| --- |
| pretty_name: "Let's Encrypt Adoption Among Large Companies and Organizations" |
| license: cc-by-4.0 |
| tags: |
| - cybersecurity |
| - web-technologies |
| - technographics |
| - ssl |
| - tls |
| - lets-encrypt |
| - technology-adoption |
| - company-data |
| - business |
| - websites |
| task_categories: |
| - tabular-classification |
| - tabular-regression |
| language: |
| - en |
| size_categories: |
| - 10K<n<100K |
| dataset_info: |
| - config_name: default |
| features: |
| - name: Popularity Rank |
| dtype: int64 |
| - name: Domain |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Company Name |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Company Size |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Year Founded |
| dtype: float64 |
| - name: Industry |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Locality |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Country |
| dtype: string |
| - name: TLD |
| dtype: string |
| splits: |
| - name: train |
| num_examples: 5050 |
| - config_name: all-adopters |
| features: |
| - name: Popularity Rank |
| dtype: int64 |
| - name: Domain |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Company Name |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Company Size |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Year Founded |
| dtype: float64 |
| - name: Industry |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Locality |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Country |
| dtype: string |
| - name: TLD |
| dtype: string |
| splits: |
| - name: train |
| num_examples: 14697 |
| - config_name: commercial-ca-comparison |
| features: |
| - name: Popularity Rank |
| dtype: int64 |
| - name: Domain |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Company Name |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Company Size |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Year Founded |
| dtype: float64 |
| - name: Industry |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Locality |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Country |
| dtype: string |
| - name: TLD |
| dtype: string |
| - name: Certificate Authority |
| dtype: string |
| splits: |
| - name: train |
| num_examples: 10938 |
| configs: |
| - config_name: default |
| data_files: |
| - split: train |
| path: Lets-Encrypt.csv |
| - config_name: all-adopters |
| data_files: |
| - split: train |
| path: All-Adopters.csv |
| - config_name: commercial-ca-comparison |
| data_files: |
| - split: train |
| path: Commercial-CA-Comparison.csv |
| --- |
| |
| # Let's Encrypt Adoption Among Large Companies and Organizations |
|
|
| ## Overview |
|
|
| This dataset lists 5,050 large companies and organizations whose websites were found to use SSL/TLS certificates issued by Let's Encrypt. Each row carries firmographic context: industry, employee band, country, locality and founding year. |
|
|
| Rows are ordered by website popularity rank, and the file covers the most popular slice of a larger pool of large organizations found to use Let's Encrypt. It is not a list of the world's largest or most popular organizations, and the rank is a property of the website rather than a measure of the organization's size or importance. |
|
|
| Collected in August 2026. Certificate choices change, so treat the data as a snapshot of that month rather than a current state. |
|
|
| It is intended for technology research, cybersecurity analysis, technographic research, competitive intelligence, market analysis and data science. |
|
|
| ## Dataset Highlights |
|
|
| * Collected in August 2026 |
| * 5,050 organizations, one row each, with no repeated domains |
| * Every organization in the file uses Let's Encrypt, so there is no adoption column. Adoption is the selection criterion |
| * Every organization has 5,001 or more employees |
| * 142 industries and 140 countries represented |
| * Not only private companies: 1,120 rows (22%) are government bodies, universities, schools, non-profits and similar institutions |
|
|
| ## What is Let's Encrypt? |
|
|
| Let's Encrypt is a free, automated, and open Certificate Authority that provides SSL/TLS certificates. It enables websites to deploy HTTPS without purchasing certificates from traditional commercial certificate authorities. |
|
|
| ## Dataset Fields |
|
|
| Three files share the same 9 columns. The comparison file adds a tenth. |
|
|
| | Config | File | Rows | Contents | |
| | ------ | ---- | ---- | -------- | |
| | `default` | `Lets-Encrypt.csv` | 5,050 | The most popular adopters, by website popularity rank | |
| | `all-adopters` | `All-Adopters.csv` | 14,697 | Every adopter detected, including the 5,050 above | |
| | `commercial-ca-comparison` | `Commercial-CA-Comparison.csv` | 10,938 | Organizations using a commercial certificate authority and not Let's Encrypt | |
|
|
| ```python |
| load_dataset("stackscan/lets-encrypt") # 5,050 |
| load_dataset("stackscan/lets-encrypt", "all-adopters") # 14,697 |
| load_dataset("stackscan/lets-encrypt", "commercial-ca-comparison") # 10,938 |
| ``` |
|
|
| `default` is kept for anyone already loading this dataset. For analysis, use `all-adopters`, because `default` is cut by website popularity and that cut is not neutral: it leans toward organizations in the United States and Germany, and toward government, retail and healthcare, relative to the full set. |
|
|
| Coverage below is for `Lets-Encrypt.csv`. It is a little lower in the full set, where `Year Founded` is 68.4% and `Locality` 78.6%, because less popular websites carry less firmographic detail. |
|
|
| | Column | Type | Coverage | Description | |
| | ------ | ---- | -------- | ----------- | |
| | `Popularity Rank` | int64 | 100.0% | Website popularity rank, lower being more popular. Rows are stored in ascending rank order | |
