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Measured on six things

Free certificate transparency search and SSL lookup with ...

Growth

A real, specific wedge: free keyless API plus MCP for agents, aimed at threat hunters and IR teams tired of crt.sh's clunky UI and Censys's paywalls. Category has headroom; monetization depends on bulk-data buyers.

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issued.live

About this app

issued.live is a real-time observatory for domains, certificates, and DNS, pulling data from public Certificate Transparency logs and ICANN zone files. It lets you instantly look up any domain's SSL certificate, issuer, expiry, hosting IP, ASN, and DNS records. What sets it apart is its free, keyless API—up to 1,000 lookups daily—that returns the same JSON record your browser sees. For threat hunters, incident responders, and infrastructure analysts, it's a fast, no-nonsense way to verify domain ownership, track certificate issuance, and spot anomalies. With over 503 million domains indexed and a live feed of certificates, issued.live is a powerful, free alternative to paid OSINT tools. It also speaks Model Context Protocol (MCP) for agent integration, making it a handy tool for automated investigations.

Key features

1Free keyless API: 1,000 lookups/day per address, JSON/Markdown/HTML from one URL.
2Live Certificate Transparency feed with 505M+ domains indexed and 18.4M certs/24h.
3MCP endpoint at /mcp and .md twins of every page for agent integration.
4Paid tiers from $39 to $199/month with daily data files, reverse IP, pivots and pattern search.

Target customer profile

Drawn from the product itself, not from a survey.

Demographic

Threat hunters and incident responders

Pain points

Slow, manual certificate lookups; lack of real-time data; expensive OSINT tools.

Primary needs

Fast, free, API-driven access to certificate and DNS data for rapid triage.

Demographic

Security researchers and penetration testers

Pain points

Limited free queries on existing platforms; incomplete historical records.

Primary needs

Comprehensive, queryable certificate transparency data without sign-up.

Demographic

IT administrators and DevOps engineers

Pain points

Monitoring SSL expiry across many domains; verifying DNS configurations.

Primary needs

Bulk domain lookups, expiry alerts, and easy API integration.

Demographic

OSINT analysts and investigative journalists

Pain points

Tracking infrastructure changes; identifying domain ownership patterns.

Primary needs

Historical certificate data, reverse IP lookups, and exportable results.

Scout Review

Written by AI from measured evidence, scored out of 100.

issued.live is a fast, focused certificate transparency and DNS observatory with a free keyless API, a live CT feed, and a pricing ladder that goes from $0 to $199/month. It scores well on speed (Lighthouse 100/100) and accessibility (97/100), solidly on security headers (11/12) and usability (no-signup free tier, clear tier docs), and reasonably on design for its audience. The main gaps are the missing SPF record, no published security certifications or bug bounty, and a single color-contrast accessibility failure. Growth is promising but unproven: the wedge against crt.sh and Censys is real, but the paid tiers target a narrow bulk-data buyer.

Measure by measure

Usability

Free lookups need no account or key, pricing spells out every tier's rate limit and dataset, and JSON/Markdown/HTML come from one URL. Docs exist but are linked, not embedded.

Design

Dark, terminal-flavored UI with a real curl response and live CT feed on the homepage. The aesthetic matches the audience and the stats band reads as data, not decoration.

Speed

Lighthouse 100/100 on both mobile and desktop, LCP 981ms, CLS 0, TBT 43ms. The site is genuinely fast, and the cached-snapshot chart avoids client-side rendering cost.

Security

Full header stack present (HSTS, CSP, frame protection, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy), 11/12 probe points. No SPF record detected and no published SOC 2, pen-test or bug bounty.

Accessibility

Lighthouse accessibility 97/100 with one failing audit: links distinguished only by color. Dark mode and Markdown twins help, but there's no WCAG statement or a11y page.

Growth

Improvement areas

No SPF record detected; no published SOC 2, ISO, pen-test or bug bounty program.
Single Lighthouse accessibility failure: links rely on color to be distinguishable.
No WCAG conformance statement or dedicated accessibility page.
Steep jump from free to $39/month for individual researchers needing occasional bulk access.

