Companies Using Actalis

I run the crawler that reads DNS records for every domain we visit. A domain counts here when a TXT record contains actalis-dcv, Actalis's domain-validation code. Our October 2026 crawl puts that at 4,255 domains, 3,161 matched to a company, 5th in SSL/TLS Certificates. On 15 October 2026 I re-read the DNS of all 4,280 domains in our clean set, looked up their nameservers and opened a TLS connection to each.

What the record proves

Actalis's domain-validation guide offers four methods: email to the domain administrator, a file at /.well-known/pki-validation/actalis.txt, a TXT record with the value actalis-dcv= plus a confirmation value valid for 30 days, and, for domains registered with Aruba, a check of Aruba's own domain database. Our rule sees only the TXT method, so file- and email-validated customers are missing: in that sense the count is also a floor. 4,115 of 4,280 domains still carried the record, and twelve had published the guide's placeholder, confirmationValue, instead of a code.

Sales signal: a placeholder in DNS marks a self-managed site whose owner followed the guide by hand. That's the buyer who might want automation.

How much of it is current

4,048 domains answered. 1,866 (46.10%) served an Actalis certificate, 1,547 (38.22%) Let's Encrypt, 239 Google Trust Services and 127 Sectigo. A random draw of 50 gave 21 of 48. Of the live Actalis certificates, 1,700 were DV, 157 OV and 9 EV.

"On the domains that validated with Actalis, Let's Encrypt now serves 1,547 homepages to Actalis's 1,866. No paid CA comes close." - David Thomson, CTO at TechnologyChecker.io

Sales signal: the 1,547 domains serving Let's Encrypt have an Actalis validation behind them and a free certificate in front. They are reachable with automation and support, not with price.

Hosting is the channel

Nameservers show how these domains got their certificates. 1,259 use Aruba group nameservers (Aruba hosting, Aruba Business and Forpsi), 29.45% of the 4,275 that resolved, and 54.9% of those that answered served Actalis, against 42.4% elsewhere. Actalis's company page says it has been part of the Aruba group since 2009. Brazil's UOL Host is the second channel: 534 domains use its nameservers, and 364 of them serve an Actalis DV certificate issued for their own name. Register.it accounts for another 257 domains.

Brazil deserves its own note. Of the 682 .br domains in the clean set, 534 sit on UOL Host's nameservers, and 364 of the 528 that answered serve Actalis DV certificates, a 68.9% rate, above the Aruba group's 54.9%. These are small Brazilian firms, alarm installers, engineering shops and clinics among them, with 466 matched to a LinkedIn company. Their certificates come from an Italian CA because their host's do.

Sales signal: for most of this list, the certificate decision belongs to the host. Sell to Aruba, UOL or Register.it, or sell the site owner something the host doesn't include.

Who and where

Italy has 2,014 of the 3,006 matched companies and Brazil 626. 44.63% have 1 to 10 staff and 88.38% have 200 or fewer. The large accounts are a separate group with their own certificates: UniCredit has 30 issued in its name, a city government 15, Leonardo 12 and a regional agency 5. The French Senate and Huawei, whose homepage serves an Actalis certificate though it also carries a GlobalSign record, are among the foreign names.

Sales signal: split the list in two. Hosting customers buy through the host; the banks and public bodies buy OV certificates through procurement.

Two generations of certificates

The issuing CAs show Actalis's own transition. 1,026 live DV certificates came from its older Domain Validation Server CA G3 and 674 from the 2025 DV intermediates (654 RSA, 20 ECC). OV is split the same way, 83 to 74, and EV is a handful, 7 and 2. Actalis's site warns that certificate validity is heading to 47 days, which means more frequent issuance for every one of these domains and more weight on ACME. A host that automates renewal keeps the customer; a site owner renewing by hand is the one most likely to move to Let's Encrypt.

Sales signal: domains still on G3-issued certificates renew under the new intermediates next. That renewal is the moment to offer an alternative.

Churn and overlap

266 domains dropped the record since we began tracking it on 16 March 2026, 21 of which still carry it on another hostname. 77 domains carry GlobalSign records too. We publish no switching table: moving to a new CA doesn't remove the old record, so the live certificate is the only reliable sign.

"For a hosting customer, the CA changes when the host changes it, or when the customer changes host." - David Thomson, CTO at TechnologyChecker.io

Sales signal: watch hosting migrations; they move certificates with them.

The stack around it

Across the 4,280 domains, WordPress runs on 45.14%, Elementor on 16.43%, Aruba hosting on 15.63% and iubenda on 15.02%. Matomo appears on 8.93%, Duda on 3.55%.

Sales signal: on a WordPress-heavy small-business base, the web agency often picks the host, and with it the certificate.

What it costs

Actalis's subscription page listed a Free plan with unlimited 90-day DV certificates through ACME, and Bronze, Silver and Gold plans at €7, €20 and €40 a month plus VAT with yearly billing, Gold adding OV certificates, when we checked on 15 October 2026.

Sales signal: Actalis gives DV away itself, so a DV pitch competes with free. OV, EV and managed renewal are where a paid offer has room.

Key takeaways

1. 4,255 domains validated with Actalis; 46.10% of answering domains serve its certificate.

2. Let's Encrypt serves 38.22% of the same domains.

3. Aruba group nameservers cover 29.45% of domains, UOL Host 534 domains.

4. 1,700 of 1,866 live Actalis certificates are DV.

5. Italy 2,014 and Brazil 626 of the matched companies.

How to use this list

Separate hosting customers from direct buyers first, using nameservers. Our certificate authority market share report covers the issuance side. The full list of 4,255 domains, with 3,161 matched companies, is on TechnologyChecker.io.