SSL certificates
Automatic HTTPS for every PageFork site — how it works and what to expect.
Every PageFork site — on the free subdomain or your custom domain — is served over HTTPS. SSL is issued, renewed, and rotated automatically; you don’t configure it.
How SSL gets issued
- You add your domain in PageFork and set up DNS.
- Once DNS resolves correctly, PageFork requests a free SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt.
- Let’s Encrypt validates your domain over the network.
- The certificate is installed on our edge and your site is reachable over HTTPS.
Typical time from DNS-valid to HTTPS-live: under one minute. It can take longer if your DNS provider is slow to propagate, or if you already have CAA records restricting which CAs can issue certs.
Domain status meanings
In the domain settings panel, each custom domain has a status:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Pending | DNS records haven’t been seen yet. |
| Validating | DNS looks good; we’re waiting on Let’s Encrypt. |
| Active | HTTPS is live. The green padlock is on. |
| Failed | Something blocked issuance. See the error details. |
Click Refresh status to force a recheck at any point.
Renewal
Certificates are automatically renewed well before they expire. You don’t need to do anything — as long as DNS still points at PageFork, renewal is transparent.
CAA records
If you have CAA records in DNS (a security feature some organisations use to restrict which certificate authorities can issue certs for your domain), they must include Let’s Encrypt:
yourbrand.com. IN CAA 0 issue "letsencrypt.org"If you have CAA records that exclude Let’s Encrypt, issuance will fail until you add an entry allowing it.
Common SSL issues
- “Issuance failed” — most often a CAA record, or DNS that doesn’t fully resolve yet. See SSL not issuing.
- “Mixed content” warning in browser — the site loads over HTTPS but contains HTTP URLs. Prompt PageFork to “fix mixed content” or replace the specific asset.
- “This site is insecure” — usually a DNS cache issue in your browser. Hard-refresh (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R) or try an incognito tab.