Design & Usability

issued.live looks like what it is: a data tool for people who read JSON for breakfast. The dark theme, monospace response block, and live certificate feed on the homepage are coherent and on-brand, and the stats band (505M domains, 18.4M certs/24h) reads as evidence rather than marketing filler. Usability is the stronger half: free lookups need no account or key, the same URL returns JSON, Markdown or HTML, and the pricing page spells out every tier's rate limit and dataset instead of hiding them. The four-tier ladder ($0/$39/$99/$199) is legible, though the jump from free to $39 for daily files is steep for a solo researcher. Docs are linked rather than embedded, and there's no visible onboarding tour — but for this audience, a curl example is the onboarding.

Speed & Security

Speed is the standout: Lighthouse 100/100 on both mobile and desktop, LCP 981ms, CLS 0, TBT 43ms, and the ingest chart is rendered from a cached snapshot rather than client-side. Security is solid but not exceptional: HTTPS enforced, HSTS, CSP, frame protection, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy and Permissions-Policy all present (11/12 probe points), but no SPF record was detected and there is no published SOC 2, ISO certification, pen-test report or bug bounty program. For a tool that ingests public CT logs and serves bulk data to enterprises, the absence of a security page or disclosure policy is the gap worth closing first.

Accessibility & Growth

Accessibility scores 97/100 on Lighthouse with a single failing audit — links distinguished only by color — and the site offers dark mode plus Markdown twins of every page, which helps both screen readers and scripted consumers. There is no WCAG conformance statement or dedicated accessibility page, so the score reflects automated checks rather than a documented commitment. Growth is the most interesting dimension: the product names a real, specific problem (slow manual certificate lookups, expensive OSINT tools, limited free queries) and targets a concrete audience (threat hunters, IR, pen testers, DevOps, OSINT analysts). The free keyless API and MCP endpoint are genuine differentiators against crt.sh, Censys and SecurityTrails. The category has headroom, but the $199/month Pro tier depends on buyers who need bulk corpus access — a narrower market than the free-tier audience suggests.

Conclusion

If you're a threat hunter who has ever waited on crt.sh or hit a Censys paywall mid-investigation, issued.live is worth a bookmark today — the free tier costs nothing and the API returns the same record the browser sees. The paid tiers are where it gets interesting: $39/month for daily files is a real commitment for a solo researcher, and $199/month for pattern search and feeds is aimed at teams running collection pipelines. The product is young (domain registered August 2026) and the security documentation is thin, so enterprises should treat it as a promising tool rather than a vetted vendor. For everyone else, start with the free lookups and the MCP endpoint.

Suggestions for improvement

Publish a security page with disclosure policy, and add an SPF record to complete the email authentication stack.
Add a WCAG conformance statement and fix the color-only link distinction flagged by Lighthouse.
Offer a mid-tier between free and $39/month for individual researchers who need occasional bulk access.
Embed a short quickstart (curl example plus MCP setup) directly on the homepage instead of linking to docs.

How we score

Alternatives comparison

Named competitors, point by point. Nobody paid to appear here or to be left out.

	issued.live	crt.sh	Censys	SecurityTrails
Free tier without account	Yes — 1,000 requests/day, no key or signup	Yes — free web search and JSON output	Limited free tier, account required	Free API tier with limited queries
Real-time certificate transparency feed	Yes — live feed, 18.4M certs/24h	Search-based, not a live feed	Scan-based, periodic refresh	Historical DNS/cert data, not live CT
MCP / agent integration	Yes — /mcp endpoint and .md twins	No	No native MCP	No native MCP
Bulk daily data files	Yes — from $39/month (Basic)	No bulk export	Yes — commercial plans	Yes — paid plans
Reverse IP / pivots	Yes — Plus tier ($99/month)	Limited, via search	Yes — advanced filtering	Yes — paid plans