Renew

Last updated Oct 15, 2026 Custom hostname certificates have a 90-day validity period and are available for renewal 30 days before their expiration.

The validation method selected when you create a custom hostname applies to initial certificate issuance. During an Automated Certificate Management Environment (ACME) renewal, Cloudflare selects a method based on the hostname's current configuration and eligibility.

You can explicitly change the method through the API. DigiCert uses a separate renewal workflow.

HTTP validation

Cloudflare can automatically renew a custom hostname certificate through HTTP validation when all these conditions are true:

  • The custom hostname is not a wildcard.
  • The hostname is active.<sup>1</sup>
  • The hostname points to the SaaS provider.
  • The hostname traffic is proxied through Cloudflare.
  • The hostname does not use Delegated DCV.

Cloudflare may use HTTP validation even if you selected TXT for initial issuance.

If automatic HTTP validation is unavailable, retrieve the custom hostname's current ssl.method and ssl.validation_records. Share the required HTTP or TXT records with the domain owner.

TXT validation

Wildcard hostnames cannot use HTTP validation. They must use TXT validation.

Non-wildcard hostnames with properly configured Delegated DCV also remain TXT-based. Keep the delegation CNAME record in place for future renewals.

For manual TXT validation, use each certificate order's current ssl.validation_records. These records can change between certificate orders.

These tokens can be fetched through the API or the dashboard when the certificates are in a pending validation state during custom hostname creation or during certificate renewals.

If your hostname is using another validation method, you will need to update the "method" field in the SSL object to be "txt".

After this step, follow the normal steps for TXT validation.

Note

To automate TXT placement for future certificate orders, consider Delegated DCV.

Footnotes

  1. Meaning Cloudflare could verify your customer's ownership of the hostname and the hostname status is active. ↩

Was this helpful?

YesNo

On this page

Renew - 图1Docs

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-for-platforms/cloudflare-for-saas/security/certificate-management/issue-and-validate/renew-certificates/#page","headline":"Renew","description":"Renew custom hostname certificates before their 90-day expiration.","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-for-platforms/cloudflare-for-saas/security/certificate-management/issue-and-validate/renew-certificates/","inLanguage":"en","image":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-for-platforms/cloudflare-for-saas/security/certificate-management/issue-and-validate/renew-certificates/og.png?v=afa05885a7e052f5","dateModified":"2026-10-15","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Cloudflare","description":"One platform for your apps, agents, and workforce. Build, secure, and scale without managing infrastructure","url":"https://www.cloudflare.com/","sameAs":["https://github.com/cloudflare","https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloudflare","https://x.com/cloudflare"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/logo.svg"},"address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"101 Townsend St","addressLocality":"San Francisco","addressRegion":"CA","postalCode":"94107","addressCountry":"US"},"contactPoint":[{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"Customer Support","url":"https://support.cloudflare.com/","availableLanguage":["English"]},{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"Sales","url":"https://www.cloudflare.com/contact/","availableLanguage":["English"]}]},"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/#website","name":"Cloudflare Docs","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/"}}

description: Learn which methods you should use to validate Cloudflare for SaaS certificates. title: Validate image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-for-platforms/cloudflare-for-saas/security/certificate-management/issue-and-validate/validate-certificates/og.png?v=5d9ad34449910ee7

Skip to content

Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-for-platforms/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.