We're pleased to announce that ACME support is now available for PerfectSSL certificates.
If you already use an ACME client within your hosting platform, control panel or deployment workflow, you can now manage PerfectSSL certificates through that same automated process. There's no need to build a separate integration, making it even easier to automate SSL management across your portfolio.
You can now create ACME subscriptions for eligible PerfectSSL certificates directly through the Realtime Register platform.
After creating a subscription and selecting the domains it should cover, you'll receive the credentials needed to register your ACME client. Once configured, your client can automatically request and renew certificates for the approved domains while the subscription remains active.
PerfectSSL now supports ACME for:
depending on the selected product.
Support for the other SSL brands in our portfolio remains unchanged:
Brand | ACME support |
PerfectSSL | DV, OV and EV |
Sectigo | DV and OV |
DigiCert, GeoTrust, Thawte and RapidSSL | DV, OV and EV |
Please note that supported validation levels depend on the individual product. Product-specific options, subscription periods and required information may vary.
ACME (Automatic Certificate Management Environment) is a widely adopted protocol for requesting and renewing SSL certificates automatically. Many hosting platforms, web servers and control panels support ACME, either natively or through an ACME client.
At Realtime Register, the process starts by creating an ACME subscription. During this step, you select the SSL product and specify which domains the subscription may be used for.
After the subscription has been created, we provide:
Your ACME client uses these credentials for External Account Binding (EAB) when registering with our ACME service.
Once registration is complete, the client can automatically request certificates for the approved domains and renew them throughout the lifetime of the subscription.
The ACME client itself continues to run within your own environment, or that of your customer. This means you remain responsible for configuring the client, scheduling renewals and deploying certificates to the appropriate systems.
While ACME automates certificate requests and renewals, it does not replace the validation requirements that apply to SSL certificates.
DV certificates still require domain validation.
OV and EV certificates continue to require organisation validation before a certificate can be issued.
If the required validation has not yet been completed, your ACME client cannot request the certificate.
This is an important distinction when planning your automation workflow. Renewals can be handled automatically, but any outstanding validation requirements must still be completed.
Managing SSL certificates manually quickly becomes time-consuming as your customer base grows. Keeping track of renewal dates, managing certificate requests and deploying certificates across multiple environments can create unnecessary operational overhead.
By adding ACME support for PerfectSSL, you can now use the same automated workflow for another certificate brand within your portfolio.
Depending on your hosting platform and deployment setup, this can help you:
Realtime Register provides the ACME subscription and credentials, while your ACME client handles the certificate requests, renewals and deployment.
If you're already using DigiCert AuthKey through the Realtime Register SSL Lifecycle API, nothing changes.
AuthKey remains fully supported and continues to be the preferred option for integrations that initiate certificate requests, renewals and reissues through the SSL Lifecycle API.
In general:
You don't have to standardise on a single method. Existing AuthKey integrations can continue to operate alongside new ACME-based workflows.
Getting started is straightforward. Select an eligible PerfectSSL product, create an ACME subscription for the required domains and register the returned credentials with your ACME client. After completing any required certificate validation, you're ready to automate certificate requests and renewals.
For detailed implementation guidance, including setup instructions, client examples and endpoint information, take a look at our SSL Automation Guide, and our ACME API documentation.
Or visit our updated webpage where you can find our complete SSL certificate portfolio.
And as always, don't hesitate to reach out to our team if you have any questions.