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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchCloudflare plans to become a public certificate authority (CA), but its new service has not launched: the company said on September 29, 2026, that it was not yet issuing certificates. Its proposal could add another free issuer alongside Let’s Encrypt, with a longer-term plan to support post-quantum Merkle Tree Certificates. For now, website owners should distinguish that future public CA from Cloudflare’s existing managed Universal SSL service.
What Cloudflare announced
On September 29, 2026, Cloudflare announced that it intends to operate a public CA—an organization that issues certificates browsers and other clients can use to establish encrypted connections to websites. Cloudflare said it had applied to the root programs operated by Chrome, Apple, Microsoft, and Mozilla, and had signed a definitive agreement to acquire an established, broadly trusted root from GlobalSign. These are steps toward wider trust, not confirmation that the applications have been accepted or that the acquisition is complete. Cloudflare’s announcement said: “We are not issuing certificates yet, and it will be a little while before we do.”
Cloudflare’s stated rationale is to add an independent, high-scale issuer to a market where, in the company’s view, much automated free issuance depends on a relatively small number of providers. That is Cloudflare’s characterization of the market, not an independently established measurement. The practical point for site owners is that a new issuer could eventually offer another route to obtain trusted certificates; it does not change which CA issues a certificate today.
How this differs from Cloudflare Universal SSL
Cloudflare already offers free managed certificates through Universal SSL, but that product is not the announced public CA. Universal SSL issues and renews publicly trusted, unshared, domain-validated certificates for domains added to and activated on Cloudflare. Coverage depends on how the domain is connected: a full setup covers the root domain and first-level subdomains, while a partial CNAME setup issues a certificate for each proxied subdomain. See Cloudflare’s Universal SSL documentation for the product’s current setup details.
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Cloudflare’s current certificate products can use multiple certificate authorities, depending on product and certificate type. Its documentation names Let’s Encrypt, Google Trust Services, SSL.com, and Sectigo as partners. That means the announcement does not establish that Cloudflare will replace Let’s Encrypt. Let’s Encrypt remains among the providers Cloudflare identifies for current certificate products, while the new CA is a separate effort that has not started issuing.
How Cloudflare plans to establish trust
A public CA must issue certificates that client software trusts. Cloudflare’s stated approach combines two routes: seek inclusion in four major root programs and acquire already trusted root material through its agreement with GlobalSign. Root-program applications are reviews, not automatic approvals; signing an acquisition agreement is not the same as completing the transaction. Cloudflare says the acquired root is intended to help certificates work on older phones, operating systems, and other devices that no longer receive updates. The eventual reach will depend on completed milestones and the trust stores present on clients.
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Compatibility can vary by client and certificate chain. Cloudflare’s documentation notes that some older Android and Java clients may not trust the applicable Let’s Encrypt ISRG Root X1 chain. It also says Google Trust Services cross-signs with a GlobalSign root installed on client devices for more than 20 years. These are Cloudflare’s descriptions, not a guarantee for every device or configuration; consult current vendor compatibility guidance before choosing an issuer for a legacy environment. Cloudflare’s CA reference describes its current partners and caveats.
What Merkle Tree Certificates are—and why they matter
Cloudflare’s technical plan includes conventional certificates and Merkle Tree Certificates (MTCs). MTCs are intended as a post-quantum approach: rather than transmitting large post-quantum signatures with every connection, a certificate can use lightweight proofs tied to a trusted registry. This is a design direction described by Cloudflare, not a capability currently available from its new CA.
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Cloudflare says it is targeting production MTC issuance in early 2027, with the goal of inclusion in Chrome’s quantum-resistant root store. Early 2027 is a target, not a guaranteed release date or confirmation of Chrome acceptance. The company says standard MTC issuance will have no charge. Cloudflare’s MTC engineering article explains the proposed approach.
Certificate Transparency (CT) logs publicly record issued certificates so issuance can be audited. Cloudflare’s engineering article says each certificate must be submitted to at least two public CT logs, and describes its Nimbus log family and planned Raio static log family. It estimates that post-quantum signatures could make CT logs store 40 times as much data. That 40x figure is Cloudflare’s projection, not an independently confirmed measurement. The log plans and capacity estimate are part of the proposed system, not operating results from the new CA.
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Planned automation and operational visibility
Cloudflare says it wants the CA to provide detailed operational and technical visibility, reproducible code builds, and a public health dashboard. It also points to automated renewal signaling under RFC 9773, intended to prompt background certificate replacement during routine updates or incidents. These features could help make certificate operations more observable and responsive, but they remain planned capabilities until the service is operating and their implementation can be evaluated.
What site owners should do now
- If you already use Cloudflare Universal SSL: treat it as the current managed certificate service; the announcement does not require a configuration change.
- If you use Let’s Encrypt directly: there is no announced replacement requirement. Continue using your existing issuance and renewal process unless your compatibility or operational needs call for a change.
- If you support older clients: check the actual trust chain and client versions in your environment. General statements about root-store reach are not a substitute for testing your supported devices.
- If you are evaluating post-quantum readiness: regard MTCs as a future option under development, not a certificate you can deploy from this CA today.
The meaningful milestones to watch are completion of the GlobalSign transaction, decisions by the four root programs, start of classical certificate issuance, and whether MTC issuance meets its stated early-2027 target. Until then, comparisons with Let’s Encrypt are about intended design and trust strategy, not demonstrated performance or reach.
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