diff --git a/pkg/issuer/acme/acme.go b/pkg/issuer/acme/acme.go
index 74333c71b..3bd854c56 100644
--- a/pkg/issuer/acme/acme.go
+++ b/pkg/issuer/acme/acme.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	nethttp "net/http"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 	"golang.org/x/crypto/acme"
@@ -94,22 +95,6 @@ func New(issuer v1alpha1.GenericIssuer,
 	}, nil
 }
 
-// uaRoundTripper implements the http.RoundTripper interface and adds a User-Agent
-// header. Note that this is a stopgap until upstream `crypto/acme` adds a
-// facility for setting User-Agent.
-
-type uaRoundTripper struct {
-	nethttp.RoundTripper
-	ua string
-}
-
-var acmeUserAgent = "jetstack-cert-manager/" + util.AppVersion
-
-func (uat uaRoundTripper) RoundTrip(req *nethttp.Request) (*nethttp.Response, error) {
-	req.Header.Add("User-Agent", acmeUserAgent)
-	return uat.RoundTripper.RoundTrip(req)
-}
-
 func (a *Acme) acmeClient() (*acme.Client, error) {
 	secretName, secretKey := a.acmeAccountPrivateKeyMeta()
 	glog.V(4).Infof("getting private key (%s->%s) for acme issuer %s/%s", secretName, secretKey, a.issuerResourcesNamespace, a.issuer.GetObjectMeta().Name)
@@ -122,9 +107,10 @@ func (a *Acme) acmeClient() (*acme.Client, error) {
 		Key:          accountPrivKey,
 		DirectoryURL: a.issuer.GetSpec().ACME.Server,
 		HTTPClient: &nethttp.Client{
-			Transport: uaRoundTripper{
-				RoundTripper: nethttp.DefaultTransport,
-			},
+			// Stopgap user-agent roundtripper until the upstream 'crypto/acme'
+			// provides a better method for setting user-agent.
+			Transport: util.UserAgentRoundTripper(nethttp.DefaultTransport),
+			Timeout:   30 * time.Second,
 		},
 	}
 	return cl, nil
diff --git a/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/akamai/akamai.go b/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/akamai/akamai.go
index 84d3f8d97..52a37c71b 100644
--- a/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/akamai/akamai.go
+++ b/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/akamai/akamai.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 
 	"github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/util"
+	pkgutil "github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/pkg/util"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 )
 
@@ -165,6 +166,8 @@ func (a *DNSProvider) saveZoneData(domain string, data zoneData) error {
 }
 
 func (a *DNSProvider) makeRequest(req *http.Request) ([]byte, error) {
+	req.Header.Set("User-Agent", pkgutil.CertManagerUserAgent)
+
 	if err := a.auth.SignRequest(req); err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to sign HTTP request")
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/cloudflare/cloudflare.go b/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/cloudflare/cloudflare.go
index 96408a287..f9151a1c0 100644
--- a/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/cloudflare/cloudflare.go
+++ b/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/cloudflare/cloudflare.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/util"
+	pkgutil "github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/pkg/util"
 )
 
 // CloudFlareAPIURL represents the API endpoint to call.
@@ -180,9 +181,11 @@ func (c *DNSProvider) makeRequest(method, uri string, body io.Reader) (json.RawM
 
 	req.Header.Set("X-Auth-Email", c.authEmail)
 	req.Header.Set("X-Auth-Key", c.authKey)
-	//req.Header.Set("User-Agent", userAgent())
+	req.Header.Set("User-Agent", pkgutil.CertManagerUserAgent)
 
-	client := http.Client{Timeout: 30 * time.Second}
+	client := http.Client{
+		Timeout: 30 * time.Second,
+	}
 	resp, err := client.Do(req)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Error querying Cloudflare API -> %v", err)
diff --git a/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/route53/route53.go b/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/route53/route53.go
index 5ac972017..c57fc91aa 100644
--- a/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/route53/route53.go
+++ b/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/route53/route53.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 
 	"github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/pkg/issuer/acme/dns/util"
+	pkgutil "github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/pkg/util"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -93,6 +94,7 @@ func NewDNSProvider(accessKeyID, secretAccessKey, hostedZoneID, region string, a
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to create aws session: %s", err)
 	}
+	sess.Handlers.Build.PushBack(request.WithAppendUserAgent(pkgutil.CertManagerUserAgent))
 	client := route53.New(sess, config)
 
 	return &DNSProvider{
diff --git a/pkg/util/kube/config.go b/pkg/util/kube/config.go
index 31ae6de17..f323bf316 100644
--- a/pkg/util/kube/config.go
+++ b/pkg/util/kube/config.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package kube
 import (
 	"fmt"
 
+	"github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/pkg/util"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/rest"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd"
 )
@@ -26,11 +27,11 @@ func KubeConfig(apiServerHost string) (*rest.Config, error) {
 		}
 
 		cfg, err = clientcmd.NewDefaultClientConfig(*apiCfg, &clientcmd.ConfigOverrides{}).ClientConfig()
-
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error loading cluster client config: %s", err.Error())
 		}
 	}
+	cfg.UserAgent = util.CertManagerUserAgent
 
 	return cfg, nil
 }
diff --git a/pkg/util/useragent_roundtripper.go b/pkg/util/useragent_roundtripper.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..96c96199f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/util/useragent_roundtripper.go
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+package util
+
+import (
+	"net/http"
+)
+
+// CertManagerUserAgent is the user agent that http clients in this codebase should use
+var CertManagerUserAgent = "jetstack-cert-manager/" + version()
+
+// UserAgentRoundTripper implements the http.RoundTripper interface and adds a User-Agent
+// header.
+type userAgentRoundTripper struct {
+	inner http.RoundTripper
+}
+
+// UserAgentRoundTripper returns a RoundTripper that functions identically to
+// the provided 'inner' round tripper, other than also setting a user agent.
+func UserAgentRoundTripper(inner http.RoundTripper) http.RoundTripper {
+	return userAgentRoundTripper{
+		inner: inner,
+	}
+}
+
+// RoundTrip implements http.RoundTripper
+func (u userAgentRoundTripper) RoundTrip(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
+	req.Header.Add("User-Agent", CertManagerUserAgent)
+	return u.inner.RoundTrip(req)
+}
diff --git a/pkg/util/version.go b/pkg/util/version.go
index 3ab75874b..c516efc06 100644
--- a/pkg/util/version.go
+++ b/pkg/util/version.go
@@ -1,7 +1,20 @@
 package util
 
+import "fmt"
+
 var (
 	AppGitState  = ""
 	AppGitCommit = ""
 	AppVersion   = "canary"
 )
+
+func version() string {
+	v := AppVersion
+	if AppGitCommit != "" {
+		v += "-" + AppGitCommit
+	}
+	if AppGitState != "" {
+		v += fmt.Sprintf(" (%v)", AppGitState)
+	}
+	return v
+}