The Best SSL certificate providers 2022 —
SSL certification (or TLS to be more accurate) is a way to verify the source of web pages, domains and open the entry to information exchange and electronic financial transactions in a more secure manner.
It is now impossible to escape it because Google made it a factor influencing the ranking of websites in early 2017, minor certainly, but allowing to give a good gain of “Trust” to your site.
Since 2018, Google Chrome, the world’s most used web browser, has enforced browser alerts that will label any non-HTTPS site as “unsafe”! In other words, you should not ignore this aspect this year.
Nowadays, most quality internet web hosts offer free “Let’s Encrypt” type certificates which will do just fine from a purely SEO point of view, but depending on the kind of site and the data you manage, you will likely need more robust SSL certificates!
But how do you select a good SSL provider?
It’s simple, read on and check out our recommendations.
First, we have a list of our preferred SSL certificate providers for you, then we give you an in-depth analysis of all the criteria you should consider when making your pick.
Comodo SSL
As a very competitive SSL service provider, Comodo SSL has made meaningful progress over the past few years. Much of this success is the result of very aggressive pricing!
A “Premium” SSL solution costs only $ 78 for one year. This plan includes a fully validated certificate, 256-bit encryption, and a warranty of up to $ 250,000.
But beware, validation may take some time if the data required for Comodo SSL to complete the verification process is not available online. On the plus side, the company has excellent support if you have installation or browser issues. A fairly well-known player in this market!
Digicert
DigiCert, which has operated independently for several years, recently completed the acquisition of website security services and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) solutions from Symantec.
Former Symantec clients are now DigiCert customers, and the company has implemented a strategy to transition those who use Symantec products to those of DigiCert.
The starting cost for an SSL certificate is $ 399 per year, although you might be capable of getting a more competitive price with a two-year plan. A wildcard option, covering an infinite number of servers and a full multi-tiered domain, costs just $ 595 — a pretty attractive option.
GeoTrust
GeoTrust was once owned by VeriSign, then Symantec, and as a result of the sale of the latter, it is now part of the DigiCert group. The business covers three major areas: SSL certificates, signing services, and SSL for enterprise services.
Those looking for SSL certification will discover that GeoTrust offers a comprehensive selection starting at the domain level and progressing to its True BusinessID with EV level certification.
Pricing is more competitive on the higher end of their offering, so those looking for a single “basic” certificate for their website might want to bypass GeoTrust, but those who need EV or OV level products should definitely throw it away.
Business solutions specifically tailored to government organizations, healthcare companies, and financial institutions are part of the range offered by GeoTrust.
Be prepared for identity checks to take longer than other checks, but the rigor of these checks has also greatly improved GeoTrust’s status.
GlobalSign
Great Choice For Businesses — Scalable And Flexible Solutions — Expensive But Premium Customer Support
Where some businesses have a large customer base, GlobalSign concentrates on enterprises, especially those looking to deploy highly scalable “Public Key Infrastructure” (IPK) solutions.
By taking this route, an “enterprise” customer can benefit from all rules, policies, and procedures for the use of SSL Certificates, and their creation, distribution, and revocation are all taken care of by GlobalSign. If you only want SSL certificates, GlobalSign can do that too.
The level of support and organization that GlobalSign provides isn’t that cheap, and even for a single website with a single DV level certification, prices start at $ 249. For those who want full EV certification, expect to pay $ 599 per year for a single site.
Entrust Datacard
Outstanding Reputation For The Speed Of Their Operators — Experts In The Security Field — Ability To Manage Many Certificates — Not The Most Affordable Service On The Market
Based in the United States, Entrust has been in operation since 1994 and has gained a reputation as a thriving company, well-established in generating certification quickly and smoothly.
Entrust has been made around a wide selection of security products: identity and credit card printers, as well as authentication systems and PKIs, are part of their product line.
With so many investment-insecure programs, SSL certificates are considered one of its major offerings. Customers particularly value the ability to manage multiple certificates across multiple domains from a central management console.
Prices start at $ 199 per year for their standard single-site SSL product and can go up to $ 609 for a “Wildcard SSL” covering an unlimited number of servers and subdomains.
From what we have read on the web, most clients seem happy with the service at all levels, which seems to justify the additional cost compared to the cheaper options.
GoDaddy
Interesting Approach To SSL Certificate — Price Structure Will Work Well For Some — Excellent In Security — Beware Of Renewal Prices.
GoDaddy is perhaps best known for its web hosting plans, but it’s also a big provider of SSL certificates.
Rather than offering DV, OV, and EV certification at different prices, here they all cost the same and are relatively affordable. The pricing structure is established either on a single site or several sites or a domain with full coverage of subdomains.
Currently, a GoDaddy certificate for a single site (DV, OV, or EV level) costs $ 69.99 per year, and the all-tier domain solution will only cost you $ 279.99. per year. The benefits of their offering are better SHA2 and 2048-bit encryption, and the trust seal provided by McAfee Secure.
