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AWS Private Certificate Authority vs Let's Encrypt

AWS Private Certificate Authority

aws.amazon.com

Let's Encrypt

letsencrypt.org

Side by side

FigureAWS Private Certificate AuthorityLet's Encrypt
Price from$50/moFree
Free plan—Yes
Free trialYes—
Open source—Yes
WebYesYes
Windows—Yes
macOS—Yes
Linux—Yes
APIYesYes
Self-hosted—Yes
Plans published53
Spec score · Public Key Infrastructure Software8.3 (#6)8.6 (#3)
AutomationCertificate and CA management can be automated using APIs, AWS CLI commands, SDKs, and CloudFormation templates.The ACME protocol verifies control of a domain and is used to issue certificates; clients can automate certificate management and renewal.
IntegrationsThe SCEP connector can work with mobile device management solutions such as Microsoft Intune and Jamf Pro.Hosting providers can obtain and manage certificates for customers through their own ACME clients.

Plans

AWS Private Certificate Authority

  • 30-day CA operation trialFree
  • Short-lived private certificates$0.06, paid once
  • General-purpose private certificates$0.75, paid once
  • Short-lived certificate mode CA operation$50 a month
  • General-purpose mode CA operation$400 a month

AWS Private Certificate Authority pricing →

Let's Encrypt

  • Let's Encrypt certificatesFree
  • Let's Encrypt certificatesFree
  • Short-lived certificatesFree

Let's Encrypt pricing →

In their own words

AWS Private Certificate Authority

AWS Private Certificate Authority has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.

Visit aws.amazon.com

Let's Encrypt

Let’s Encrypt is a global Certificate Authority that provides SSL/TLS certificates for HTTPS connections. The ACME protocol verifies control of a domain, and compatible clients can automate issuance, management, and renewal. Its client directory includes Apache HTTP Server, Caddy, nginx, Kubernetes, Docker, and Windows/IIS environments. Certificates are Domain Validation only; Let’s Encrypt says it does not plan to issue Organization Validation or Extended Validation certificates. Wildcard certificates are available through the DNS-01 challenge. Standard certificates last 90 days, with an optional six-day lifetime; these periods cannot be adjusted. Subscribers generate and manage private keys on their own servers. Issued and revoked certificates are publicly recorded, and the service says its certificates are trusted by most browsers and operating systems. Certificates cost nothing. A registered domain can receive up to 50 certificates every seven days under published rate limits. Direct subscriber support is not offered.

Visit letsencrypt.org