Table of Contents
Why do I need an SSL certificate for my website?
A legal SSL certificate can activate encrypt HTTPS connection to make sure the data transaction between users and websites is well protected, hackers will not have a chance to steal data like credit card numbers and personal information during the transaction.
What’s the difference between free SSL and paid SSL?
Whether it is free or paid, the function of the SSL certificate is the same, so what is the difference between these two and how to choose between them?
Take a look at the following table:
| Free SSL | Paid SSL | |
|---|---|---|
| Issuing Platform | Let’s Encrypt | GeoTrust Certum RapidSSL |
| Validity Period | 3 month | 1 year |
| Seal | none | yes |
| Safety Warranty | none | yes |
| Recommendations | Blogs Non-commercial websites |
Business websites Government websites |
SSL certificate validity period
According to Let’s encrypt, in order to avoid threat by cryptographic key stealing or wrong certificate assigning, the validity period will be only for 3 months. Although most of the free SSL has an auto-renewal system that will renew the certificate before the validation, it is a risk of failure of renewal. Paid SSL users can choose a one-year or two years validity period for the certificate, and the price will normally be cheaper for 2 years period certificate. However, many paid SSL users will forget the renewal date and leading to certificate failure. Yuan-Jhen will send a notification to remind you 15 days before your SSL expired.
SSL site seal
Yuan-Jhen provides paid SSL certificates from well-trusted brands like Certum and GeoTrust, and a site seal will be shown on your website. This will make your website more trustworthy for your customers and make your customers feel safe browsing your website.
Suggestion on how to choose SSL certificate
If your website is a blog or a non-commercial website, you don’t necessarily need a paid SSL, a free SSL will do just fine. But if it is business websites, government websites, or E-commerce websites, it is better to have a paid SSL to maintain a professional image and reliability.
| Domain Validation SSL Certificates | Organization Validation SSL Certificates | Extended Validation SSL Certificates |
|---|---|---|
|
Security ★★★ Verified the domain name Issuance: 1 Blogs Non-commercial websites |
Security ★★★★ Verify the actual organization or individual person that is attempting to get the certificate Issuance: 1~4 SMEs websites |
Security ★★★★★ Verify businesses and other registered organizations Issuance: 1~4 Business websites Government websites |
Yuan-Jhen provides SSL certificates from Certum, Rapid SSL, and GeoTrust. Users can pick the perfect SSL according to the needs of the website.
How to get free SSL certificate? Yuan-Jhen Free SSL application
All web hosting plans of Yuan-Jhen had a free build-in Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate for users to apply to their website, you can simply apply the SSL in cPanel.
▶ SSL Installation Tutorial