What is SSL Expiry?
SSL certificates have a limited validity period. When they expire, browsers show scary security warnings and users cannot access the site securely.
Validity Periods
- Let's Encrypt — 90 days (auto-renewed)
- Commercial certificates — 1 year (since 2020, max 398 days)
- Older certificates — Were issued for 2–3 years
What the days remaining means
| Days | Status | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| 30+ | ✅ Healthy | No action needed |
| 7–30 | ⚠️ Warning | Should be renewed soon |
| 0–7 | 🔴 Critical | Immediate action required |
| Expired | 💀 Down | Site shows security error |
Auto-renewal
Most modern setups (certbot, cPanel, Cloudflare) auto-renew certificates. If a certificate is close to expiry, it may indicate:
- Auto-renewal is broken
- DNS changed and validation is failing
- The site is abandoned/unmaintained