What is the downside of Let’s Encrypt

Free certificates changed the web, but what is the practical downside of relying on let’s encrypt for business-critical applications like healthcare telehealth or corporate video meetings? You already know it enables Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) through Transport Layer Security (TLS), reduces costs, and automates issuance. Yet the details matter: Domain Validation (DV) proves control of a domain, not the identity behind it; 90-day lifetimes demand mature automation; and compliance requirements like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) can extend far beyond a padlock icon. In this article, you will learn the nuanced limits, where risks hide in everyday operations, and how a platform such as AONMeetings aligns encryption with real-world regulatory needs without adding user friction.

The big picture: what free certificates do—and do not do

First, a quick backdrop. Let’s Encrypt is a nonprofit certificate authority that has issued certificates for more than 700 million websites, helping the web reach record Transport Layer Security (TLS) adoption rates above 95 percent of page loads in many regions, according to public browser telemetry. That is a phenomenal public good. However, the trust model is specific: with Domain Validation (DV), the certificate confirms that the server answering for a domain controls that domain, not that it is operated by a specific legal entity you intended to reach. For blogs, landing pages, and many Application Programming Interface (API) endpoints, that is perfectly appropriate. For regulated workflows, identity assurance, and high-stakes transactions, the level of assurance may be insufficient on its own.

Moreover, free certificates centralize several operational dependencies. You depend on the Automated Certificate Management Environment (ACME) protocol and your client, your scheduler or container platform, your Domain Name System (DNS) provider if you use DNS-01 challenges, and your monitoring. Each layer is simple in isolation, yet in combination, outages tend to cluster around certificate renewal windows. Ask yourself: If a renewal fails at 2 a.m., who gets paged, and what is your roll-back? That question is not philosophical; it is an uptime strategy, especially when your service is a live video meeting or a patient consultation.

Core trade-offs of Domain Validation (DV)

The most cited limitation is the assurance level. Domain Validation (DV) does not confirm the organization’s legal identity, physical address, or that it meets specific sector regulations. Organization Validation (OV) and Extended Validation (EV) certificates introduce additional vetting and display signals, which some risk teams still prefer for login portals and payment flows governed by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). While modern user interfaces de-emphasize EV indicators, some procurement policies still require them for specific endpoints. Consequently, a pure DV-only approach may fail an audit on paper even if your cryptography is sound.

Another trade-off is support and warranties. Commercial certificate authorities commonly bundle service-level agreements (SLA) with human support, incident response guidance, and issuance warranties. Let’s Encrypt, by design, provides community-based support and no financial warranty. If you operate in healthcare under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or in legal and education markets handling sensitive records, internal stakeholders may expect contractual assurances. The absence of a formal service-level agreement (SLA) from a free authority is not a technical weakness, but it is an organizational consideration that can influence risk acceptance and vendor management.

Operations reality: 90-day lifetimes, automation, and rate limits

Ninety-day lifetimes are great for limiting key exposure, but they move operational risk from “once a year” to “every quarter.” Automation via the Automated Certificate Management Environment (ACME) is the cure, yet it introduces a pipeline: issue, validate, deploy, reload, and verify. In containerized deployments, you may also sync secrets across pods and edge nodes. The failure modes—cron jobs missing, permission changes, DNS propagation delays, or blocked HTTP-01 challenge paths—are mundane, but the impact is immediate: expired Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates break trust dialogs and drop sessions. In video conferencing, that means users cannot join meetings, support calls stall, and trust erodes.

Additionally, issuance and renewal are governed by published rate limits. These are reasonable safeguards against abuse, but they can surprise teams during large migrations, blue-green deployments, or multi-tenant architectures creating many Subject Alternative Name (SAN) combinations. Planning capacity is key. The following table summarizes representative rate limits and implications as described in Let’s Encrypt documentation; always verify current values before a rollout.

Compatibility, cryptography, and performance considerations

Let’s Encrypt now anchors trust on ISRG Root X1 and ISRG Root X2, covering modern platforms well. Still, legacy systems linger. Older Android devices prior to version 7.1.1 and embedded endpoints without recent trust stores may fail to validate the chain, as seen during past cross-sign transitions. In education labs, clinical carts, or legal archives with locked-down workstations, that tail risk matters. Compatibility also intersects with algorithm choice: Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) certificates bring performance gains and smaller handshake sizes compared to Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA), but some legacy clients only accept Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA). If you serve a heterogeneous audience, you may need dual-stack endpoints or a reverse proxy that performs algorithm negotiation.

Performance is not just about cryptography. Enabling Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) stapling, using HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), optimizing Session resumption, and tuning cipher suites are server responsibilities, not certificate authority features. For low-latency applications like real-time video using Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC), every millisecond of handshake matters because media encryption rides on Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) and Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP). If your server occasionally fails OCSP stapling or misconfigures Server Name Indication (SNI), users may experience spiky connection times or failed joins. Certificates are one piece; secure, high-performance deployments are a system.

When should you go beyond let’s encrypt?

Free Domain Validation (DV) is excellent for many scenarios, yet certain triggers suggest layering additional controls or selecting a different assurance model. Do you need strong organizational identity for relying parties? Do you require mutual Transport Layer Security (mTLS) for device onboarding, or client certificates for staff sign-in? Will auditors ask for vendor contracts, certificates of insurance, or a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)? If any answer is “yes,” then supplementing let’s encrypt with client certificates, hardware security modules, or a managed trust service can align technology with policy. The matrix below offers a quick guide.

