How Smallstep and DigiCert differ on deployment, pricing, openness and what each is actually built for.
| Smallstep | DigiCert | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Private CA (ACME) | Public CA + CLM |
| Deployment | Self-hosted + SaaS | SaaS |
| How it works | step-ca is an open-source private certificate authority that speaks ACME, so internal services renew exactly the way public ones do. The hosted product adds device identity, SSH certificates and single sign-on integration. | Issues publicly trusted TLS, code-signing, S/MIME and document-signing certificates from its own roots. DigiCert ONE adds discovery, automation and policy enforcement across the estate, with ACME and REST APIs for issuance. |
| Pricing* | Free (OSS); hosted by quote | From $218/yr (Basic OV) |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Open source | step-ca (Apache-2.0) | — |
| Compliance | SOC 2 (hosted) | WebTrust, CA/B Forum, FIPS 140-2 (HSM-backed) |
| Best for | Internal mTLS and short-lived certificates | Enterprises needing public trust plus governance |
Choose Smallstep for internal mtls and short-lived certificates. Choose DigiCert for enterprises needing public trust plus governance.
* Indicative list pricing (vendor documentation and public pricing pages, August 2026).