criteria that matter most for their situation to narrow their options. Other lists online typically rank providers by marketing presence, advertiser relationships, or the author’s affiliation with a single training company. This guide uses only publicly available information from each provider’s website, and when information is not public, it names the question to ask the provider.

What should I do if a provider I am considering is not on this list?

The inclusion threshold for this 2027 guide is five or more publicly listed U.S. training locations. Providers below that threshold are not reviewed here. The same 8 criteria apply equally well to any training provider. Use the questions listed under each criterion to evaluate any provider, including single-city schools, before you pay any non-refundable tuition.

When will this guide be updated?

The Buyer’s Guide is reviewed annually. Interim updates are published whenever a reviewed provider makes a material change to its public disclosures. The last-updated date appears at the top of this article.

Next step

Save or bookmark this guide before contacting providers. Read the companion blog post Shopping for Aesthetic Training in 2027: 8 Questions to Ask First for the full scripts of questions to ask when a provider’s website does not publicly disclose a criterion. Review the complete Buyer’s Guide Criteria page for the full reasoning behind each criterion. When in doubt about a specific provider, read its individual A-T.com review, linked throughout this guide.

Author:  Gregory Zengo, MD.  Aesthetic Physician and Educator for over 20 years.  Dr. Zengo has trained over 1,000 providers in toxins, fillers and other aesthetic and wellness services.  Dr. Zengo also is the medical director of PracticalCME Medical Training.