A free SSL Labs alternative for quick TLS checks
SSL Labs is the definitive TLS audit - and it takes minutes. For the everyday check, Cactus grades a site's HTTPS in seconds, A+ to F, in plain language, free and bilingual.
What SSL Labs is good at
Qualys SSL Labs has long been the industry reference for TLS testing, and it earned that spot. Its free SSL Server Test runs a deep audit: it simulates handshakes from dozens of browsers and devices - old Android phones, ancient Internet Explorer, current Chrome. It enumerates the cipher suites your server accepts on each protocol version and tests for known vulnerabilities like Heartbleed, POODLE and BEAST. When an auditor or a client asks for "your SSL Labs grade", this is the tool they mean.
The trade-off is time. A full scan usually takes a few minutes per server, and results can appear on the site's public boards unless you tick the box to opt out.
What Cactus does
Cactus's SSL/TLS checker is built for the everyday question: is this site's HTTPS set up properly? It performs a real handshake and reports back in seconds:
- The certificate - issuer, expiry date and days remaining, alternate names, key strength, SHA-256 fingerprint.
- The chain of trust, with revocation status checked against OCSP and CRL.
- Which protocol versions the server accepts - separate probes for TLS 1.3, TLS 1.2 and legacy TLS 1.0/1.1.
- Forward secrecy and HSTS, including max-age and preload.
- An A+ to F grade, with plain-language notes explaining exactly why.
It reports the cipher suite your connection actually negotiated rather than enumerating every suite the server offers, and it doesn't run vulnerability tests - that depth belongs to SSL Labs. Free, no signup, bilingual.
How they compare
| SSL Labs | Cactus | |
|---|---|---|
| SSL/TLS grade (A+ to F) | Yes | Yes |
| Typical scan time | A few minutes | Seconds |
| Certificate, chain and revocation | Yes | Yes |
| Protocol support (TLS 1.0 to 1.3) | Yes | Yes |
| Handshake simulations (many browsers) | Yes | No |
| Full cipher suite enumeration | Yes | No - negotiated suite only |
| Vulnerability tests (Heartbleed etc.) | Yes | No |
| Plain-language results | Technical | Beginner-friendly |
| Bilingual (EN/FR) | No | Yes |
Which should you use?
For a formal audit or a compliance report, SSL Labs is the definitive test - budget a few minutes per server. For the everyday checks - did the certificate renew, is TLS 1.0 finally off - Cactus gives you the answer in seconds, in English or French, with security headers, email authentication and certificate search a click away.