How Keyfactor and Let's Encrypt differ on deployment, pricing, openness and what each is actually built for.
| Keyfactor | Let's Encrypt | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | CLM + private CA | Public CA (free) |
| Deployment | SaaS + self-hosted | SaaS (ACME) |
| How it works | Keyfactor Command handles discovery, automation and policy; EJBCA provides the CA itself; SignServer covers code and document signing. The open-source community editions let you evaluate the engine before buying the management layer. | Issues domain-validated TLS certificates at no cost, exclusively through the ACME protocol. Short 90-day lifetimes force automation, which is the point: renewal is a cron job, not a calendar reminder. |
| Pricing* | Enterprise quote | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | EJBCA Community (LGPL) | Boulder (MPL-2.0) |
| Compliance | FIPS 140-2, Common Criteria (EJBCA) | WebTrust, CA/B Forum |
| Best for | Teams wanting private PKI they can self-host | Public web TLS on anything you can automate |
Choose Keyfactor for teams wanting private pki they can self-host. Choose Let's Encrypt for public web tls on anything you can automate.
* Indicative list pricing (vendor documentation and public pricing pages, August 2026).