{"eid":"letsencrypt","name":"Let's Encrypt","domain":"letsencrypt.org","resolved_by":"domain","topics":["domains-dns"],"n_records":1,"best_vorder":0,"review":null,"aliases":["Let's Encrypt","letsencrypt.org"],"records":[{"rid":"domains-dns/lets-encrypt","card":{"rid":"domains-dns/lets-encrypt","eid":"letsencrypt","topic":"domains-dns","slug":"lets-encrypt","provider":"Let's Encrypt","url":"https://letsencrypt.org/docs/rate-limits/","domain":"letsencrypt.org","category":"certificate authority","tier":null,"verdict":"qualifies","vorder":0,"grp":"usable","confidence":"measured","binding":"request-rate","identity_kind":"anonymous","identity_basis":"stated","needs_card":0,"needs_phone":0,"needs_id":0,"needs_institution":0,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":"rest","egress_metered":0,"per_object_bytes":null,"retention_days":90,"verified_at":"2026-10-22T03:05:00.000Z","verified_basis":"live","checked_on":"2026-10-23","stale_on":"2027-01-21","n_evidence":4,"usd_month":null,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"free 90-day certificates including wildcards over DNS-01, with automated issuance and renewal","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":1},"record":{"topic":"domains-dns","slug":"lets-encrypt","provider":"Let's Encrypt","url":"https://letsencrypt.org/docs/rate-limits/","category":"certificate authority","free_tier":{"stated":"free 90-day certificates including wildcards over DNS-01, with automated issuance and renewal","unit":"unlimited","source_url":"https://letsencrypt.org/docs/faq/","read_on":"2026-10-22","metered_on":"request-count"},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"no certificate size cap; the binding limits are rate limits and not object caps","bytes":null},"retention":{"stated":"a certificate is valid 90 days and must be renewed; ARI lets a client renew early","days":90,"source_url":"https://letsencrypt.org/docs/faq/"},"egress":{"terms":"no charge","metered":false,"free_allowance":null,"price_per_tb":null,"source_url":"https://letsencrypt.org/docs/rate-limits/"},"interface":["rest"],"interface_detail":"the ACME v2 protocol at acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org, with a staging endpoint for testing","tooling":"certbot, acme.sh, lego, Caddy, Traefik, any ACME client","chaining":"free TLS on any name you control, including a wildcard, which is what makes the free-DNS plus free-tunnel chain terminate in a valid certificate","limits":[{"kind":"request-rate","value":"50 certificates per registered domain per 7 days, global across all accounts, refilling at 1 per 202 minutes","source":"https://letsencrypt.org/docs/rate-limits/"},{"kind":"request-rate","value":"5 certificates per exact set of identifiers per 7 days","source":"https://letsencrypt.org/docs/rate-limits/"},{"kind":"request-rate","value":"300 new orders per account per 3 hours","source":"https://letsencrypt.org/docs/rate-limits/"},{"kind":"request-rate","value":"10 new accounts per IP per 3 hours","source":"https://letsencrypt.org/docs/rate-limits/"},{"kind":"request-rate","value":"5 failed authorizations per identifier per account per hour; 1,152 consecutive failures then the identifier pauses","source":"https://letsencrypt.org/docs/rate-limits/"},{"kind":"retention-clamped","value":"a certificate is valid 90 days; renewal is the client's job and there is no automatic extension","source":"https://letsencrypt.org/docs/faq/"}],"binding":"request-rate","identity_cost":{"kind":"anonymous","detail":"no account is required to obtain a certificate; an ACME account key is generated locally and is not a registration","country":null},"reliability_note":"no reliability event recorded","confidence":"measured","confidence_note":"the production and staging directories were fetched today and answered 200 with the profile list; the rate limits are a first-party page. The 90-day validity is on the FAQ page, not on the rate-limits page it was attributed to.","evidence":[{"url":"probe:https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"200, 961 bytes, sha256 ee1bfe324dcd5aff6e67ba25ea98397494d5b6ebf6c7f16e98348254636190e0, listing keyChange, the classic, shortlived and tlsserver profiles, and the current subscriber agreement URL"},{"url":"probe:https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"200, 1,035 bytes; the staging endpoint is live, so an issuance test costs nothing against the production limits"},{"url":"https://letsencrypt.org/docs/rate-limits/","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"50 certificates per registered domain per 7 days; 5 per exact set of identifiers per 7 days; 300 new orders per account per 3 hours; 10 accounts per IP per 3 hours; 5 failed authorizations per identifier per hour; 1,152 consecutive failures; ARI renewals are exempt from the order and per-domain limits"},{"url":"https://letsencrypt.org/docs/faq/","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"'Our default certificates are valid for 90 days'; the same FAQ points at the published rationale"}],"verdict":"qualifies","verified_at":"2026-10-22T03:05:00.000Z","price_per_tb_month":null,"notes":"The per-registered-domain limit is the one that binds a multi-tenant scheme: 50 certificates a week for every name under one registered domain, whoever requests them. The exact-identifier limit is the one that binds a retry loop, and 5 an hour is reachable in a bad afternoon."},"claims":[{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"},{"path":"$.limits[0].value","kind":"limit:request-rate","num":202.0,"unit":"minutes","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[1].value","kind":"limit:request-rate","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"},{"path":"$.limits[2].value","kind":"limit:request-rate","num":3.0,"unit":"hours","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[3].value","kind":"limit:request-rate","num":3.0,"unit":"hours","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[4].value","kind":"limit:request-rate","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"},{"path":"$.limits[5].value","kind":"limit:retention-clamped","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"}],"unknown":[["$.reliability_note","none-observed"]],"history":[],"drift":[]}]}