Certificate validity periods
When you order an advanced certificate, you can select the following values for the Certificate validity period:
| Certificate validity period | Auto renewal period | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 30 days | Soon to be deprecated |
| 3 months | 30 days | |
| 1 month | 7 days | |
| 2 weeks | 3 days |
Benefits of shorter validity periods
Cloudflare only issues certificates with validity periods of three months or less for two reasons.
First, shorter-lived certificates limit the damage from key compromise and mistaken issuance. Any compromised key material will be valid for a shorter period of time.
Second, shorter certificates encourage automation. The more frequently you have to do a task, the more likely you will want to automate it. Automation also means that you are less likely to let a certificate expire in production or give a person access to key material.
For more details on the benefits of shorter validity periods, refer to our blog post introducing Advanced Certificate Manager.