Let's Encrypt cuts certificate lifetimes to 64 days starting February 2027

Let’s Encrypt will shorten free TLS certificate lifetimes from 90 days to 64 days starting February 10, 2027, with even shorter periods likely to follow, accelerating the industry shift toward full certificate automation. For CIOs and IT leaders, this raises the operational bar: teams that still rely on manual renewals, fixed cron schedules, or vendor appliances with clunky certificate replacement workflows face a higher risk of outage and compliance exposure if they do not modernize now. The strategic implication is clear—certificate management must be treated as an automated infrastructure capability, with ACME/ARI support, monitoring, and renewal runbooks built into standard IT operations.