Paid SSL and Free SSL

July 21, 2024

Paid SSL and Free SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificates are essential for securing websites by encrypting data between the server and clients. Both paid SSL and free SSL certificates offer encryption, but there are several differences between them in terms of features, support, validation levels, and use cases.

Difference between paid SSL and free SSL

1. Cost

  • Free SSL:
    • Free SSL certificates are available at no cost. Popular providers include Let’s Encrypt and Cloudflare.
  • Paid SSL:
    • Paid SSL certificates come with a cost, which can vary widely depending on the provider and the type of certificate.

2. Validation Levels

  • Free SSL:
    • Typically offer only Domain Validation (DV), which verifies that the applicant has control over the domain.
  • Paid SSL:
    • Offer a range of validation levels, including:
      • Domain Validation (DV): Same as free SSL, verifying control over the domain.
      • Organization Validation (OV): Verifies the organization’s identity and domain ownership.
      • Extended Validation (EV): Provides the highest level of validation with strict vetting of the organization’s identity, often resulting in a green address bar or the organization’s name in the browser’s address bar.

3. Warranty and Liability Protection

  • Free SSL:
    • Generally, free SSL certificates do not come with any warranty or liability protection.
  • Paid SSL:
    • Paid SSL certificates often include warranties that provide financial compensation in case of a breach due to a certificate issue. These warranties can range from thousands to millions of dollars, depending on the certificate.

4. Support and Customer Service

  • Free SSL:
    • Limited or no direct customer support. Users rely on community forums, documentation, and knowledge bases.
  • Paid SSL:
    • Access to professional customer support, often 24/7, via phone, email, or chat. This can be crucial for troubleshooting and ensuring smooth installation and renewal processes.

5. Features and Flexibility

  • Free SSL:
    • Basic features, primarily focused on providing encryption. Often limited to single domain or single subdomain (wildcard certificates are rare or unavailable).
  • Paid SSL:
    • Advanced features such as multi-domain support, wildcard options, higher levels of trust indicators (like the green bar for EV certificates), and compatibility with a wider range of server and client environments.

6. Renewal and Lifespan

  • Free SSL:
    • Typically have short lifespans, usually 90 days, requiring frequent renewals. Many providers offer automated renewal processes.
  • Paid SSL:
    • Longer validity periods, usually from 1 to 2 years, reducing the frequency of renewals and the risk of certificate expiration.

7. Trust and Perception

  • Free SSL:
    • While increasingly accepted, free SSL certificates might still be perceived as less trustworthy by some users and businesses due to the lack of extensive validation and warranties.
  • Paid SSL:
    • Higher perceived trust due to thorough validation processes and financial warranties. This can be important for e-commerce sites, financial institutions, and other businesses where trust is paramount.

Advanced features of paid SSL and free SSL

1. Ease of Sourcing and Installation

The foremost benefit of a free SSL certificate for a website is that you don’t have to shell out any money. Moreover, you can easily source and install it to get your website up and running within no time. You can procure multiple free certificates without any hassles.

Some paid SSL certificate providers may require you to go through some formalities before issuance and installation. So, you should look for providers who can speed up the process for you.

2. Validation

Paid or Unpaid, in DV SSL Certs OEMs only verify the domains and don’t verify whether that domain belongs to the right entity. Even the certificate display doesn’t have the company name in it because of the same reason. Only Organization Validation (OV) and Extended Validation (EV) certificates verifying and displaying the organization’s name.

If you are looking for OV and EV certificates, then you should need to choose paid SSL. OV validates website ownership as well as organization information. EV is a premium and the highest form of a paid SSL certificate. It validates your physical, legal, and operational identity which is a crucial factor to establish trust among your website visitors, especially if you are an e-commerce business or a large enterprise.

3. Renewal

A free SSL certificate for the website has validity for one month to three months, leading to the trouble of recurrent renewals at your end.

Paid SSL certificates have a validity for one year (recently the validity of SSL certificates is shortened to one year from three years).

4. Warranty

Free SSL certificates do not give any warranty against data thefts or any other kind of cybersecurity breaches.

Paid SSL certificates come with a promise to pay a predetermined warranty amount to the website owner in case of loss of money due to fraudulent transactions.

5. Technical Assistance

Free SSL certificates do not provide any technical service support post-issuance. So, you will need to invest a lot of time and effort in addressing queries/issues related to free certificates as and when the need arises.

Paid SSL certificates provide complete troubleshooting reports throughout the validity period.

Use Cases

  • Free SSL:
    • Suitable for personal websites, blogs, small businesses, and non-profit organizations where budget constraints are a consideration and basic encryption is sufficient.
  • Paid SSL:
    • Ideal for e-commerce websites, large businesses, and organizations requiring higher levels of trust, validation, and warranty protection. Necessary for sites handling sensitive user data, such as financial information.

Conclusion

Both paid SSL and free SSL certificates provide essential encryption to secure data transmission on the web. The choice between the two depends on the specific needs and circumstances of the website or business. Free SSL is a great starting point for smaller sites and those with budget constraints, while paid SSL offers additional features, validation, support, and trust that are crucial for larger and more security-sensitive sites.