Free SSL Certificates for Websites/Web Servers

Digital certs for a secured site with encrypted connections via https

You are here: thefreecountry.com (main page) > Free Webmaster Resources > Free SSL Certificates for Websites/Web Servers

Free SSL Certificates for Websites/Web Servers

The sites listed on this page provide free digital SSL certificates that you can use for your site.

SSL certificates, or Secure Socket Layer certificates, are used by websites for https connections. When someone connects to a site via https, a valid SSL cert shows at least a couple of things about the connection: the certifying authority (the place issuing the SSL certificate) affirms that the site is what it claims to be in the certificate, and that the connection is encrypted using some form of encryption.

Observe carefully what I just said: the certificate does not prove that the site is not a scam: it merely means that if you connect to http://www.example.com, the certifying authority confirms that you have indeed connected to https://www.example.com, and not some other site that has intercepted your connection and is pretending to be www.example.com. It may also confirm that the domain is owned by the person named in the certificate. It doesn't mean that www.example.com is owned by an honest person or even the same person/company you imagine is the owner. Neither does it mean that the encryption is any good. In fact, if your certifying authority is unreliable, it really doesn't mean anything at all; everything depends on the certifying authority.

Note that the free certification authorities are often not recognised as valid certificate authorities by many web browsers. In general, this means that when your visitors connect to your site via HTTPS, they may get a dialog box telling them that the site is not secure, and asking them whether to recognise the certificate or not. This will definitely not instill any confidence in your site, so if you are selling a product or service on your site, you will probably be better off getting a certificate from a known Certification Authority like GoDaddy.

You should also read the fine print for each of the certification authorities below as well -- some of them issue the certificates for free, but require you to pay a fee so that they can validate your ownership of your domain. And they validate very often. (So they may not be really free after all -- calculate the total cost per year before you blindly sign up with them. It may be cheaper and less of a hassle, in the end, to pay for an SSL cert from a known authority where you have a single up-front price.)

Incidentally, your domain name (and you must have one) needs to have its own dedicated IP address. Many commercial web hosts provide this, either by default, or with the payment of an additional fee.

Disclaimer

The information provided on this page comes without any warranty whatsoever. Use it at your own risk. Just because a program, book, document or service is listed here or has a good review does not mean that I endorse or approve of the program or of any of its contents. All the other standard disclaimers also apply.