SSL Certificates Are Getting Shorter Lifetimes — Are You Ready?

Starting March 15, 2026, SSL/TLS certificates will have a maximum validity of 200 days – down from the current 398. That means renewing roughly twice as often as you do today.

Mind that this does NOT mean that you will have to pay for them more often.

And it doesn’t stop there. The industry roadmap goes further:

– 2027: Maximum drops to 100 days
– 2029: Certificates valid for just 47 days

By the end of the decade, if you’re still renewing manually, you’ll be doing it every six weeks.

Why This Matters

An expired certificate isn’t just an inconvenience. It triggers browser security warnings that stop visitors cold, breaks APIs and connected services, and can tank customer trust overnight. With certificates expiring more frequently, the margin for error shrinks — one missed renewal while someone’s on vacation can take down a production site.

Manual renewal made sense at once a year. At 47 days, it’s simply not sustainable.

The Solution: Automate with ACME

The ACME protocol was built for exactly this situation — it handles certificate issuance and renewal automatically, in the background, without human involvement. Most major hosting platforms already support it:

– cPanel: AutoSSL handles renewals automatically once enabled — nothing to do after setup.
– Plesk: The SSL It! extension does the same, quietly renewing certificates before they expire.
– VPS or Dedicated servers: Certbot (Let’s Encrypt) combined with a simple cron job keeps everything current for free.
– Kubernetes: cert-manager integrates directly into your cluster and manages the full certificate lifecycle.

What to Do Now

The March 2026 deadline is closer than it looks. A few steps to get ahead of it:

Check your current setup. Know which domains you have certificates for and how they’re being renewed. Most control panels have a certificate overview page.

Enable AutoSSL. If you’re on a cPanel or Plesk plan at AlexHost, make sure AutoSSL is active for all your domains. It takes minutes and solves the problem entirely.

Add a monitoring layer. Even with automation, an independent certificate expiry alert is a useful safety net. Tools like UptimeRobot can notify you if something slips through.

The Bottom Line

Shorter certificate lifetimes are good for internet security overall — but they put real pressure on anyone managing renewals manually. The fix is straightforward: automate now, before the deadlines force your hand.

Not sure if your AlexHost setup is handling renewals automatically? Our support team can help you check in minutes.