Sectigo certificate
Ranked 3 of 3 certificate authorities by recommenders
A paid certificate authority people name as an alternative to Let's Encrypt and a trusted brand next to DigiCert. Critics point to recent root and intermediate CA incidents and high yearly prices.
A paid certificate authority people name as an alternative to Let's Encrypt and a trusted brand next to DigiCert. Critics point to recent root and intermediate CA incidents and high yearly prices.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 9
- approval share
- 36%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Paid alternative to Let's Encrypt
“sectigo does not care, they are just like Let's Encrypt (except you pay)”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Upcoming Changes to Let's Encrypt Certificates” “Including paying CA, if you really want to pay : sectigo”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “Upcoming Changes to Let's Encrypt Certificates”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Root and intermediate CA security incidents
“Yes that if reactive. But I think GP meant what their responsibility in this is given that they signed and thereby vouched for an intermediate ca that now has become untrustworthy.”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “eMudhra ignored Mozilla Root investigation deadline; blames social media” “they've had issues with signing sub-CAs before where those sub-CAs went on to misuse them”
Comment from 20 Oct 2026 in “eMudhra intermediate CA compromise” “cough sectigo and their amateur hour CA root rotation recently”
Comment from 28 Aug 2026 in “Migrating to HTTPX2” - Comment from 22 Oct 2026 in “eMudhra to exit global SSL/TLS certificate business”
- Comment from 22 Oct 2026 in “eMudhra to exit global SSL/TLS certificate business”
- Comment from 20 Oct 2026 in “eMudhra intermediate CA compromise”
Expensive, around $700+ per year
“$700+ at Sectigo for two years”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors” “DigiCert and Sectigo are now in the $700--$1000 range per year”
Comment from 10 May 2026 in “Apple is increasing my cortisol levels”
Other certificate authorities people recommend
The two most recommended other certificate authorities, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Let's Encrypt | 172 | 89 | 66% | 12 | 5.5 yrs6 owners | — |
| ZeroSSL | 12 | 10 | 55% | 4 | — | — |
| Sectigo certificateThis page | 5 | 9 | 36% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Yes that if reactive. But I think GP meant what their responsibility in this is given that they signed and thereby vouched for an intermediate ca that now has become untrustworthy.”
“Sectigo should have done their job before blindly x-signing it”
“the root CA that cross-signed the vulnerable intermediate CAs”
“Even last year buying a Sectigo cert got you an Entrust cert with no mention of Sectigo/Comodo”
“they've had issues with signing sub-CAs before where those sub-CAs went on to misuse them”
“then their root and Sectigo signed it”
“cough sectigo and their amateur hour CA root rotation recently”
“their United Terms and Conditions in section 8.2 are even more restrictive than LE's”
“DigiCert and Sectigo are now in the $700--$1000 range per year”
“had an actually easier time getting verified than I did with the Sectigo and Comodo in the past”
“$700+ at Sectigo for two years”
“sectigo does not care, they are just like Let's Encrypt (except you pay)”
“There are other CA with ACME support”
“Including paying CA, if you really want to pay : sectigo”
“it's reassuring when you see DigiCert or Sectigo”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.