A pure Unix shell script ACME client for SSL / TLS certificate automation
Shell-script ACME client with many DNS provider plugins and no dependencies.
alternatives to
Certbot
Certbot is EFF's tool to obtain certs from Let's Encrypt and (optionally) auto-enable HTTPS on your server. It can also act as a client for any other CA that uses the ACME protocol.
acme.sh, lego, cert-manager and more. 5 alternatives to Certbot, in Shell, Go, C#. Compare fit, licence, stars and the latest signed release.
Side by side
| Tool | Fit | Stars | Licence | Terms | Self-hosted | Language | Latest | Last push |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| acme.sh | Full replacement | 48k | GPL-3.0 | Open source | No | Shell | 3.1.6 | 2026-10-18 |
| lego | Full replacement | 10k | MIT | Open source | No | Go | v5.5.2 | 2026-10-17 |
| cert-manager | Partial | 14k | Apache-2.0 | Open source | No | Go | v1.21.2 | 2026-10-18 |
| Certimate | Partial | 9.4k | MIT | Open source | No | Go | v0.4.35 | 2026-10-19 |
| win-acme | Partial | 5.8k | Apache-2.0 | Open source | No | C# | v2.2.9.1701 | 2026-06-09 |
Every alternative
5 alternatives
Let's Encrypt/ACME client and library written in Go
ACME client and Go library, with many DNS providers built in.
Automatically provision and manage TLS certificates in Kubernetes
Issues and renews ACME certificates for Kubernetes ingresses and services only.
- Language
- Go
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
- Stars
- 14k
- Latest
- v1.21.2
- Last push
- 2026-10-18
An open-source and free self-hosted SSL certificates ACME tool, automates the full-cycle of issuance, deployment, renewal, and monitoring visually. 完全开源免费的自托管 SSL 证书 ACME 工具，申请、部署、续期、监控全流程自动化可视化，支持各大主流云厂商。
Web UI that issues, renews and deploys ACME certificates to many cloud providers.
Automate SSL/TLS certificates on Windows with ease
ACME client for Windows that installs certificates into IIS and the Windows certificate store.
- Language
- C#
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
- Stars
- 5.8k
- Latest
- v2.2.9.1701
- Last push
- 2026-06-09
Head to head
About Certbot
- Language
- Python
- Licence
- Other
- Stars
- 33k
- Last push
- 2026-10-17