CertWatch vs TrackSSL

The Generational Divide: IT Admin vs DevOps

TrackSSL has been monitoring certificates since the data center era. They've built a solid product used by companies like Dell and IBM.

But the infrastructure landscape has fundamentally changed:

TrackSSL was built for a world where servers had names and stayed in one place. CertWatch is built for a world where infrastructure is code.

Head-to-Head Comparison

The Agent Problem: 4 Hours vs 1 Minute

TrackSSL's private monitoring agent checks certificates every 4 hours. In Kubernetes, that's an eternity.

Real-World Scenario: Bad Deployment

09:00 - You deploy a new release
09:01 - Deployment accidentally overwrites certificate secret
09:02 - Production is serving with invalid cert
09:05 - CertWatch alerts: "Certificate chain invalid"
13:00 - TrackSSL finally checks... 4 hours of broken production

In a world of continuous deployment, 4-hour check intervals are a liability.

CertWatch's agent supports configurable intervals down to 1 minute—that's 240× more frequent than TrackSSL for your most critical endpoints.

Open Source vs "Source Available"

TrackSSL describes their agent as having "viewable" source code for security audits. This is not open source.

Why this matters:

1. Security Audits: Your security team can verify exactly what the agent does
2. Custom Extensions: Add support for your specific TLS endpoints
3. No Vendor Lock-in: If CertWatch disappears, the agent keeps working
4. Community Improvements: Benefit from contributions by other users

# CertWatch agent is on GitHub
git clone https://github.com/certwatch-app/cw-agent

Kubernetes-Native Architecture

TrackSSL's agent is distributed as a Docker container—it works in Kubernetes, but it wasn't designed for it.

CertWatch's agent was built for Kubernetes from day one:

The Ghost Agent Problem

In Kubernetes, pods are ephemeral. They get scheduled, killed, rescheduled, scaled up, scaled down. If your monitoring agent generates a new ID every time it restarts, your dashboard fills with "ghost" entries:

cw-agent-7f8d9-abc12  [OFFLINE] - Last seen 3 days ago
cw-agent-7f8d9-def34  [OFFLINE] - Last seen 2 days ago
cw-agent-7f8d9-ghi56  [OFFLINE] - Last seen 1 day ago
cw-agent-7f8d9-jkl78  [ACTIVE]  - Current pod

CertWatch's Solution: Smart State Migration

The cw-agent persists state to .certwatch-state.json and intelligently migrates certificates when agents restart or get renamed. Your dashboard stays clean, and historical data follows the logical agent identity—not the ephemeral pod ID.

Helm Chart Deployment

# TrackSSL: Manual Docker deployment
docker run -d trackssl/agent ...

# CertWatch: GitOps-native Helm deployment
helm repo add certwatch https://charts.certwatch.app
helm install cw-agent certwatch/cw-agent \
  --set agent.apiKey=$CERTWATCH_API_KEY \
  --values certwatch-values.yaml

Store certwatch-values.yaml in your Git repository. Deploy with ArgoCD or Flux. Configuration as code.

Pricing: The Microservices Tax

TrackSSL charges per certificate. This model breaks down in microservices architectures.

TrackSSL Pricing

The Problem

In a typical Kubernetes cluster:

• 50 microservices × 3 environments (dev/staging/prod) = 150 internal certs
• Plus your public domains, databases, message queues...

Under TrackSSL, monitoring your internal infrastructure costs $72+/month minimum—and that's before your public domains.

CertWatch Pricing

Generous free tier during beta. That's enough to monitor your entire internal infrastructure while you evaluate.

Feature Gating

CertWatch doesn't gate essential features behind enterprise pricing.

Configuration Philosophy: UI vs GitOps

TrackSSL is built around a web UI. You log in, click "Add Domain," fill in a form.