One of the amazing things about GoDaddy’s offering is that while the prices for a new installation are relatively cheap, renewal can be more costly. If you are the organized enough type and can do new installations every year, then you will be able to save money compared to just renewing.
SSL.com
Very Affordable Prices — Solid Customer Service — Need To Select Long Term Plans To Get The Best Prices
SSL.com delivers the kind of SSL service that deserves to be known. Part of this success is due to its excellent customer service, but also to its competitive pricing that values those who are willing to commit for periods of more than a year.
A single domain level certificate starts at $ 49 per year but can go as low as $ 36.75 per year if purchased for a five-year term. If you are a small business looking for certification, SSL.com might be a good spot to start.
RapidSSL
Uses Geotrust’S Global Infrastructure — Installation Tools Are Part Of The Pack.
RapidSSL is owned by GeoTrust, another SSL provider that we have already mentioned in this list. The underlying business logic is that, while GeoTrust focuses on corporate giants, RapidSSL targets smaller businesses that are more cost-sensitive.
For just $ 59 per year, RapidSSL will provide a single domain certificate with 128/256-bit encryption and browser recognition exceeding 99%. A wildcard certificate that covers an unlimited number of subdomains will cost you $ 249 per year, will cover you up to $ 10,000.00, and offers a guaranteed 30-day refund.
Free support is provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, via the Internet and email, and installation tools are part of the plan at no extra charge. Even at this low price, the service is created on the same global infrastructure as that of GeoTrust.
Free SSL: Let’s Encrypt
For those of you who operate personal websites, blogs, or anything else that isn’t commercial, there’s a free alternative that will cover your most basic SSL certificate requirements.
This solution is accepted by Google and allows you to offer secure browsing without spending a single penny!
Let’s Encrypt is a trusted CA, the process is open and free to use. Unfortunately, it only issues domain or DNS validated certificates and has no plans to extend them to OV or EV certifications
This means that their certificates can only validate ownership and not the company behind the certificate. If you are a commercial site, this is a major drawback and we strongly recommend that you turn to premium certificates.
Let’s Encrypt is preconfigured with some hosting providers (for example, SiteGround or Hostinger).
If you plan to opt for a Let’s Encrypt SSL solution, it is best to host your site with a web host that offers easy deployment either through a dedicated GUI or through cPanel.
The cheap hosting plans listed in our comparison generally offer you to deploy this type of SSL certificate for your domains for free!
Understand how SSL certificates work
The SSL certification mechanism has two important functions: authentication and encryption.
As a method of authorizing a connection, the SSL certificate contains information about the company, website, or person who owns the website you wish to connect to, but it is also a method of verifying that identity by the third-party intermediary.
If you would like to see this in action, look at the URL of a secure web page in your browser’s address bar, and next to the text, just to the left, you should see a small green padlock appear that recognizes that it is a secure SSL certified site.
Clicking on the padlock will tell you that the connection is safe and allow you to display the information in the certificate. This will contain the users of the certificate and the SSL provider who granted the authorization.
In addition to authority and verification, the SSL certificate also has a way to encrypt traffic between the user’s computer and the website. Without this encryption, sensitive information like passwords could be compromised by malicious people or robots who can intercept data traffic between the customer computer and the webserver.
The Security Of This System Is Ensured By A Independent Third Party, Called The Certification Authority, Which Issues The SSL Certificate According To Strict Guidelines.
The official certificate authority makes a statement of trust in a person, company, or website. This authority is in turn verified by a root certificate holder, demonstrating that they are trusted to issue certificates and revoke them as needed.
If these trust relationships fail, SSL certificates become invalid. In this case, anyone visiting a site covered by such a certificate would be instantly notified that they do not have a valid SSL certificate and that their connection may no longer be secure.
As you can guess, the impact that a revoked certificate can have on a business is significant. It is therefore vital that you get your SSL certificate from a quality source, backed by the most respected certificate authority.
1. Privileged relationships
When people talk about SSL certificates, it’s easy to think they’re all the same. But depending on which company authorized them and how diligently the background checks were carried out, the levels of validation vary.
Here are the 4 most commonly used validation levels:
Domain Validation (DV) — The Domain Validated SSL Certificate, is purely a confirmation that the web pages originate from the expected domain and not from another. It doesn’t say anything about the person or company in question, just that they own a domain.
Self-signed — At first glance, the idea of self-signed certificates seems a bit ridiculous, by their self-signed nature. However, if the purpose of these certificates is to control traffic on a corporate intranet, they work well sufficiently and prevent the browser from constantly notifying unsecured websites.
Extended Validation (EV) — The pinnacle of SSL issuance is the fully authenticated SSL certificate, vital for any business that wants to provide its customers with secure websites, emails, and financial transactions.
Organization Validated (OV) — The highest level of validation an individual can aspire to, and high enough for many businesses. Company credentials and those of named owners are checked against extensive databases, including those held by local governments.
