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What alternatives are there to get cheap easy SSL certificates? Let's Encrypt has no competition because Let's Encrypt needs no competition: it works, it's che

What alternatives are there to get cheap easy SSL certificates? Let's Encrypt has no competition because Let's Encrypt needs no competition: it works, it's cheap, and competitors can't really provide any advantages for its target audience (mostly people who just want a cert).

macksd 5y ago
ZeroSSL appears to have the advantage of fewer rate limitations if that's an issue. Haven't used it a ton myself though.
mcpherrinm 5y ago
The major cloud providers have options for free certs: Amazon and Google run CAs, and Azure has an option for free certs from Digicert. Amazon and Azure both work with their services. Google just announced they’re supporting the same ACME protocol that Lets Encrypt uses too! It is somewhat important for Let’s Encrypt to have competition: For reliability it is good to have alternatives with no shared infrastructure. If Let’s Encrypt ever becomes untrustworthy (and as a LE employee, I hope that never happens!) there must be alternatives so the root programs have the option to remove the Let’s Encrypt root. And there’s many geopolitical concerns too.
randomhodler84 5y ago
It’s not even a competition. Every customer increases costs to provide the service. More people handling the load of signing keys means less cost for a public service. It’s a shared ecosystem of trust. Yes, you can make the argument that too many CAs is untrustworthy, I would agree. But there is a reliability and availability argument, both security objectives, to having alternatives. There is probably an optimal point between redundancy and too many cooks.
jjav 5y ago
> Let's Encrypt has no competition because Let's Encrypt needs no competition I love Let's Encrypt! Truly good work for the benefit of humanity. Still. Everything needs competition. Any single organization amassing too much influence is always a bad thing, no matter how benevolent the organization.

macksd 5y ago

ZeroSSL appears to have the advantage of fewer rate limitations if that's an issue. Haven't used it a ton myself though.

mcpherrinm 5y ago

The major cloud providers have options for free certs: Amazon and Google run CAs, and Azure has an option for free certs from Digicert. Amazon and Azure both work with their services. Google just announced they’re supporting the same ACME protocol that Lets Encrypt uses too! It is somewhat important for Let’s Encrypt to have competition: For reliability it is good to have alternatives with no shared infrastructure. If Let’s Encrypt ever becomes untrustworthy (and as a LE employee, I hope that never happens!) there must be alternatives so the root programs have the option to remove the Let’s Encrypt root. And there’s many geopolitical concerns too.

randomhodler84 5y ago

It’s not even a competition. Every customer increases costs to provide the service. More people handling the load of signing keys means less cost for a public service. It’s a shared ecosystem of trust. Yes, you can make the argument that too many CAs is untrustworthy, I would agree. But there is a reliability and availability argument, both security objectives, to having alternatives. There is probably an optimal point between redundancy and too many cooks.

jjav 5y ago

> Let's Encrypt has no competition because Let's Encrypt needs no competition I love Let's Encrypt! Truly good work for the benefit of humanity. Still. Everything needs competition. Any single organization amassing too much influence is always a bad thing, no matter how benevolent the organization.