Free SSL Certificates, why should you avoid them?
SSL certificates are designed to provide a better level of security for your website.
They offer a specific kind of encryption, ensuring that data moving from a user’s computer to the site maintains a level of protection and is unreadable to any malicious identity thieves, hackers, or any other type of third party.
It also sends a signal to the search engines, notably Google, that your website is safely protected. SSL certificates are required by Google to display your secured website in search.
They work to flag sites as unsafe in the Google Chrome browser as SSL certificates are in place to ensure users feel an added level of security while using the internet.
While there are free certificates available, there are some serious concerns regarding security, validity, and authenticity that can affect website owners using them.
How Do Free SSL Certificates Work?
Free certificates are issued at no cost by some web host providers. The reasoning for issuing free certificates was to make HTTPS access available to all websites.
There are two different types of free certificates:
- Self-signed certificate where there is no requirement for any certificate authority to sign them as the issuer signs them.
- Free SSL certificates such as let’s encrypt which is signed by a certificate authority
Though both these certificates do provide an https connection, here are the main cons of a free SSL
- There is literately no support for free ssl certificates
- free certificates do not validate the site owner’s identity, which result in lower trust from visitors.
- their lifetime is usually 90 days meaning you will need to request a new one each time.
- Free SSl certificate offer no warranty, if you have an issue with them , you are pretty much on your own.
- Most fraudulent websites use free ssl certificates as they have a very low authentication process.
- To be honest, do you really expect a free certificate to have the same level of security as premium certificate ?
Differences Between Free and Paid SSL Certificates
One of the main differences between free and paid certificates is that free certificates are only available with a domain validation option. These certificates are used to provide only a basic level of authentication, making them suitable for blogs and small websites.
The free version of the certificate does not offer the same features as organization validation or extended validation certificates. Organization Validation certificates provide a high level of assurance and are generally used to validate an organization or more significant sized business. Extended validation certificates assure your website visitors that they are visiting the official website for your business.
Another reason to avoid free certificates is that there are no safeguards in place to stop malware distributors from using these certificates to create websites that distribute malware. They can make them look official with the free certificates, and there have been incidents where this has happened.
The paid versions of certificates offer both extended and organization validated certificates, which are much more secure than a free certificate.
Paid SSL offers a more extended period of validity, while free certificates do not provide extended domain validation.
There is also limited support for free certificates, whereas paid certificates are available with full support if you have any problems with your certificate.
Certificate Renewal Options
Another difference between free and paid SSL is that free certificates last only ninety days before expiring. At the end of this period, users must exchange their free certificates for a new one.
Paid certificates are generally issued and last for up to two years, although there is a chance that the validity may be shortened to one year.
you should consider purchasing the paid version for your website to avoid a lot of the hassles associated with having a free certificate. There is also the added element of trust your customers will have when they visit your website.
Some of the leading paid certificate issuers are
- Thawte
- DigiCert
- GeoTrust
- Sectigo.
Visit out store to enroll for your premium certificates https://www.sslcertificate.ch/