---
title: Certificate based authentication
description: Certificate-based authentication lets you mutually authenticate inbound API requests using certificates from a trusted Certificate Authority \(CA\).
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/platform-security/authentication/certificate-api-auth.html
release: australia
product: Authentication
classification: authentication
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-03-12"
reading_time_minutes: 1
breadcrumb: [API Authentication, Authentication, Access Management]
---

# Certificate based authentication

Certificate-based authentication lets you mutually authenticate inbound API requests using certificates from a trusted Certificate Authority \(CA\).

-   **Certificate-based authentication for Inbound web services**

    Authenticate inbound requests to ServiceNow SOAP and REST APIs. To set up mutual authentication for inbound web services, see [Set up Certificate-based authentication](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/platform-security/certificate-based-authentication/set-up-mutual-auth.md).


**Note:**

-   Certificate Based Authentication is not supported on the On-Prem and edge encryption enabled instance.
-   To enable Certificate Based Authentication on self-hosted instance, review this [KB article](https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB1272738) and follow the instructions available in the **Native Certificate-Based Authentication** row within the table.

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