Free resources, For website owners

Let's Encrypt

Free SSL certificates that renew themselves automatically.

Category
For website owners
Cost
Free, unlimited certificates
Website
letsencrypt.org

What Let's Encrypt is

Let’s Encrypt is the reason HTTPS stopped being a line item. Certificates are issued automatically, cost nothing, and are trusted by every browser.

The certificates are short-lived on purpose, which sounds like a burden and is the opposite: renewal is automated by the client on your server, so a certificate that expires is a sign the automation broke, not a task you forgot.

Good for

  • HTTPS on any site, including staging and side projects
  • Servers where you control the configuration and can run a renewal client
  • Replacing a paid certificate that offers nothing extra for a normal site

Worth knowing

  • Renewal has to be automated — monitor it, because a failed renewal takes the site down in every browser.
  • It validates the domain, not the organisation; if you specifically need an organisation-validated certificate, this is not it.

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