# Can I use my Public IP instead of a doman name

**URL:** <https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/can-i-use-my-public-ip-instead-of-a-doman-name/52050>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [February 2, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/can-i-use-my-public-ip-instead-of-a-doman-name/52050 "2018-02-02T19:36:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lothius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9a28c/32.png) [@lothius](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/lothius)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/can-i-use-my-public-ip-instead-of-a-doman-name/52050/1 "2018-02-02T19:36:13Z")

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Please fill out the fields below so we can help you better. Note: you must provide your domain name to get help. Domain names for issued certificates are all made public in Certificate Transparency logs (e.g. [https://crt.sh/?q=example.com](https://crt.sh/?q=example.com)), so withholding your domain name here does not increase secrecy, but only makes it harder for us to provide help.

My domain is:173.74.198.89

I ran this command:

It produced this output:

My web server is (include version): Apache2

The operating system my web server runs on is (include version):Linux - Ubuntu Server 16.04

My hosting provider, if applicable, is: Self-Hosted Public IP

I can login to a root shell on my machine (yes or no, or I don’t know): Yes

I’m using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel): Webmin and shell.

We’re running a Nextcloud server that I want secure web access to. We’re not hosting this for general public use, it’s only for our Union officers to access, but I want them to feel secure and I don’t want them to half to click warnings if at all possible. We have a static public IP, but no related domain. Is it possible to get a certificate in this instance? Thanks.

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**Author:** ![jared.m](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/jared.m/32/17871_2.png) [@jared.m](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/jared.m)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 7:48pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/can-i-use-my-public-ip-instead-of-a-doman-name/52050/2 "2018-02-02T19:48:17Z")

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Nope, Let’s Encrypt only provides certificates for publicly accessible domain names. There are some paid certificate authorities who provide them for IP addresses, but they’re not super common. There are instances where you may control an IP address now, and no longer control it a few minutes later. This is not an easy thing to track reliably.

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**Author:** ![danb35](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/danb35/32/70869_2.png) [@danb35](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/danb35)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/can-i-use-my-public-ip-instead-of-a-doman-name/52050/3 "2018-02-03T03:03:18Z")

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> [@jared.m](#):
>
> There are some paid certificate authorities who provide them for IP addresses, but they’re not super common.

...and I'd wager they cost more than simply buying a domain. For that matter, you can get domains for free too--see [freenom.com](http://freenom.com).

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/c/a/ca6c06ea1ea201324bba7048c6841ce60236468d.png) [@system](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/can-i-use-my-public-ip-instead-of-a-doman-name/52050/4 "2018-03-05T03:03:22Z")

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