Is AWS Certificate Manager free?

ACM public certificates are free for AWS-managed services (CloudFront, ALB, API Gateway). Private CAs cost $400/month. Let's Encrypt is completely free but requires automated renewal via Certbot or ACME protocol.

What is the real cost of Let's Encrypt?

Let's Encrypt certificates are free but require: ACME client setup (30 minutes), automated renewal cron job, and handling renewal failures. Engineering time is the real cost: ~2-4 hours/year per server.

When is ACM better than Let's Encrypt?

Use ACM when: your infrastructure is primarily on AWS, you use ALB/CloudFront/API Gateway (zero-touch renewal), or you need wildcard certificates for complex subdomain structures without DNS API access.

AWS Certificate Manager vs Let's Encrypt Cost Calculator

Compare the cost and operational overhead of AWS ACM (free for AWS-integrated services) vs Let's Encrypt (free, self-managed) for SSL/TLS certificate management.

AI & SaaS Tools

SaaS Metrics

AI Compute

AI ROI

LTV:CAC Ratio

ARPU ($/month)

Monthly Churn %

CAC ($)

Gross Margin %

LTV

$3500

LTV:CAC

11.67

Payback

2.9 mo

Health

Healthy ✓

Benchmark: LTV:CAC ≥ 3 is healthy. Payback under 12 months is excellent. Under 1 means you lose money on each customer.

How to Use

Enter the values for the scenario you are assessing. Compare the cost and operational overhead of AWS ACM (free for AWS-integrated services) vs Let's Encrypt (free, self-managed) for SSL/TLS certificate management. Use the acm vs let's encrypt result to inform your calculation.

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AWS Certificate Manager vs Let's Encrypt Cost Calculator

LTV:CAC Ratio

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is AWS Certificate Manager free?

What is the real cost of Let's Encrypt?

When is ACM better than Let's Encrypt?