While self-signed certificates and domain certificates have their uses, it’s the OV and EV levels that businesses need when dealing with sensitive data on the internet. These certificate levels prove that a company owns a domain, that it is a real company, and that the certificate has been requested by authorized personnel.
Of course, checks of this type take time. therefore, applying for and obtaining an authenticated SSL certificate is not something that can be done in 5 minutes just before launching your e-commerce site!
The other thing that separates one SSL certificate from another is the level of encryption it applies and the degree of security it provides.
2. Encryption
The template for SSL certificates allows them to use 128 or 256-bit encryption if the customer’s browser supports it. Computations show that it would take 13.75 billion years for a supercomputer to test each permutation of a 128-bit cipher.
The initial connection is made using an ultra-secure 2048-bit RSA key. Once this first connection is passed, SSL communication is usually continued with 128, 192, or 256 bits, because without quantum computers, these last levels of ciphers are practically unbreakable.
Most vendors now offer 256-bit encryption, but this is only valid when the web server, customer computer operating system, and browser can all operate at this level of encryption.
More aging operating systems and browsers can push encryption levels to 40 or 56 bits, even if the certificate they access is capable of encrypting 256 bits.
Although you cannot completely control the client-side, the minimum requirement for encryption should be 256 bit at the webserver level.
Main criteria to consider when purchasing an SSL certificate
The temptation is often to make selections completely based on cost, especially if you have a lot of sites to cover or are in a dynamic business environment.
Bad decisions can have substantial financial implications, and changing direction once you’ve found a consumer-oriented solution isn’t ideal.
The following factors should play an important part in picking the right SSL certificate for your site(s).
Trial Period — Before you put anything online, you’ll want to test it, right?
Browser Compatibility — With so many computers still running Windows 7 and even older versions, working with a multitude of browsers remains a major concern.
Issuance timeline — When deadlines are in play, the issuance timeline can be critical if a new certificate is suddenly required.
Trust Level Type — The trick is to match the needs of your website with the level of security and trust that your users require. If you don’t conduct financial transactions, EV level security is probably not necessary. Not all companies offer OV-level certificates …
Trusted Site Seal — Providing a recognizable seal that the public can relate to is an easy way to let your customers know that a site is secure and that their information is safe.
SSL Customer Support — The subtle nuances of SSL and certification can pose challenges for even the most seasoned IT professional, so having a knowledgeable SSL support team is essential.
Refund Policy — Knowing that your money will be refunded to you when necessary is a reasonable precaution.
Warranty policy — Some market players cover identification errors, loss of documents, or intentional or accidental errors. These guarantees can have implications for self-insuring businesses.
Important post-installation checks
Set up a 301 redirect
With a 301 redirect, you tell Google that a particular page has been permanently moved to a different address. In this case, you are going to tell Google that all of the HTTP pages on your site are now HTTPS and are going to redirect Google to the correct pages.
For most people who use Linux web hosting, this will be done through the .htaccess file.
Update your internal links
If you check your website’s internal links, you’ll notice that they all use HTTP. Obviously, these links need to be updated to HTTPS links. This will greatly help your SEO!
It is best to update your internal links from HTTP to HTTPS after a change.
If you have a small website with just a few pages, it shouldn’t take too long. However, if you have hundreds of pages it would take time and you had better use some tool to automate it and save time.
If your site runs on a database, search the database and make your changes using a plugin.
Update your CDN’s SSL settings (if you are using one)
This is an optional step because not everyone uses CDNs. CDN stands for Content Delivery Network and it is a collection of geographically distributed servers that store copies of your web files and present them to your visitors from a geographically nearby server to improve the loading speed for them.
In addition to improving performance, a CDN can also offer better security because its servers can monitor and identify malicious traffic and prevent it from reaching your website.
Common mistakes after installation
SSL certificate not trusted
Almost all browsers like Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, Firefox have built-in repositories which are used to recognize trusted SSL certificates.
If you receive a message indicating that a site has a certificate that is not trustworthy, be careful because it probably means that the present certificate has not been signed by a trusted authority. Turn to the customer support of your host if necessary.
Intermediate SSL certificate missing
This error is often caused by an incorrectly installed SSL certificate. Errors occurring during the installation process can cause SSL connection errors. There should be a “chain of trust” in place, which means that all the elements necessary for the signing process should be followed.
Problems with self-signed certificates
To work around SSL issues, some website owners create their own SSL certificates. It is possible, but it does not change much since it will not be signed by a trusted authority. The only cases where self-signed certificates are likely to be used are in test or development environments. Sites with self-signed certificates will not be shown as secure in a browser.
Mixed content errors
This is a configuration issue. For SSL certificates to work, every page and file on your site must be linked with an HTTPS link. This includes not only the pages but also the images and documents. If a single page is not linked to HTTPS, the site will encounter a mixed content error and redirect to HTTP.
To avoid these issues, make sure your links are all updated with HTTPS links. You can use WordPress plugins to solve these problems!
