Let’s Encrypt will be reducing the validity period of the certificates we issue. We currently issue certificates valid for 90 days, which will be cut in half to 45 days by 2028.
This change is being made along with the rest of the industry, as required by the CA/Browser Forum Baseline Requirements, which set the technical requirements that we must follow. All publicly-trusted Certificate Authorities like Let’s Encrypt will be making similar changes. Reducing how long certificates are valid for helps improve the security of the internet, by limiting the scope of compromise, and making certificate revocation technologies more efficient.
we shouldn’t need to pay for a domain to be able to self host.
You don’t need to if you’re just using things locally.
But also - domains are cheap.
yes you need if you want HTTPS that is accepted by the smartphone client apps of your services.
domains are a constant expense
They’re cheap. You can also generate your own certs and use your own ca. But otherwise yes - quit yer bitching and learn how to do things right.