What is Certbot used for?

Certbot is the Electronic Frontier Foundation's client for obtaining Let's Encrypt certificates and optionally enabling HTTPS on a server. It is a good fit for free TLS certificates for web servers.

Is Certbot open source?

Yes. Certbot is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at certbot/certbot and is written mainly in Python.

Yes. Certbot is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.

What is Certbot an alternative to?

Certbot is an open-source alternative to DigiCert, Sectigo and GlobalSign. Other open-source alternatives to DigiCert include Lego, acme.sh and step-ca.

Is Certbot actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Certbot was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v5.8.0, published on 1 September 2026. The project has 33k stars on GitHub.

Certbot: open-source alternative to DigiCert, Sectigo

About Certbot

Certbot is a command-line tool from the Electronic Frontier Foundation for obtaining TLS certificates from Let's Encrypt and, optionally, switching on HTTPS for your web server. It is written in Python and is a common client for automated certificate issuance.

Beyond Let's Encrypt, Certbot can act as a client for any other certificate authority that supports the ACME protocol, which makes it usable in setups that rely on a different issuer. The repository's topics point to ACME client functionality, certificate management and Let's Encrypt integration. Check the project documentation for supported web servers, plugins and renewal options.

Key features

Obtains certificates from Let's Encrypt
Optionally enables HTTPS on your server
Works with any ACME-compatible certificate authority
Command-line client written in Python

Good fit for

→Free TLS certificates for web servers

Built with: Python
Tags: certbot; letsencrypt; acme; tls; https; certificates; python; eff

Certbot: questions and answers

What is Certbot used for?: Certbot is the Electronic Frontier Foundation's client for obtaining Let's Encrypt certificates and optionally enabling HTTPS on a server. It is a good fit for free TLS certificates for web servers.
Is Certbot open source?: Yes. Certbot is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at certbot/certbot and is written mainly in Python.
Is Certbot free?: Yes. Certbot is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
What is Certbot an alternative to?: Certbot is an open-source alternative to DigiCert, Sectigo and GlobalSign. Other open-source alternatives to DigiCert include Lego, acme.sh and step-ca.
Is Certbot actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Certbot was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v5.8.0, published on 1 September 2026. The project has 33k stars on GitHub.