
StartCom Launches StartEncrypt, Let's Encrypt Alternative - adamwathan
https://www.startssl.com/NewsDetails?date=20160606
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electroly
The HN title makes a promise ("Let's Encrypt Alternative") that StartCom
didn't make and can't deliver. dang -- can the HN title be changed back to the
original title?

This is software to automate the creation and installation of StartCom certs;
it doesn't include the "it's all free and validation is automated" part that
Let's Encrypt brings to the table. The pricing model is just StartCom's normal
pricing; StartCom has always used the model of charging for validation and
then offering "all you can eat" certificates.

~~~
delfinom
LOL. You should read their marketing email.

Dear StartCom customers,

This electronic mail message was created by StartCom's Administration
Personnel:

StartCom, a leading global Certificate Authority (CA) and provider of trusted
identity and authentication services, announces a new service – StartEncrypt
today, an automatic SSL certificate issuance and installation software for
your web server.

StartEncrypt is based the StartAPI system to let you get SSL certificate and
install the SSL certificate in your web server for free and automatically, no
any coding, just one click to install it in your server.

Compare with Let’s Encrypt, StartEncrypt support Windows and Linux server for
most popular web server software, and have many incomparable advantages as:

(1) Not just get the SSL certificate automatically, but install it
automatically;

(2) Not just Encrypted, but also identity validated to display EV Green Bar
and OV organization name in the certificate;

(3) Not just 90 days period certificate, but up to 39 months, more than 1180
days;

(4) Not just low assurance DV SSL certificate, but also high assurance OV SSL
certificate and green bar EV SSL certificate;

(5) Not just for one domain, but up to 120 domains with wildcard support;

(6) All OV SSL certificate and EV SSL certificate are free, just make sure
your StartSSL account is verified as Class 3 or Class 4 identity.

StartEncrypt together with StartSSL to let your website start to https without
any pain, to let your website keep green bar that give more confident to your
online customer and bring to online revenue to you. Let’s start to encrypt
now.

Please do not reply to this email. This is an unmonitored email address, and
replies to this email cannot be responded to or read. If you have any question
or comments, just click Here
(([https://startssl.com/reply](https://startssl.com/reply)) to send your
question to us, thanks.

Best Regards StartCom™ Certification Authority

------
tracker1
I wouldn't say it's an alternative to Let's Encrypt... it's better automation
tooling for using StartCom as a CA. Kind of misleading. Prior to Let's
Encrypt, I used StartCom's free certs, which was always a nice option.

While I appreciate their efforts, it would be nice to see the CAs offer a
consistent API for usage/automation... it's really something that should be a
bit more commoditized than it currently is.

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paraxisi
I was pretty excited at the idea of "free" EV certs, but after reading into it
a bit (conveniently the last bullet point after clicking through)

"For OV SSL and EV SSL, just charge the validation cost annually, certificate
is FREE!"

~~~
Navarr
You're never going to get "free" EV Certs. The validation and paperwork hassle
is too much.

I mean, theoretically "it's possible" but someone would have to be pumping a
LOT of money into that org

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technion
Reading through the claimed advantages compared to Lets Encrypt:

\- Install it automatically. Well yes, certbot will install the certificate
for you, it's dishonest to claim otherwise.

\- Not just for one domain. I happen to have one LE cert with three domains on
it.

\- Wildcard support. One genuine claim.

\- Two different advantages that both mean "we also offer OV and EV certs". OV
certs in particular are a marketing exercise and nothing more - do you really
believe any end user anywhere opens up a certificate, hits "details" and
scrolls to the right part where they can check if an organisation is listed,
and THEN considers what they find when trusting the site?

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fideloper
Feels like a rip off (in name), but the features and difference in limitations
vs let's encrypt are interesting!

I say, let the competition in! Probably only (mostly) good things will result.

~~~
imaginenore
It's a free product. It would be better to spend dev time improving
LetsEncrypt, rather than start another one from scratch.

~~~
regecks
Well, not necessarily. Let's Encrypt gave us the ACME protocol. Would be nice
if we started seeing competing implementations of that.

~~~
duskwuff
Competing implementations of which part? There's already a number of clients
out there.

~~~
kevincox
I think he's talking about the server.

The only two servers I'm aware of is the LE server and the LE staging server
which both run the same software.

It would be really cool to get another CA giving out certs using the protocol.

~~~
duskwuff
Oh, absolutely. Enabling other CAs to use the ACME protocol* for certificate
provisioning was an explicit goal during its development. As such, it's
incredibly disappointing that Startcom decided to build their own incompatible
solution here.

*: Yes, that's really what it's called. Stands for "Automatic Certificate Management Environment".

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st3fan
Any competition to Let's Encrypt is good. The more SSL deployed the better.