CertWatch is built around configuration as code:

TrackSSL Workflow

1. Log into web UI
2. Click "Add Domain"
3. Fill in form fields
4. Click Save
5. Repeat for each domain
6. Hope someone documented this in Confluence

CertWatch Workflow

# certwatch.yaml - lives in your Git repo
api_key: ${CERTWATCH_API_KEY}
agent:
  name: production-cluster

endpoints:
  - address: api.example.com:443
    alert_thresholds:
      warning: 30d
      critical: 7d

  - address: postgres.internal:5432
    protocol: tls

  - address: kafka.internal:9093
    protocol: tls

# Deploy with your application
git commit -m "Add kafka certificate monitoring"
git push
# ArgoCD/Flux deploys automatically

Benefits:

• Version controlled (who changed what, when)
• Code review for monitoring changes
• Same workflow as your application code
• Reproducible across environments

Security Architecture

Both TrackSSL and CertWatch use outbound-only connections for their agents. But CertWatch goes further:

Distroless Container

The cw-agent is compiled as a static Go binary and runs in a distroless container:

FROM gcr.io/distroless/static:nonroot
COPY cw-agent /
USER nonroot:nonroot
ENTRYPOINT ["/cw-agent"]

What this means:

• No shell (/bin/sh, /bin/bash)
• No package manager (apt, apk)
• No unnecessary OS utilities
• Minimal attack surface

If an attacker somehow compromises the agent container, they find:

• No shell to execute commands
• No tools to download malware
• No way to pivot to other systems

This "secure by design" approach matters to security teams evaluating monitoring tools.

What TrackSSL Does Well

Let's be fair—TrackSSL has strengths:

• Established track record: Years in production at major companies
• UI for non-technical users: Good for marketing/IT teams who prefer clicking over YAML
• Mobile notifications: Push notifications via mobile app
• Detailed certificate analysis: Good visualization of certificate details

If your team prefers UI-driven workflows and doesn't need Kubernetes-native features, TrackSSL is a solid choice.

When to Choose CertWatch

CertWatch is the better choice if:

• ✅ You run Kubernetes or container-based infrastructure
• ✅ You practice GitOps / Infrastructure-as-Code
• ✅ You need check intervals faster than 4 hours
• ✅ You want to monitor 50+ internal certificates without enterprise pricing
• ✅ You prefer open-source tools you can audit and extend
• ✅ You want Prometheus metrics for your existing dashboards
• ✅ You need webhooks/API without paying $35-72/month

Migration Path: TrackSSL → CertWatch

Step 1: Export Your Domains

TrackSSL doesn't have a bulk export, but you can list your domains in the UI and manually compile them.

Step 2: Create certwatch.yaml

api_key: ${CERTWATCH_API_KEY}
agent:
  name: production

endpoints:
  # Your TrackSSL domains
  - address: example.com:443
  - address: api.example.com:443
  - address: dashboard.example.com:443

  # Now add internal endpoints TrackSSL couldn't monitor efficiently
  - address: postgres.internal:5432
    protocol: tls
  - address: redis.internal:6379
    protocol: tls

check_interval: 5m  # vs TrackSSL's 4 hours

Step 3: Deploy

# Interactive setup wizard
cw-agent init

# Or direct deployment
helm install cw-agent certwatch/cw-agent --set agent.apiKey=$KEY

Step 4: Run Both in Parallel

We recommend running CertWatch alongside TrackSSL for 1-2 weeks to validate alerts. Once you're confident, cancel TrackSSL.

FAQ

Is CertWatch as mature as TrackSSL?

CertWatch is newer but built on modern architecture. We're in public beta with production users. TrackSSL has years of history but an aging architecture.

What about CT Log monitoring?

Both have it "Coming Soon." We're working on it.

Can I try CertWatch without commitment?

Yes—free during beta, no credit card required.

What happens after beta pricing ends?

We'll offer competitive volume-based pricing. Early adopters will get grandfathered rates.

Is the agent really open-source?

Yes, MIT License. Fork it, audit it, contribute to it: github.com/certwatch-app/cw-agent

The Bottom Line

CertWatch is TrackSSL rebuilt for the cloud-native era.

Ready to Modernize Your Certificate Monitoring?

Start Free Trial →

• Free during beta (vs TrackSSL's 2 certs)
• 1-minute check intervals (vs TrackSSL's 4 hours)
• Open-source agent (vs closed source)
• Webhooks & API included (vs $35-72/month)

Last updated: January 2026. TrackSSL is a trademark of Nimble Industries. We respect their work in pioneering this space.