acme.sh vs Certbot
A detailed comparison to help you choose between acme.sh and Certbot.
Quick Verdict
3.9/5
acme.sh
71 reviews
4.6/5
Certbot
52 reviews
Certbot is rated higher (4.6 vs 3.9). Lightweight shell script that automates Let's Encrypt certificate issuance and renewal. Works with 200+ DNS providers and web servers without requiring root privileges or complex dependencies. Certbot is the official ACME client for Let's Encrypt certificates. Automates certificate issuance and renewal for Nginx, Apache, and standalone mode on Linux servers.
acme.sh Free ACME client for automated SSL/TLS certificate management | Certbot ACME client for Let's Encrypt automation | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.9 (71 reviews) | 4.6 (52 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | free | free |
| Starting price | Free | Free |
| Best for | DevOps engineers and sysadmins managing Let's Encrypt certificates across multiple domains and DNS providers in resource-constrained or Unix-native environments. | System administrators who want automated Let's Encrypt certificate management on Linux servers |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen source | free tieropen source |
| Visit acme.sh → | Visit Certbot → | |
acme.sh
Pros
- + Deploy to 200+ DNS and hosting providers with minimal configuration
- + Renew certificates automatically without manual intervention
- + Run without root access or external dependencies
- + Support wildcard and multi-domain SAN certificates
- + Generate standalone certificates for non-web services
Cons
- - Shell-based implementation may be slower than compiled alternatives on high-volume deployments
- - Requires manual DNS API credential setup for DNS-01 validation
- - Limited GUI or web interface options for certificate management
Certbot
Pros
- + Official EFF-maintained ACME client
- + Nginx and Apache plugins for automated config
- + Free and open source
Cons
- - Requires Linux server access
- - Some server configurations need manual adjustment
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