--- title: What are the ACME Challenges for Domain Validation?... description: ACME protocol automates SSL certificate issuance and renewal, but domain validation is where most setups fail. Two main challenge types exist: HTTP-01, which... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/what-are-the-acme-challenges-for-domain-validation-which-one-should-you-use--6vo0fbdvm twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: What are the ACME Challenges for Domain Validation? Which One Should You Use? | daily.dev og:description: ACME protocol automates SSL certificate issuance and renewal, but domain validation is where most setups fail. Two main challenge types exist: HTTP-01, which... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/what-are-the-acme-challenges-for-domain-validation-which-one-should-you-use--6vo0fbdvm og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/6vo0fbDVM.png og:image:alt: What are the ACME Challenges for Domain Validation? Which One Should You Use? og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # What are the ACME Challenges for Domain Validation? Which One Should You Use? **[Security Boulevard](https://daily.dev/sources/securityboulevard)** · 10 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary ACME protocol automates SSL certificate issuance and renewal, but domain validation is where most setups fail. Two main challenge types exist: HTTP-01, which works by serving a file over port 80 and suits simple single-server setups, and DNS-01, which validates via a DNS TXT record and supports wildcard certificates, making it ideal for cloud, Kubernetes, and distributed environments. A comparison table and decision tree help choose between them. Common failure causes include blocked port 80 for HTTP-01 and DNS propagation delays for DNS-01, with practical troubleshooting commands provided for each. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Automated Certificate Management Environment \(ACME\) Challenge for Persistent DNS TXT Record Validation](https://daily.dev/posts/automated-certificate-management-environment-acme-challenge-for-persistent-dns-txt-record-validati-s57rfx6z2) · Lobsters · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [DNS-PERSIST-01; Handling Domain Control Validation in a short-lived certificate World](https://daily.dev/posts/dns-persist-01-handling-domain-control-validation-in-a-short-lived-certificate-world-7hfhkmpwg) · Scott Helme · 1 upvotes · 1 comments - [DNS-PERSIST-01: A New Model for DNS-based Challenge Validation](https://daily.dev/posts/dns-persist-01-a-new-model-for-dns-based-challenge-validation-07zjs3c70) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [ACME, a brief history of one of the protocols which has changed the Internet Security](https://daily.dev/posts/acme-a-brief-history-of-one-of-the-protocols-which-has-changed-the-internet-security-vjmtdukze) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#dns](https://daily.dev/tags/dns) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/what-are-the-acme-challenges-for-domain-validation-which-one-should-you-use--6vo0fbdvm) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"What are the ACME Challenges for Domain Validation? Which One Should You Use?","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-are-the-acme-challenges-for-domain-validation-which-one-should-you-use--6vo0fbdvm","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-are-the-acme-challenges-for-domain-validation-which-one-should-you-use--6vo0fbdvm"},"datePublished":"2026-06-30T11:20:14.294Z","dateModified":"2026-06-30T11:20:50.676Z","description":"ACME protocol automates SSL certificate issuance and renewal, but domain validation is where most setups fail. Two main challenge types exist: HTTP-01, which...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/79efbbd658a8a8d061427c47d73396d1?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/79efbbd658a8a8d061427c47d73396d1?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Security Boulevard","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Security Boulevard","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/3613c832180040de8d85bb29f74395be","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/securityboulevard"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-are-the-acme-challenges-for-domain-validation-which-one-should-you-use--6vo0fbdvm","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"dns","timeRequired":"PT10M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Security Boulevard","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/securityboulevard"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"What are the ACME Challenges for Domain Validation? Which One Should You Use?"}]} ```