Every hosting plan issues and renews a free certificate automatically. A paid one buys a warranty, a validated company name, or wildcard coverage - not better encryption.
Every plan we sell issues a free certificate and renews it automatically. It encrypts exactly as well as anything on this page. If all you need is HTTPS and the padlock, you are already done and you can close this tab.
A paid certificate is a statement about who you are and what the authority will stand behind. The maths is identical either way.
Every paid certificate carries one - a sum the authority pays out if they mis-issue and somebody is harmed by it. Free certificates carry none. For a site handling money, that is the difference people are actually buying.
Organisation and extended validation put a verified business name inside the certificate. Anybody can inspect it. A free certificate proves only that somebody controls the domain.
A wildcard covers every subdomain at one level with a single certificate. Once you are running more than a handful, that is less work every year as well as less money.
Prices are yearly and come from our billing system. Validation level is the real decision here - the price mostly follows from it.
Proves you control the domain. Encryption is identical to every other level - what differs is how much the authority checks about you, and the warranty behind it. Issued in minutes.
| Certificate | Covers | Per year | Order |
|---|---|---|---|
| RapidSSL The straightforward one. Encryption and a padlock, issued in minutes. | One domain | $17.95 | Order |
| GeoTrust QuickSSL Premium A step up in warranty and brand recognition, still domain-validated. | One domain | $79.00 | Order |
| RapidSSL Wildcard Covers every subdomain at one level, so one certificate instead of ten. | Domain + all subdomains | $149.00 | Order |
| GeoTrust QuickSSL Premium Wildcard Wildcard coverage with the GeoTrust warranty behind it. | Domain + all subdomains | $279.00 | Order |
The certificate authority verifies your company exists and that you are it. Visitors can inspect the certificate and see a real business name rather than just a domain.
| Certificate | Covers | Per year | Order |
|---|---|---|---|
| GeoTrust True BusinessID Your company name is checked and appears in the certificate. | One domain | $169.00 | Order |
| DigiCert Secure Site DigiCert's business certificate, with their reissue and support terms. | One domain | $448.00 | Order |
| GeoTrust True Business ID Wildcard Organisation validation across every subdomain at once. | Domain + all subdomains | $449.00 | Order |
| DigiCert Secure Site Pro Adds DigiCert's extended feature set for larger deployments. | One domain | $1,118.00 | Order |
The deepest check a certificate authority performs. Worth it where a visitor being confident who they are dealing with is part of the transaction - finance, healthcare, high-value retail.
| Certificate | Covers | Per year | Order |
|---|---|---|---|
| GeoTrust True Business ID with EV The deepest identity check GeoTrust performs before issuing. | One domain | $289.00 | Order |
| DigiCert Secure Site EV Extended validation on DigiCert's highest-assurance product. | One domain | $1,118.00 | Order |
| DigiCert Secure Site Pro EV Extended validation plus the Pro feature set. The top of the range. | One domain | $1,499.00 | Order |
The maximum validity any authority may issue is 398 days - a limit set by the browser makers, not by us. Two-year products are sold as two terms, reissued partway through.
Not sure whether you need to buy one? Ask - the answer is often no, and we will tell you that.
Probably not. Every hosting plan issues a free certificate and renews it for you, and for most sites that is the correct answer. Buy a paid one when you need a warranty, your verified company name in the certificate, or one certificate covering every subdomain.
No. The encryption is the same at every level and from every authority. What you are paying for is how thoroughly the authority checks who you are before issuing, and what they will pay out if they get that wrong.
One certificate covering every subdomain at a level - shop, blog, mail and the rest under one name. Cheaper and far less work than issuing and renewing them separately once you have more than a handful.
A little. Google confirmed HTTPS as a ranking signal in 2014 and has consistently described it as a lightweight one - a tie-breaker between otherwise equal pages, not a lever. Browsers marking your site "Not secure" is the better reason to have it.
Domain-validated certificates come through in minutes. Organisation and extended validation take longer because a person at the authority is checking your company details - usually a few days, and faster if you have your paperwork ready.
The maximum any authority may issue is 398 days. Two-year products are sold as two 398-day terms - you reissue partway through to use the second one. That limit is set by the browser makers, not by us.
Yes, on our hosting. Tell us which site it is for and we will generate the request, complete the validation with you and put it live.
Yes. A certificate is not tied to us - you will get the files and can install them wherever the site runs, though you will be doing that part yourself.
Ask us before you order. A certificate's refund window is set by the issuing authority rather than by us, and it differs between them - we would rather tell you the real answer for the one you are looking at than print a figure here that turns out not to apply.
Tell us what the site does and whether it takes payments. We will point at one - including the free one, if that is the honest answer.
