compare
acme.sh vs lego
The same facts for both, read from GitHub every night, and the relation a person reviewed.
| Fact | acme.sh | lego |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Shell | Go |
| Licence | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Stars | 48k | 10k |
| Latest | 3.1.6 | v5.5.2 |
| Last push | 2026-10-18 | 2026-10-17 |
| Release cadence | about 72 days between releases | about 8 days between releases |
| Active contributors | 39 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days | 3 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days |
| Flags | none | none |
How they relate
lego replaces acme.sh. Alternatives to acme.sh →
Full replacementACME client as a single Go binary with many DNS providers.
Both replace Certbot. Alternatives to Certbot →
Full replacementacme.shShell-script ACME client with many DNS provider plugins and no dependencies.
Full replacementlegoACME client and Go library, with many DNS providers built in.
acme.sh
- 3.1.62026-09-201. Release tags are signed from 3.1.6 on. The public key is allowed_signers
- 3.1.52026-09-191. Release tags are signed from 3.1.5 on. The public key is allowed_signers
- 3.1.42026-07-171. Support ACME Renewal Information (ARI, RFC 9773), enabled by default. Renewals now follow the renewal window suggest…
- 3.1.32026-04-28normal release, fix bugs
- 3.1.22025-11-29Regular release
lego
- v5.5.22026-09-23lego is an independent, free, and open-source project, if you value it, consider supporting it! ❤️
- v5.5.12026-09-17lego is an independent, free, and open-source project, if you value it, consider supporting it! ❤️
- v5.5.02026-09-17lego is an independent, free, and open-source project, if you value it, consider supporting it! ❤️
- v5.4.12026-08-31lego is an independent, free, and open-source project, if you value it, consider supporting it! ❤️
- v5.4.02026-08-21lego is an independent, free, and open-source project, if you value it, consider supporting it! ❤️
acme.sh
✓ signed The latest release, 3.1.6, carries a signature GitHub verified.
Loading the security report
lego
✓ signed The latest release, v5.5.2, carries a signature GitHub verified.
Loading the security report