Cloudflare Advanced Certificate Manager review
A focused Cloudflare add-on for certificate control, not a load balancer.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Cloudflare Advanced Certificate Manager is a paid add-on for Cloudflare zones that need more control over TLS certificates. It suits teams managing domain certificates, especially when they need to choose issuance and validation settings or apply TLS controls by hostname. In a load balancer services shortlist, though, its scope is distinct: the described capabilities center on certificate management, not traffic balancing. Teams seeking a service to distribute traffic should look elsewhere; Cloudflare customers focused on certificate controls may find a closer fit here.
The Advanced Certificate Manager plan costs $10 per month. It offers flexible certificate issuance and management for domains, including certificates with up to 50 covered hostnames and support for multi-level subdomains. Teams can choose the certificate authority, domain-control validation method, and certificate validity period. For CNAME setups, delegated domain-control validation can be automated. Total TLS automatically protects proxied hostnames. These features make the plan relevant where certificate coverage and issuance policy matter, rather than as a substitute for a load balancer.
Control extends to origin authentication and transport settings: teams can configure custom trust stores, control cipher suites, and set minimum TLS versions per hostname. Certificates can be managed through the dashboard or API, which gives both interface-based and programmatic access. The service is available across Free, Pro, Business, and Enterprise Cloudflare zones as a paid add-on; it is deployed in the cloud. Its fit is clearest for organizations already using Cloudflare that need these certificate controls. Buyers whose priority is balancing traffic, rather than configuring certificates, should choose a product focused on load balancing instead.
Cloudflare Advanced Certificate Manager pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Order certificates with up to 50 covered hostnames and multi-level subdomains
- Choose certificate authorities, validation methods, and validity periods
- Set custom trust stores, cipher suites, and per-hostname minimum TLS versions
- Where it doesn't
- Manages TLS certificates rather than balancing traffic
- Available only as a paid add-on for Cloudflare zones
- Its controls are most relevant to organizations already using Cloudflare
Cloudflare Advanced Certificate Manager fact sheet, pricing and score →
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