# Let's Encrypt — TLS certificate maximum validity by Certificate Authority: what each CA actually issues today

For Let's Encrypt, profile or product is tlsserver; maximum validity (days) is 45; still issuing tls certificates is yes; notes is Valid for only 45 days, in preparation for upcoming restrictions that will limit all certificates to at most 47 days, recorded from its source on 2026-08-18.

- **Certificate Authority:** Let's Encrypt _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Profile or Product:** tlsserver _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Maximum validity (days):** 45 _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Still issuing TLS certificates:** yes _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Notes:** Valid for only 45 days, in preparation for upcoming restrictions that will limit all certificates to at most 47 days. _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_

## What the source says

> And finally the resulting certificate is valid for only 45 days, in preparation for upcoming restrictions that will limit all certificates to at most 47 days.

## Sources disagree

More than one authority states this, and they do not state the same
thing. Both are reproduced with the source each came from.

### Profile or Product

letsencrypt.org says profile or product is **tlsserver**, as of 2026-08-18.

> And finally the resulting certificate is valid for only 45 days, in preparation for upcoming restrictions that will limit all certificates to at most 47 days.

Source: https://letsencrypt.org/docs/profiles/

letsencrypt.org says profile or product is **shortlived**, as of 2026-08-18.

> The shortlived profile is identical to the tlsserver profile, with one key distinction: the resulting certificate is only valid for 6ish days.

Source: https://letsencrypt.org/docs/profiles/

letsencrypt.org says profile or product is **classic**, as of 2026-08-18.

> Our default certificates are valid for 90 days.

Source: https://letsencrypt.org/docs/faq/


### Maximum validity (days)

letsencrypt.org says maximum validity (days) is **45**, as of 2026-08-18.

> And finally the resulting certificate is valid for only 45 days, in preparation for upcoming restrictions that will limit all certificates to at most 47 days.

Source: https://letsencrypt.org/docs/profiles/

letsencrypt.org says maximum validity (days) is **6**, as of 2026-08-18.

> The shortlived profile is identical to the tlsserver profile, with one key distinction: the resulting certificate is only valid for 6ish days.

Source: https://letsencrypt.org/docs/profiles/

letsencrypt.org says maximum validity (days) is **90**, as of 2026-08-18.

> Our default certificates are valid for 90 days.

Source: https://letsencrypt.org/docs/faq/


### Notes

letsencrypt.org says notes is **Valid for only 45 days, in preparation for upcoming restrictions that will limit all certificates to at most 47 days.**, as of 2026-08-18.

> And finally the resulting certificate is valid for only 45 days, in preparation for upcoming restrictions that will limit all certificates to at most 47 days.

Source: https://letsencrypt.org/docs/profiles/

letsencrypt.org says notes is **Validity Period is stated as 160 hours in the profile table; qualifies as a Short-Lived Subscriber Certificate under the Baseline Requirements and needs no revocation information.**, as of 2026-08-18.

> The shortlived profile is identical to the tlsserver profile, with one key distinction: the resulting certificate is only valid for 6ish days.

Source: https://letsencrypt.org/docs/profiles/

letsencrypt.org says notes is **The FAQ states the default lifetime; the profiles documentation names the default profile 'classic'. Let's Encrypt recommends renewing 90 day certificates every 60 days. There is no way to adjust these lifetimes.**, as of 2026-08-18.

> Our default certificates are valid for 90 days.

Source: https://letsencrypt.org/docs/faq/


## Source

- https://letsencrypt.org/docs/profiles/
- https://letsencrypt.org/docs/faq/

Last verified: 2026-08-18. Review by: 2026-09-17.
Part of [TLS certificate maximum validity by Certificate Authority: what each CA actually issues today](https://referencesource.org/ca-issuance-validity/).