| | `Domain` | string | 100.0% | Primary website domain. Unique across the file | |
| | `Company Name` | string | 100.0% | Organization name, lowercased | |
| | `Company Size` | string | 100.0% | Employee band. Two values: `5001-10000` and `10001+` | |
| | `Year Founded` | float64 | 73.4% | Founding year | |
| | `Industry` | string | 99.7% | Industry label | |
| | `Locality` | string | 85.1% | City or region, where available | |
| | `Country` | string | 100.0% | Organization or website country | |
| | `TLD` | string | 100.0% | Top-level domain | |
|
|
| ## Comparison Group |
|
|
| `Commercial-CA-Comparison.csv` holds 10,938 large organizations that were found using a commercial certificate authority and were not found using Let's Encrypt. It is there so the adopter data can be measured against something rather than read on its own. |
|
|
| It was built with the same filters as the adopter data: 5,001 or more employees, company information required, collected August 2026. The two groups share no domains. |
|
|
| Columns are the 9 above plus `Certificate Authority`, naming the authority or authorities detected. 971 organizations were detected with more than one, written pipe separated. |
|
|
| | Certificate authority | Organizations | Share | |
| | --------------------- | ------------- | ----- | |
| | DigiCert | 4,787 | 43.8% | |
| | GlobalSign | 3,449 | 31.5% | |
| | Sectigo | 2,625 | 24.0% | |
| | GoDaddy SSL | 1,089 | 10.0% | |
|
|
| ### What the comparison supports |
|
|
| Compare it against `all-adopters`, not against `default`. Both are complete populations under the same filters. `default` is truncated by website popularity, so comparing it to this file would measure that truncation as much as anything about certificates. |
|
|
| It supports asking how Let's Encrypt adopters differ from large organizations that buy commercial certificates, across industry, country, size and founding year. |
|
|
| It does not give an adoption rate. That would need a denominator of all large organizations, which no file here provides. Any percentage computed by dividing one file by another is meaningless. |
|
|
| Organizations can use more than one certificate authority. Those found with both Let's Encrypt and a commercial authority were removed from the comparison file, so the two groups stay separate at the cost of not representing mixed estates. |
|
|
| ## Methodology |
|
|
| Websites were analyzed for technical fingerprints associated with Let's Encrypt. An organization is considered a Let's Encrypt adopter when the relevant certificate or technology footprint is detected on its associated website. |
|
|
| Technology detection represents an observation made in August 2026 and should not be interpreted as confirmation of an organization's complete infrastructure. |
|
|
| ## Use Cases |
|
|
| This dataset can be used for: |
|
|
| * Technographic research |
| * Cybersecurity research |
| * SSL/TLS infrastructure analysis |
| * Market research |
| * Competitive intelligence |
| * Data science and machine learning |
| * Technology adoption analysis |
| * Academic research |
|
|
| ## Important Notes |
|
|
| * Technology detection is based on publicly observable website signals. |
| * A detected Let's Encrypt certificate does not necessarily mean that Let's Encrypt is used across all of an organization's domains or infrastructure. |
| * Website infrastructure can change over time. |
| * Results represent observations made in August 2026. |
| * The dataset should not be interpreted as an official statement from any company regarding its technology stack. |
| * Every row of the adopter files is an adopter. `Commercial-CA-Comparison.csv` provides a matched group that does not use Let's Encrypt, which supports comparison between the two but still does not support an adoption rate. |
|
|
| ## Citation |
|
|
| If you use this dataset, please credit StackScan and link to the source page. |
|
|
| Plain text: |
|
|
| StackScan. (2026). *Let's Encrypt Adoption Among Large Companies and Organizations* (data collected August 2026) [Data set]. StackScan. https://www.stackscan.com/technology/lets-encrypt |
|
|
| BibTeX: |
|
|
| ```bibtex |
| @misc{stackscan_lets_encrypt_2026, |
| author = {{StackScan}}, |
| title = {Let's Encrypt Adoption Among Large Companies and Organizations}, |
| year = {2026}, |
| month = {aug}, |
| publisher = {StackScan}, |
| howpublished = {\url{https://www.stackscan.com/technology/lets-encrypt}}, |
| note = {Data collected August 2026. Dataset: \url{https://huggingface.co/datasets/stackscan/lets-encrypt}} |
| } |
| ``` |
|
|
| ## Related |
|
|
| [stackscan/email-authentication](https://huggingface.co/datasets/stackscan/email-authentication) records SPF and DMARC adoption across 36,120 large organizations. It uses the same population definition and collection period, so the two can be joined on `Domain`. |
|
|
| ## Access to More Data |
|
|
| The files in this repository are CC BY 4.0 and free for anyone to use, including commercially. No request or permission is needed. |
|
|
| StackScan also provides free access to larger and custom datasets for data journalists, academic researchers, non-profits and other organizations working on non-commercial projects. Ask through [stackscan.com](https://www.stackscan.com). |
|
|
| ## License |
|
|
| Released under [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). You are free to share and adapt the data, including commercially, provided you give appropriate credit. |
|
|
| Attribution must name StackScan and link to the source page: |
|
|
| > Data from [StackScan](https://www.stackscan.com/technology/lets-encrypt), licensed under CC BY 4.0. |
|
|
| For academic or published work, use the citation above. |
|
|
