SSL alerting guide
SSL Expiration Email Alerts
SSL expiration email alerts warn you when the certificate served by a website is approaching its expiry date. A useful reminder identifies the domain, the time left, and where to investigate so someone can renew and verify the certificate.
In Website Certs, alerts depend on completed checks and an enabled notification channel. A one-time public SSL check does not subscribe you to emails, and creating an account alone does not prove that notification delivery works.
Set up your first SSL reminder
Create a free beta account, add your domain, and test an email channel before relying on expiration alerts.
How to set up SSL expiration email alerts
Use an account email that you actively monitor. The dashboard's Add email action uses the email address from registration; it does not ask you to enter a separate recipient.
- Register for a free beta account, verify your email, and sign in.
- In the dashboard, choose Add domain and enter the public hostname. SSL checks are enabled by default. Add important subdomains separately when they serve different endpoints.
- Open Notification channels at /dashboard/settings/notifications. If there is no email channel, choose Add email under Default email.
- In Configured channels, confirm the recipient address and the Enabled badge. Avoid adding multiple identical email channels.
- Choose Test on the email channel and confirm that the test message arrives in your inbox. A success message in the app is not proof of inbox delivery.
- Open the domain, choose Run check now when available, and wait for a fresh result. Review the SSL and Alerts tabs. A healthy certificate outside the warning windows does not need an expiry alert.
When are SSL reminders sent?
Website Certs implements expiry thresholds of 30, 14, 7, 3, and 1 day remaining. The worker evaluates them when a check completes, not at a guaranteed clock time. The current dashboard does not provide a custom reminder-schedule editor.
The check selects the most urgent applicable threshold. If you first add a domain with 10 days left, it enters the 14-day window; it does not send a backlog of earlier reminders. Once an expiry milestone alert has been successfully notified, that same alert is not sent again on every check.
Automatic checks require the scheduler and worker to be running. Check the dashboard's last checked and next check times. A channel test checks the email path, not whether scheduled monitoring is running.
| Days remaining | Alert level | Suggested response |
|---|---|---|
| More than 14, up to 30 | Warning: 30-day window | Confirm who owns renewal and check that automatic renewal is working. |
| More than 7, up to 14 | Warning: 14-day window | Investigate missed renewal and prepare deployment to the public endpoint. |
| More than 3, up to 7 | Critical: 7-day window | Prioritize renewal and verify that the replacement is actually served. |
| More than 1, up to 3 | Critical: 3-day window | Escalate to the person who can repair renewal or certificate deployment. |
| 1 day remaining | Critical: 1-day window | Treat this as urgent. Do not wait for another reminder before acting. |
- The thresholds are product behavior; the response actions above are a suggested operational checklist.
- A late or interrupted check can skip a window. Do not rely on receiving exactly five emails.
- Expiry reminders do not renew or install a certificate. Keep your hosting provider's renewal process enabled.
Example SSL expiration reminder email
This simplified example illustrates the information to act on. It is not a live notification or an exact preview of every delivered email. In this scenario, a check on October 26, 2026 at 12:00 UTC finds a certificate expiring 14 days later.
Open the domain details to verify the latest valid-until timestamp, hostname match, and chain status before making changes. Use the live result rather than an old email as the current source of truth.
Subject: Warning: SSL certificate for
example.com expires in 14 days
Domain: example.com
Days remaining: 14
Expires at: November 9, 2026, 12:00 UTC
Severity: WARNING
Next step: Confirm renewal and deployment,
then recheck the public certificate.
View domain details in Website Certs.Why did my SSL alert email not arrive?
First distinguish a missing check from a missing notification. If the latest SSL result is old, fix monitoring before troubleshooting the inbox. If a fresh result shows no expiry risk, the absence of an expiry email may be expected.
Open the domain's Alerts tab to inspect alert history and recent notification attempts. The Test button sends a separate test message; it does not create a certificate-expiration incident in that history.
| Status | What it tells you | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| PENDING | An attempt is recorded but has not completed. | Wait briefly. If it remains pending, contact support with the domain and attempt time. |
| FAILED | Queueing or delivery reported an error. | Read the Error column. Fix the channel or contact support; repeated clicks do not repair delivery. |
| SKIPPED | Delivery was skipped, for example because no enabled channel was available. | Check Configured channels and the Enabled badge, then send a test. |
| SENT | The sending operation completed; this is not an inbox or read receipt. | Check the recipient, spam folder, and mail quarantine if the message is missing. |
- No alert: confirm SSL checks are enabled and review the latest expiry date and days remaining.
- An earlier reminder already arrived: a successfully notified expiry milestone is not resent on every check.
- Test fails or nothing arrives: check the displayed recipient and spam folder, then contact support. Do not share passwords, API keys, or webhook URLs.
- Self-hosting: the API sends channel tests while the worker sends monitoring alerts. Both need working email-provider configuration. A non-production console email provider writes logs instead of delivering to an inbox.
What to do after receiving a reminder
Identify the system that owns the certificate: managed hosting, a CDN, a load balancer, or your own renewal client. Check why renewal has not happened, then renew and deploy through that system.
Recheck the public hostname after deployment. A newer certificate file on a server is not enough if visitors still receive the old one. Confirm the expiry date, hostname coverage, and certificate chain in the SSL result.
Recovery depends on a subsequent check reporting SSL as OK. If the new certificate still has a hostname or chain problem, do not assume renewal alone resolves the alert.
Email reminders for multiple websites
For an agency or a team, keep a clear owner for each domain and review the domains that matter to customers: the main website, app, API, and checkout. A reminder only helps when its recipient can act on it.
Use one enabled email channel per intended recipient and test it. Review check freshness alongside notifications; silence can mean a healthy certificate, an already-notified milestone, or a stalled check.
Plan SSL monitoringFAQ
How do I get SSL expiration email alerts?
Create and verify a Website Certs account, add your domain with SSL checks enabled, then open Notification channels and choose Add email if needed. Confirm the recipient, send a Test message, and verify that domain checks complete.
Does the free SSL checker send reminder emails?
No. A public SSL check is a one-time result. To receive monitoring alerts, add the domain to your account and configure an enabled notification channel.
Can I choose my own reminder schedule?
The current dashboard does not have a custom schedule editor. The worker implements 30, 14, 7, 3, and 1-day expiry thresholds and evaluates the most urgent applicable window when a check completes.
Will I receive all five expiry reminders?
Not necessarily. A domain added near expiry or a gap in checking can skip earlier windows. A successfully notified expiry milestone is not resent on every check, and delivery still depends on an enabled channel and working email service.
Why does SENT not guarantee that the email is in my inbox?
SENT records completion of the sending operation, not final inbox placement or whether you read the email. Check the recipient, spam folder, and quarantine. In a self-hosted non-production setup, a console provider may only log the message.
Will Website Certs renew my SSL certificate?
No. Monitoring and alerts help you identify risk, but renewal and deployment remain with your hosting provider or certificate-management process. Verify the live certificate after renewal.
Are SSL email alerts available during the free beta?
Email notification channels are available during the free beta. Test delivery and confirm that your domain has fresh checks before relying on alerts; account registration alone does not verify either.
Related Website Certs tools
Make your next SSL reminder actionable
Add a domain during the free beta, configure email, and verify both delivery and check freshness. Start with a one-time certificate check if you are still investigating.