119 | Beyond Let's Encrypt: Overview of the Best Free SSL/TLS Alternatives

2025-10-10

Thanks to Let’s Encrypt HTTPS has become the standard for the entire internet. This project made it possible for any site administrator to get a free SSL certificate in just a few commands. But other players have appeared on the market, offering more convenience, integrations, and flexibility.

If you want to try something besides Let’s Encrypt — below is an overview of the most reliable and popular alternatives.

1. ZeroSSL — same automation, but with a friendly interface

ZeroSSL (Austria) — the main competitor to Let’s Encrypt. It is fully compatible with the same ACME protocol, but emphasizes convenience.

032 | Proxy Servers in Action: Squid — A Caching Proxy for Traffic Optimization

2025-06-24

We’ve reached the final article in our proxy server series, and today’s topic is a true veteran and classic — Squid. This powerful proxy server has served for decades as a key tool for web traffic caching, significantly speeding up internet access and reducing network load.

What is Squid?

Squid is free, open-source software that functions as a caching proxy server for web traffic. It was specifically designed to optimize HTTP and HTTPS traffic, though it also supports FTP and Gopher protocols. Squid is primarily used as a forward proxy in corporate or academic networks but can also be configured as a reverse proxy to cache content from internal web servers.