{"id":4219,"date":"2026-01-26T15:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T15:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/knowledgebase\/?post_type=ht_kb&#038;p=4219"},"modified":"2026-03-12T15:13:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T15:13:46","slug":"shorter-certificate-lifecycles-faq","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/knowledgebase\/ssl-basics\/shorter-certificate-lifecycles-faq\/","title":{"rendered":"Shorter Certificate Lifecycles FAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\">What&#8217;s happening?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>SSL and Code Signing certificate lifecycles have been shortened by a new industry standard. These changes are the first step in a long-term plan to gradually reduce certificate validity periods.<\/p>\n<h3>For DigiCert certificates<\/h3>\n<p><strong>DigiCert certificate<\/strong> lifecycles were reduced on February 24, 2026:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>DigiCert SSL certificates reduced to 199 days maximum<\/li>\n<li>DigiCert Code Signing certificates reduced to 1 year maximum<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>For <strong>Sectigo certificates<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sectigo<\/strong> reduced certificate lifecycles as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>February 23, 2026 &#8211; Sectigo Code Signing certificates reduced to 1 year maximum<\/li>\n<li>March 12, 2026 &#8211; Sectigo SSL certificates reduced to 200 days maximum<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Industry-wide certificate lifecycle changes<\/h3>\n<p>Check the table below for the timeline of each reduction phase. Note: individual CAs may have implemented changes earlier than the industry deadline.<\/p>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 144px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 48px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; height: 48px;\">SSL maximum term limit<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; height: 48px;\">Minimum # of re-issue\/replacement per year<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; height: 48px;\">Industry deadline<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 24px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; height: 24px;\">200 days<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; height: 24px;\">~2<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; height: 24px;\">March 15, 2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 24px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; height: 24px;\">100 days<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; height: 24px;\">~4<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; height: 24px;\">March 15, 2027<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 24px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; height: 24px;\">47 days<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; height: 24px;\">~8<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; height: 24px;\">March 15, 2029<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h1><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\">Why is this happening?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Certificate lifecycles are being shortened to increase the frequency of validation checks that only occur prior to issuance. The longer a certificate lives, there is a higher chance that the subject data it contains (such as domains and organization or individual information) will become incorrect or invalid before the certificate expires.<\/p>\n<p>The primary purpose of certificate lifecycle reduction is to strengthen existing validation practices and ensure the integrity of certificate data over time.<\/p>\n<p>Shorter certificates also enable you to stay on track (and compliant) with changing industry standards and updated security practices.<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\">What do I need to do?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>There is no immediate action required.<\/p>\n<p>Existing certificates are not affected by these term changes and will remain trusted until their planned expiration date.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a multi-year order that needs to be re-issued or renewed after the CA&#8217;s deadline, that next certificate will reflect the new maximum validity term.<\/p>\n<p>Moving forward, you will follow a more frequent replacement schedule for your certificates. Don&#8217;t worry, we will continue sending early reminders when it&#8217;s almost time to re-issue or renew your certificate.<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\">Will my current certificate be distrusted?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>No, all active and valid certificates will remain trusted until their set expiration date.<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\">What if I have a multi-year certificate plan?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Your existing multi-year SSL certificate plan will continue to be usable through the purchased term.<\/p>\n<p>After the shortened term deadline, re-issuing your order will result in a new certificate with the maximum possible validity period (or as much time as is left on the plan, if it&#8217;s less than the standard maximum).<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\">How will this affect the certificate ordering process?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>There will be no changes to any of the certificate purchase, enrollment, validation, and management processes as they are now. Only the <em>frequency<\/em> of required re-issue or renewal is increasing.<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\">Will there be new short term certificate products available for purchase?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>No, our certificate products are not changing at all. We will continue to offer a minimum 1-year plan for SSL and Code Signing certificates and allow multi-year SSL plans up to 3 to 5 years (depending on the type of product).<\/p>\n<p>We will not offer a 200 day or 6 month SSL certificate plan; the minimum term is 1-year.<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\">Can I pay for just 200 days of certificate instead of a year?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>No, the minimum plan available for purchase is 1-year.<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\">How will shorter certificates affect validation?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>As certificate terms get shorter, the validated data re-use period gets shorter as well. You may expect to undergo validation when re-issuing or renewing a certificate if it is passed the allowed re-use period for your domain or organization.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Domain validation will be required every 199 days (shortened from 397 days)<\/li>\n<li>Organization validation will be required every 397 days (shortened from 825 days)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Certain SSL products may also require re-validation with every request regardless of the re-use period.<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\">Can I automate the SSL certificate replacement process?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Yes, we now offer certificate lifecycle automation solutions that keep your certs up to date without manual intervention.<\/p>\n<p>Check out the full list of options on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/products\/ssl-automation.aspx\">SSL Automation page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Subscription SSL with AutoInstallSSL<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For Domain Validated certificates (standard and single-domain wildcard):\n<ul>\n<li>RapidSSL DV SSL<\/li>\n<li>PositiveSSL DV SSL<\/li>\n<li>GeoTrust DV SSL<\/li>\n<li>Comodo\/Sectigo DV SSL<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Compatible with Windows IIS, Apache\/NGINX Linux servers<\/li>\n<li>Also available for web host partners using cPanel, Plesk, WHMCS<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Sectigo Certificate-as-a-Service (ACME)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>PositiveSSL DV or Sectigo DV SSL using ACME protocol<\/li>\n<li>Check your server for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/resources\/acme-ssl-compatibility\/\">ACME compatibility<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What&#8217;s happening? SSL and Code Signing certificate lifecycles have been shortened by a new industry standard. These changes are the first step in a long-term plan to gradually reduce certificate validity periods. For DigiCert certificates DigiCert certificate lifecycles were reduced on February 24, 2026: DigiCert SSL certificates reduced to 199&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[67],"ht-kb-tag":[],"class_list":["post-4219","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-ssl-basics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Shorter Certificate Lifecycles FAQ - Knowledge Base<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/knowledgebase\/ssl-basics\/shorter-certificate-lifecycles-faq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shorter Certificate Lifecycles FAQ - Knowledge Base\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What&#8217;s happening? 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