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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) — by Let's Encrypt

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Answers common questions: certificates are free DV only, last 90 days (renew about every 60), the private key stays on your server, wildcards require DNS-01, and requesting a cert can attract crawler traffic because of Certificate Transparency logs.

Read the full article on letsencrypt.org

Source: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) by Let's Encrypt. Licence: Link only (©).

Source reviewed
2026-11-02
Link checked
2026-11-02
Tested hands-on
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More in Certificates & HTTPS

Challenge Types — by Let's Encrypt

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Compares HTTP-01 (file on port 80), DNS-01 (TXT record at _acme-challenge) and TLS-ALPN-01. DNS-01 is the one needed for wildcards or servers that are not publicly reachable, but it needs a DNS API and narrowly scoped credentials.