cert-manager vs lego
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
cert-manager
Automated TLS certificate management for Kubernetes
VS
lego
Let's Encrypt and ACME client written in Go
| Feature | cert-manager | lego |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | kubernetes, helm | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,006 | ★ 9,789 |
| First released | 2017 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Certbot | Certbot |
Why pick each one
Choose cert-manager if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 14k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Choose lego if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9.8k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is cert-manager or lego better?
Neither is universally better. cert-manager has the larger community, while lego is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are cert-manager and lego free and open-source?
Yes. cert-manager is licensed under Apache-2.0 and lego under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run cert-manager and lego with Docker?
cert-manager: check the project docs for container support. lego: yes.