Online security is now a major concern, both for users and website administrators. Having an SSL Certificate installed on the site is no longer an option, it is now a prerequisite.
When choosing the right one for your website, the first question that arises is: should I choose a paid or free? To help answer this question, we will, throughout this article, explain the main differences between the two.
Free SSL certificate
As the name implies, these do not have an associated acquisition cost and exist to make it possible to use the HTTPS protocol accessible to all websites.
Free SSL Certificates fall into two categories: ‘Self-Signed Certificates’ and those offered by certification authorities.
The first ones, do not require any type of supervision by the certification authorities, can be used / activated by the website administrator. As for the others, these are activated by a certification authority. In terms of encryption, Free SSL Certificates offer the same level as paid ones.
Paid SSL certificate
A Paid SSL Certificate is issued and signed by a trusted certification authority. To purchase it, you can go directly to the certification authority's website or through resellers, such as us WebHS.
But if the level of encryption is identical, between a Paid SSL Certificate and a Free one, why should you choose to pay? In the following paragraphs, we share the main differences between the two.
Main Differences between Paid SSL Certificate and Free SSL Certificate
Free SSL Certificates only have the option of domain validation. These certificates are used for the most basic level of authentication. As a rule, they are used on small websites or blogs. When opting for a free certificate, you will not have at your disposal anybody who does an organizational validation, providing information about the entity associated with the business / website, or who does extended validation (EV) - taking advantage of the green bar in the browser with more prominent information about the entity associated with the business / website. In contrast, costly SSL certificates allow organizational and / or extended validation (OV / EV), which in our view are fundamental to protect communication with websites that exchange sensitive information and that wish to transmit a greater level of trust to the visitor .
Validation Level
When issuing a Free SSL Certificate the certification authority only verifies the identity of the website owner. However, when referring to Paid SSL Certificates, verifying the identity of the website owner is essential before issuing the certificate to the website owner and, in the case of OV (organizational validation) and EV (extended validation) certificates, in-depth verification of the business is carried out by the certification authority and the certificate is issued after the validation process is completed.
Term validation
Free SSL Certificates have an average validity of between 30 and 90 days, which requires the website administrator to renew the same within these periods of time. Paid SSL Certificates have a minimum validity of 1 year.
Support
Paid SSL Certificates, whether purchased directly from a certification authority, or from a reseller, will be supported 24/7. Unlike paid SSL, Free SSL Certificates do not have any support.
Trust level
As we mentioned earlier, Free SSL Certificates only allow domain validation, the most basic level. In some cases, organizational validation or extended validation may be preponderant for your company / project and for these situations you can only obtain it through a Paid SSL Certificate.
Warranty
Something unknown to most people is related to the financial guarantee that SSL Paid Certificates offer. In the event of an error on the part of your SSL certificate authority, you can use a guarantee that covers a certain amount, which varies depending on the chosen SSL certificate. This guarantee is not available in free certificates.
What is the SSL Certificate indicated for an E-commerce?
One of the success factors for an e-commerce platform is associated with the level of trust that the user has in it. A first step in building that trust starts with choosing the right SSL Certificate. No one will trust your personal and credit card details with a platform that, in some way, does not transmit security.
Choosing an SSL certificate of organizational validation (OV) or extended validation (EV) kind implies a rigorous certification process, giving greater guarantees to users.
Paid SSL Certificate - an investment
Choosing a Paid SSL Certificate should be seen as an investment in your project. In addition to helping to increase the degree of users' confidence in your website / e-commerce, remember that this will allow you to have technical support whenever necessary. At WebHS you will find one of the biggest offers on the market in brands and typologies of SSL Certificates. And you know that you can count on our support to choose / implement your certificate.
Our entire SSL certificate offering is available at: SSL Certificates