Compliance and risk: how policy intersects with technology

Security frameworks rarely stop at Transport Layer Security (TLS). The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) talk about administrative, physical, and technical safeguards: encryption in transit and at rest, access controls, audit logging, breach notification, and vendor due diligence. A DV certificate from any authority—including Let’s Encrypt—addresses encryption in transit for server identity. It does not provide incident response guarantees, logging, or a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). That gap is where platforms and organizational processes step in. If your service handles sensitive data, design for layered controls rather than treating the certificate as the whole story.

For example, a browser-based video session must protect media using Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) and Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP), secure signaling over Transport Layer Security (TLS), encrypt recordings at rest, safeguard keys in Hardware Security Modules (HSM), and restrict administrative access with multi-factor authentication. Auditors will ask to see evidence: role-based access, change management, and monitoring. The certificate is essential but insufficient for compliance. Thinking holistically reduces surprises at audit time and protects people in the moments that matter—the client’s deposition, the student’s exam, or the patient’s follow-up.

How AONMeetings turns security into simplicity

AONMeetings is built for this holistic reality. The platform uses Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) for HD audio and video and secures media with Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) and Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP), while all signaling traverses Transport Layer Security (TLS). Because AONMeetings is 100 percent browser-based, users join without downloads, reducing the attack surface from installers and making compliance audits cleaner. Unlimited webinars are included in every plan, so you avoid surprise fees during peak seasons. Most importantly for regulated teams, AONMeetings supports Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance and advanced encryption across the stack, pairing cryptographic rigor with governance features that organizations require.

Beyond encryption in transit, AONMeetings provides operational guardrails that complement or go beyond what let’s encrypt covers. These include proactive certificate monitoring, encrypted recordings, role-based access controls, AI-powered summaries for documented minutes, and live streaming for large-scale events—all aligned with security best practices. When combined with standards like Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) stapling on edge nodes, HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and controlled cipher suites, AONMeetings helps you deliver a fast, reliable join experience that stands up to audits in healthcare, education, legal, and corporate environments, without burdening your team with brittle integrations.

Practical checklist: deploy DV safely and avoid surprises

If you choose Let’s Encrypt for server certificates, set yourself up for success with a short, pragmatic checklist. First, automate renewals with a trusted Automated Certificate Management Environment (ACME) client such as Certbot from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), test in staging, and integrate health checks that fail a deployment if Transport Layer Security (TLS) verification flaps. Second, monitor expiration with alerts at 30, 14, and 7 days, and script a manual issuance path for incident commanders. Third, implement Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) stapling and HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and prefer Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) with a Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA) fallback for older clients. Fourth, if you need a wildcard, plan for DNS-01 challenges and automate Domain Name System (DNS) updates safely. Finally, document a break-glass runbook with rollback steps so that an expired certificate never blocks your sign-in page or a live session.

Comparing certificate models at a glance

It helps to visualize where Domain Validation (DV), Organization Validation (OV), and Extended Validation (EV) typically fit. This comparison is not about cryptographic strength—Transport Layer Security (TLS) uses the same ciphers—but about identity assurance, support, and operations. If you run a digital front door for a clinic, a court, or a university, the support model and contract terms can weigh as heavily as the certificate profile.

Bringing it all together, the downside of free Domain Validation (DV) certificates is not insecurity; it is that they solve only the domain-authentication slice of security while leaving identity assurance, operations, and compliance for you to implement and continuously verify. For teams who want the simplicity of let’s encrypt plus the guardrails of a secure, browser-based collaboration stack, pairing it with a platform like AONMeetings ensures encryption is one part of a wider, dependable security posture that satisfies both users and auditors.

Key takeaways for decision-makers

• Domain Validation (DV) from Let’s Encrypt is strong cryptographically, but it does not validate organizational identity or satisfy policy requirements by itself.
• Ninety-day renewals minimize key exposure but demand automation, monitoring, and a tested incident plan.
• Rate limits and wildcard constraints require architectural planning, especially in multi-tenant or microservice environments.
• Legacy clients and embedded systems may need Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA) compatibility or special trust-store handling.
• Compliance frameworks like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) require controls beyond Transport Layer Security (TLS): logging, access control, vendor agreements, and auditable processes.
• AONMeetings pairs advanced encryption with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance features to secure real-time collaboration without downloads or hidden webinar fees.

Ultimately, the downside of relying solely on let’s encrypt is the gap between a secure padlock and a compliant, resilient system that meets the expectations of healthcare, education, legal, and corporate stakeholders. Close that gap with layered controls, operational discipline, and platforms designed for regulated collaboration.

Where AONMeetings fits into your plan

Consider what happens during a high-stakes meeting: a care team reviews imaging, a general counsel walks through contracts, or a faculty board votes on grants. The technical baseline—Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates, Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS), and Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP)—must simply work, every time, on every device. AONMeetings handles those mechanics behind the scenes and adds governance: audit-friendly logs, strong encryption in transit and at rest, and alignment with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) expectations. Because it is 100 percent browser-based, guests join without installations, which reduces help-desk tickets and speeds time to trust.

In other words, keep the agility and cost benefits of let’s encrypt where it makes sense, and surround it with a platform that delivers identity, assurance, and usability. With HD video delivered via Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC), AI-powered summaries to memorialize decisions, and live streaming for town halls, AONMeetings helps you present a polished, secure experience. You get the peace of mind that advanced encryption, thoughtful operations, and compliance-minded design provide, without overburdening your team.

Final thoughts

Free certificates are a triumph, but relying on them alone can leave identity, operations, and compliance exposed. In the next 12 months, expect auditors and customers to ask deeper questions about encryption, logging, and vendor accountability across your stack. What would it look like if your Transport Layer Security (TLS) strategy and your collaboration platform moved in lockstep so that let’s encrypt remained a strength, not a constraint?