Big changes are coming to SSL certificate lifetimes, and we want to make sure you know what’s happening and how it may affect you.
The organisation responsible for SSL standards, the CA/Browser Forum, has announced that SSL certificates will gradually have shorter validity periods. This change is designed to improve security across the internet.
In the future, SSL certificates will only be valid for 47 days, meaning they will need to be renewed more often. Don’t worry — this change is being introduced gradually over the next few years to give everyone time to adjust.
Key dates to be aware of:
Currently SSL certificates are valid for up to 398 days, below is the timeline for how these lifecycle will be changing over the coming years.
- March 2026: Maximum validity reduced to 200 days
- March 2027: Reduced further to 100 days
- March 2029: Final reduction to 47 days
What this means for Blacknight customers
We’ve been busy behind the scenes working towards helping customers through this transition as smoothly as possible. The good news is that we’ve already started rolling out automatic SSL management across our newer shared hosting plans. For our legacy shared hosting customers, we are busy coming up with a solution that will be rolled out soon.
Shared & WordPress Hosting (Mega, Giga, Tera, WordPress, WordPress Ultimate)
If your website is hosted with Blacknight on one of our new hosting plans, you don’t need to do anything. Your SSL certificates are automatically renewed and managed for you, so your website stays secure without any extra effort.
Legacy Shared Hosting (Minimus, Medius, Maximus)
As part of our plans for 2026, we’re working towards including SSL certificates as standard with legacy hosting packages. While we complete this work, you may notice that your SSL certificate renews at €0 which means there’s nothing extra for you to do for now in the meantime, the SSL process continues as normal. Once updates have been made on our side, your services will continue as normal.
If you are still using one of our legacy shared hosting plans and would like to transition to one of our newer packages, our team are here to help!
VPS Hosting
For Blacknight VPS customers using cPanel or Plesk, AutoSSL can be enabled within your control panel, allowing SSL certificates to be issued and renewed automatically as part of your hosting plan.
SSL Only (no blacknight hosting)
If only your domain and/or SSL certificate are with us (i.e. your website is hosted with another provider), you will need to make sure your SSL certificate is renewed and installed correctly on your hosting platform.
Renewing before 16 March 2026 is recommended
We’d recommend renewing your SSL certificate before 16th of March 2026. Renewing it early allows you to receive a certificate with the current longer validity period. This gives you more time to review your setup and decide what works best for you before the shorter certificate lifetimes come into effect. This is especially important for Wildcard SSL certificate customers as it gives time to manage and plan for critical business continuity.
We’re here to help
In summary, while SSL certificate lifetimes are becoming shorter over the coming years, the goal is a more secure and resilient internet for everyone. By understanding the timeline and reviewing your current setup now, you can avoid disruption and stay ahead of the changes.
Whether your SSL is fully automated with us or managed elsewhere, taking action early will ensure your website remains secure, trusted, and uninterrupted as these new standards come into effect.
If you have any questions, our team is always happy to help. Get in touch and we’ll make sure you’re set up correctly and ready for the upcoming changes, so your website stays secure, compliant, and running without interruption.
About the Author: Alicia Stumke
