acme.sh vs Keyfactor Platform

acme.sh is a free Unix shell ACME client for automating SSL/TLS certificate issuance, renewal, and installation. Its installer creates a daily cron job to check certificates and renew them when needed. Written purely in shell, it is compatible with Bash, dash, and sh; the README says general use needs neither Python nor root or sudo access. It supports ECDSA, RSA, SAN, and wildcard certificates, with validation modes including webroot, standalone, standalone TLS-ALPN, Apache, Nginx, DNS, DNS alias, stateless, and DNS persist. ZeroSSL is the default certificate authority. Listed alternatives include Let's Encrypt, SSL.com, Google Public CA, Actalis, Pebble strict mode, and any RFC8555-compliant CA. The project says API integrations cover most DNS providers. Renewal uses a CA’s ACME Renewal Information when available, with a 30-day fallback rule otherwise. Manual DNS mode cannot renew automatically because each renewal requires a new TXT record to be added by hand. Tested systems listed include macOS, Windows through Cygwin, FreeBSD, and multiple Linux distributions. The project is GPLv3 licensed and officially maintained by ZeroSSL; release tags from version 3.1.6 onward are signed with the maintainer’s SSH key, while earlier tags are unsigned.

Keyfactor Platform, through Keyfactor Command, gives PKI, security, infrastructure, and DevOps teams visibility into certificates and tools to govern their lifecycle. It can inventory certificates from certificate authorities, scan networks for unknown SSL/TLS certificates, and connect to key and certificate stores. Teams can automate enrollment, renewal, revocation, and provisioning, with self-service workflows available through a user interface or API. Listed enrollment protocols are SCEP, ACME, and EST. Administrators can set role-based permissions, protect private keys with retention and storage policies, and require enrollment or approval workflows. Integrations span CI/CD, cloud, HSM, IoT, ITSM, public and private certificate authorities, and web servers. Deployment options are on premises, as a hosted certificate lifecycle service, or as fully managed PKI in a single-tenant cloud platform. Keyfactor says Command has been tested for deployments with more than 500 million certificates. A 30-day trial is offered. Pricing is available on request, and there are no per-certificate fees listed.