Private PKI vs Let's Encrypt

Developers should learn and use Private PKI when building or maintaining secure internal systems, such as corporate networks, IoT devices, or microservices architectures, where trust must be managed internally meets developers should use let's encrypt when they need to implement https on websites or web applications quickly and at no cost, especially for personal projects, small businesses, or development environments. Here's our take.

Private PKI

Nice Pick

Developers should learn and use Private PKI when building or maintaining secure internal systems, such as corporate networks, IoT devices, or microservices architectures, where trust must be managed internally

Pros

• It is essential for scenarios requiring custom certificate policies, high security control, or compliance with regulations like HIPAA or GDPR, as it avoids dependence on external CAs and reduces costs for large-scale deployments
• Related to: public-key-infrastructure, digital-certificates

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Let's Encrypt

Developers should use Let's Encrypt when they need to implement HTTPS on websites or web applications quickly and at no cost, especially for personal projects, small businesses, or development environments

Pros

• It is ideal for automating certificate issuance and renewal in DevOps workflows, such as with web servers like Apache or Nginx, to ensure continuous security without manual intervention
• Related to: ssl-tls, https

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Private PKI is a concept while Let's Encrypt is a tool. We picked Private PKI based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Private PKI wins

Based on overall popularity. Private PKI is more widely used, but Let's Encrypt excels in its own space.