step-ca
No phone app
7.0No. 7 of 18
in Public Key Infrastructure Software
in Public Key Infrastructure Software
- Recognised40% of the score50
- Phone app26% of the score0
- Documented20% of the score90
- Free plan14% of the score100
- Free plan
- Yes
- Runs on
- api, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows
Summary
step-ca is ranked #7 of 18 in public key infrastructure software on Samsung Mobile US Press. It runs on API, Linux, macOS, Self-hosted, Windows. There is a free plan.
step-ca plans and pricing
All plansstep-ca (open source) Free single configured intermediate CA · offline root CA · authority-wide issuance policies · no Certificate Transparency integration · no ACME EAB github.com · 30 Sept 2026
Compared on public key infrastructure software
- Free plan
- Yessmallstep.com
- Deployment model
- hybridsmallstep.com
- ACME support
- Yessmallstep.com
- SCEP support
- Yessmallstep.com
- HSM integration
- Yessmallstep.com
- Certificate profiles
- Yessmallstep.com
Facts
- Purpose
- step-ca is an online Certificate Authority for secure, automated X.509 and SSH certificate management.smallstep.com · 30 Sept 2026
- X.509 certificates
- It issues X.509 certificates for TLS, mutual TLS authentication, document signing and X.509 authentication.smallstep.com · 30 Sept 2026
- SSH certificates
- It issues SSH certificates to users and hosts and can provide short-lived SSH user certificates through single sign-on.smallstep.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Provisioners
- Provisioners can authorize issuance through ACME challenge responses, OIDC tokens, AWS/GCP/Azure instance identity documents and short-lived JWK tokens.smallstep.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Certificate automation
- step-ca supports automated certificate issuance, renewal and passive revocation for clients, servers and Kubernetes workloads.smallstep.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Templates
- X.509 and SSH templates can add custom SANs or OIDs, restrict domains or key sizes and create longer certificate chains.smallstep.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Key protection
- It integrates with Google Cloud KMS, AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, PKCS#11 HSMs, TPM 2.0 and YubiKey PIV for CA signing-key protection.smallstep.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Integrations
- The integration ecosystem includes ACME, SCEP, OIDC, AWS/GCP/Azure cloud identity, Kubernetes cert-manager, Nebula and Envoy SDS.smallstep.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Databases
- Its configurable database backends include Badger, BoltDB, MySQL and PostgreSQL.smallstep.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Installation
- Official installation options cover macOS Homebrew, Windows Winget or Scoop, Linux packages and binaries, Kubernetes and Docker.smallstep.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Architecture
- step-ca is designed around a two-tier PKI with one offline root CA and one configured intermediate CA issuing end-entity certificates.smallstep.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Limitations
- The project documents limited active revocation, limited legacy-protocol and device-attestation options, no certificate history or metrics, no dynamic SCEP and no ACME External Account Binding.smallstep.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Support
- Open-source step-ca support is provided by the user community through Discord, with dedicated support contracts available from Smallstep.support.smallstep.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Target users
- The project is positioned for DevOps teams that need a private CA for certificates used by VMs, containers, APIs, databases, Kubernetes pods and people.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
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Where it ranks on Samsung Mobile US Press
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Sources
- smallstep.com/docs/step-ca/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- smallstep.com/docs/step-ca/cryptographic-protection/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- smallstep.com/docs/step-ca/integrations/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- smallstep.com/docs/step-ca/configuration/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- smallstep.com/docs/step-ca/installation/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- support.smallstep.com/en/articles/8471361· checked 30 Sept 2026
- github.com/smallstep/certificates· checked 30 Sept 2026