SSL Monitoring

Automatic certificate tracking and expiry alerts for every HTTPS monitor.

Overview

SSL certificate monitoring is automatic for all HTTPS monitors. There is nothing to configure. When you add a monitor with an https:// URL, Notifier checks your certificate once every 24 hours and sends you alerts as the expiration date approaches.

SSL monitoring is included free on all plans, including the Free plan. No setup required.

What Gets Checked

Every 24 hours, Notifier opens a direct TLS connection to your server (with a 10 second timeout) and inspects the following:

  • Expiration date — when the certificate will expire
  • Certificate issuer — the authority that issued the certificate (e.g. Let's Encrypt, DigiCert, Sectigo)
  • Certificate validity — whether the certificate chain is valid and trusted

Expiry Alerts

Notifier sends warning emails at four thresholds before your certificate expires:

Days Before Expiry Alert
30 days First warning email
14 days Second warning email
7 days Third warning email
1 day Final warning email

Each threshold fires once per certificate. When you renew your certificate, the tracking resets and all four thresholds will fire again for the new certificate.

Expiry alerts are sent via email only. They are separate from your monitor's downtime alert channels (SMS, phone, Slack).

Expired Certificates

If your certificate has already expired, Notifier marks the monitor status as DOWN. Modern browsers block connections to sites with expired certificates entirely, so an expired certificate means your site is effectively unreachable for visitors.

An expired certificate triggers the same downtime alerts as a server outage. You will receive notifications through all of your configured alert channels (email, SMS, phone, Slack).

SSL Errors

If the certificate is invalid, self-signed, or the TLS connection cannot be established, Notifier displays the error on the monitor card as a warning. This does not mark the monitor as DOWN.

The ssl_error field on the monitor shows what went wrong. Common SSL errors include:

  • Self-signed certificate
  • Certificate hostname mismatch
  • Incomplete certificate chain
  • Connection timed out during TLS handshake

Viewing SSL Details

You can view the certificate expiration date and issuer on the monitor detail page. Open any HTTPS monitor and look for the SSL section below the uptime chart.

Screenshot needed: SSL details section on monitor detail page showing certificate expiry date and issuer

Plan Availability

SSL monitoring is available on all plans, including Free. It activates automatically for every HTTPS monitor. There is no configuration needed and no extra cost.