Cert Monitor is launched
The Cert Monitor landing page and mailing list have now been launched.
Let's Encrypt have recently announced that they're dropping their email notifications for SSL certificates that are about to expire. Even though most Let's Encrypt certificates renew automatically, I've still always appreciated getting a notification just so I can make sure. Plus I have some certificates that I have to renew manually, so those emails were always helpful.
The news that they're dropping this service means that I now need to set up my own monitoring to warn if a certificate is a few days away from expiring. And that made me think, there's probably plenty of other people in the same boat.
That's where the idea for Cert Monitor came from. Rather than having to set up your own monitoring solution for all of your certificates, you can just easily add them in Cert Monitor and continue receiving email notifications about their status.
It will include an easy-to-use web interface where URLs can be added with a few clicks. There will also be command line and API options for servers hosting multiple certificates, so they can all be added to Cert Monitor in one go.
The project is currently in its early stages. I'd love to hear from other Indie Hackers if this sounds like something you might find useful, and what your particular use cases might be.
Smart move launching Cert Monitor right now—Let’s Encrypt sunsetting email alerts is a real gap, especially for folks managing manual or multi-cert setups.
🔐 The CLI + API integration is a huge win for DevOps-heavy teams, and the simplicity of a web UI makes it accessible for less technical users too.
This is a great example of a timely micro-SaaS built around a real pain point. Curious—are you considering Slack or webhook alerts in addition to email?
Definitely something I’ll be recommending to early-stage SaaS founders managing infra on their own. Great job launching fast with a focused solution!
Hi Robert, thanks for the feedback. Slack and webhook alerts are a great idea, they're going straight onto the todo list.
Currently, I use Hetrix Tools (free plan) through which I get uptime monitoring of my website as well as SSL cert expiry notifications (it is configurable as to how many days before cert expiry you want to receive an email, I have currently set it to 10 days). Also LetsEncrypt themselves recommend using redsift.com for expiry notifcations (I haven't tried redsift yet, as Hetrix takes care of the SSL cert). So, just wondering, how is Cert Monitor different from these existing services?
Hi Raghu,
Thanks for taking the time to leave some feedback.
I did take a look at Red Sift, after a bit of Googling it looks like their service starts around $720/mo, Cert Monitor will be a lot lower than that. One advantage would also be Cert Monitor's server-side tools which could add certs that aren't publicly accessible (e.g. a cert set up with a DNS challenge for a service firewalled off from the web). I don't know how much demand there might be for something like that though, it might be a bit niche. Red Sift talks about certificate discovery, which sounds like they'd need to be publicly accessible from the web.
Hetrix Tools looks pretty interesting. Are you able to add a load of hosts in one go, or do you have to add them one at a time? Do you know if they have any server-side tools to do things like sync hosts on a server with the monitoring platform? I saw they do server monitoring, but it looks like that's just the server as a whole.
Thanks,
Gavin
Wow! $720/mo sounds an awful lot of money, I wonder what they are charging that much for. But as linked by Let's Encrypt, Red Sift has 'Red Sift Certificates Lite' service, which does SSL cert expiration monitoring for free. I guess that should serve the purpose for users who are looking for alternatives, what do you think?
For Hetrix Tools, I use them for uptime monitoring of my website (and SSL cert expiry monitoring) and I added my website details manually. I am not sure if they provide an automated way to do the same, or syncing of hosts with the monitoring platform.
It looks like Red Sift go from their free service straight to the expensive enterprise service. I guess it's the people in between Cert Monitor should be targetting - the smaller businesses that need more than the free version of Red Sift offers but don't have an extra $720 a month in their budget.
I think the same goes for Hetrix Tools. It sounds good for people with a few hosts they want to monitor, but Cert Monitor should be aimed at people who have multiple hosts/certs they want to manage, just not the Red Sift level of enterprise where they can just throw money at it.
I don't know how much demand there is from that particular niche, but I think that's where I need to be looking. Thanks for your insights, it's a big help.
No problem. Always happy to help. :)