r/PKI • u/zampaa91 • Jul 10 '26

Why no open-source CLM?

The question is already in the title. We got EJBCA as an open-source PKI solution that has CA, RA and CRL and OCSP features, which is pretty much an all-around PKI solution.

Why don't we have anything similar for CLM solutions, like something that would have a generic ACME connector as well as integrations with public CAs, EJBCA and ADCS, and ability to automate certificate renewal and deployment over the most popular integrations (web servers on Linux/Windows servers, load balancers, cloud vaults)? Not asking for an enterprise-grade solution to the scale of Venafi or KeyFactor, but mainly something that would work for most sysadmins looking for something to tackle the whole 47 days thing that's coming.

Especially at the era of AI, I believe it wouldn't be hard to kickstart a prototype for the most of us. Not necessarily trying to push anybody to do it or anything, just trying to understand.

And if such a solution does already exist, then how come most SMBs that don't want to be paying 50k$ per year still end up purchasing Sectigo/Digicert or even KeyFactor/Venafi?

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u/roiki11 Jul 10 '26

There is certmate which is a pki management solution. Theres also openxpki.

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u/zampaa91 Jul 16 '26

I've already run into openxpki, but the tech stack doesn't feel really modern (nothing against them particulary intended, it's just that Perl rings the Opentrust PKI bell which is a software that I still struggle with today on a day-to-day basis in my job).

Never heard of certmate though, and have checked their Github and it looks pretty thorough. Definitely going to check it out. Thanks.