Certify The Web

Overview

Certify The Web is a TLS certificate lifecycle suite for administrators who need to request, renew, and deploy certificates across Windows, Linux, or macOS environments. It is strongest when certificate work spans several servers or needs central oversight; a single Windows installation can start free, but larger deployments face server caps and certificate authority rate limits.

Key features

Issuance and validation

ACME support includes Let’s Encrypt, Google Trust Services, ZeroSSL, Actalis, and private or enterprise certificate authorities. HTTP and DNS validation options range from built-in DNS providers and Certify DNS to manual TXT records and custom scripts. That breadth helps accommodate different DNS setups, but licensing does not raise the limits imposed by a certificate authority.

Deployment and lifecycle

Built-in tasks deploy to IIS, Apache, nginx, Tomcat, Exchange, ADFS, RDP, Azure App Service, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault, and IIS Centralized Certificate Store. PowerShell and Bash scripts, webhooks, SSH/SFTP, and UNC shares extend deployment to other services. Discovery, automatic renewal, and revocation workflows cover more than initial issuance, making the suite useful for ongoing certificate operations.

Central administration

Management Hub brings a web interface, API, role-based access, managed DNS challenges, and coordination for Certificate Manager and Management Agent instances. Hub and Certify Dashboard aggregate expiry, status, failed renewals, notifications, and renewal history. Hub and Management Agent can also monitor Certbot, acme.sh, win-acme, simple-acme, and Posh-ACME, which is valuable when an organization already has more than one client in use.

Credentials are encrypted at rest: Certificate Manager uses Windows DPAPI or .NET key-based encryption, while Hub adds role-based controls and scoped API authentication. Webprofusion says its practices align with ISO/IEC 27001 principles, but is not currently ISO/IEC 27001 certified. Every license includes email support tickets, and the free evaluation includes helpdesk guidance.

Pricing

The free evaluation costs nothing, has no feature limitations, and has no time limit. It is an unusually open way to assess the product, though it does not change certificate authority rate limits.

• Certify Certificate Manager cloud managed license: $4.99 a month, billed per install / month through Microsoft Azure. Hub requires a quantity of 10 or more, so this entry price is for an installation rather than a low-quantity Hub deployment.
• Starter: $59 a year, billed for 1 year; one server, unlimited certificates, and Certificate Manager and Management Agent. It fits a small deployment that can remain on one server.
• Certify DNS (Standard): $60 a year, billed for 1 year; hosted acme-dns service and CNAME delegation of ACME DNS challenges. This is a focused DNS challenge option, not a multi-server management tier.
• Professional: $149 a year, billed for 1 year; up to three servers, unlimited certificates, and Certificate Manager and Management Agent. It adds room for a small multi-server setup without Hub.
• Power Pro: $1,199 a year, billed for 2 years; up to 50 servers, unlimited certificates, and includes Certify Management Hub.
• Enterprise: $5,499 a year, billed for 3 years; up to 250 servers, unlimited certificates, and includes Certify Management Hub.

The paid server tiers trade longer commitments for larger deployment ceilings; Starter and Professional do not include Hub. Unlimited certificates do not mean unlimited issuance, because each certificate authority’s rate limits still apply.

Platforms

The suite covers Windows, Linux, macOS, web, API, and self-hosted environments. Certificate Manager targets Windows servers or desktops, Management Agent is for headless Linux and macOS systems, and Hub administers multiple instances centrally.

Who it's for

Choose Certify The Web if you need certificate automation across varied deployment targets, or want a route from one server to centrally monitored instances. Its server-based plans suit administrators who can estimate their installation count. It is less suitable if you require certificate volumes beyond a CA’s rate limits or need Hub at a quantity below 10 under the cloud managed license.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Unlimited certificates on the Starter, Professional, Power Pro, and Enterprise plans make server count, rather than a product certificate quota, the stated tier boundary.
• Pro: Built-in deployment tasks plus script, webhook, SSH/SFTP, and UNC options cover a wide range of targets.
• Pro: Hub can consolidate renewal monitoring across its own instances and several third-party ACME clients.
• Con: The paid server tiers cap installations at 1, 3, 50, or 250, so growth can require a higher tier.
• Con: The cloud managed price is billed per install, and Hub has a minimum quantity of 10.
• Con: The product cannot override certificate authority rate limits, even with an unlimited-certificate plan.

Alternatives

Certificate Management Software provides a broader category view. Consider ManageEngine Key Manager Plus if its managed-key licensing better fits your needs: its on-premises license for 25 managed keys is $59 a month billed monthly, or its perpetual license for 25 managed keys is 118.

Certbot is a free, open-source option for readers who want a standalone ACME client. acme.sh is another free choice for Windows, macOS, or Linux. OpenXPKI is free and web-based for Linux. EJBCA is a free web-based alternative.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Secret Management may suit readers seeking a free secrets-management service, with 5,000 secrets per tenancy and 30 active secret versions per secret. AWS Certificate Manager offers free public certificates for integrated AWS services that are non-exportable, while Google Cloud Certificate Manager is a freemium web-based alternative.

Verdict

Certify The Web is a strong fit for administrators who want automated TLS certificate handling across different systems, with unlimited-certificate plans and a clear path to centralized monitoring. Choose it for deployment flexibility and lifecycle oversight; look elsewhere if your server count exceeds its tier ceilings or you need issuance beyond CA rate limits.