Updated: 22 October 2026 · Applies to: Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 12, AlmaLinux 9 and Rocky Linux 9
Older Certbot instructions for Ubuntu 16.04/18.04, CentOS 7 and Debian 9 used certbot-auto, which is no longer supported. Use the packaged Certbot on current systems.
Add a free SSL certificate
apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx # Ubuntu / Debian dnf install epel-release && dnf install certbot python3-certbot-nginx # AlmaLinux / Rocky certbot --nginx -d example.com -d www.example.com
Certbot installs a timer that renews the certificate automatically; test it with certbot renew --dry-run.
Renewal
Certificates last 90 days. The certbot.timer service renews them automatically; check with systemctl list-timers | grep certbot.
