Free SSL Certificates for Websites/Web Servers
Digital certs for a secured site with encrypted connections via https
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 https://www.example.com, the certifying authority confirms that you have indeed connected to 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.
You should always read the fine print for each of the free certification authorities -- one or more of them, in
times of old, issued the certificates for free, but required payment to validate the ownership of your domain.
So they weren't really free after all -- read the details in their documentation/terms of use and calculate the
total cost per year before you blindly sign up with anything. In such cases, it may be cheaper and less of a
hassle to pay for an SSL cert from a commercial certificate authority (like
GoDaddy or
some other company), where you have a single price stated clearly and unambiguously at the very outset.
In the past, your domain name (and you must have one) needed to have its own dedicated IP address (which many commercial web hosts provide anyway). This is no longer the case with the modern web browsers any more.
If you have an existing website that you're converting to a HTTPS, you may be interested in my tutorial on How to Move Your Website to SSL (ie, Convert from HTTP to HTTPS).
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Free SSL Certificates for Websites/Web Servers
- FreeSSL
FreeSSL generates free SSL certificates for either the LetsEncrypt or BuyPass free services (both of which are also listed separately on this page), allowing you to get HTTPS certificates for your website without having to run the software suggested by those services. If you choose to get a LetsEncrypt certificate, you can get one for multiple domains as well as wildcard certs, valid for 90 days. FreeSSL only supports BuyPass certificates for a single domain, but these are valid for 180 days. For those who can't figure out how to select BuyPass or LetsEncrypt, click either the "LetsEncrypt" or "buypass" button on the "Brand" line. (Yes, those are actually buttons to be clicked and not just informational logos depicting what is supported.) A tick will overlay the currently selected button.
- BuyPass Go SSL
BuyPass provides free certificates for your websites. Although it only allows two domain names (eg, "example.com" and "www.example.com") per certificate, you can apparently get multiple certificates if you wish. Like Let's Encrypt (see it's entry elsewhere on this page), the certificates are obtained by running a program called CertBot, or its equivalent, on your web server with root privileges. Certificates apparently expire every 180 days. Wildcard domains are not available with the free plan, but, as I said earlier, you can specify up to 2 domain names per certificate (eg, "example.com" and "www.example.com").
- ZeroSSL
ZeroSSL provides up to 3 free certificates, each expiring every 90 days, if you sign up with them. Wildcard certificates are not available with the free plan, nor are you able to specify multiple domains in a single certificate (eg, "example.com" and "www.example.com" will require 2 certificates).
- Let's Encrypt
Let's Encrypt is a certificate authority that issues unlimited free certificates for your websites. You can also obtain wildcard certificates or specify multiple domains in a single certificate (eg, "example.com" and "www.example.com"). At present, though, the default method they provide for you to get certs is by running a program called CertBot, or its equivalent, on your web server with root privileges (ie, with administrator's access), which probably makes it a bit hard for the average webmaster to get started since he/she is unlikely to have such access. The certs expire every 90 days, but renewal is free and can be done automatically via a script. For those wondering, I have indicated on my commercial shared web hosts list which one supports Let's Encrypt certificates.
- CAcert
This organisation allows you to create certificates, including wildcard certificates (which means it is valid for any subdomain of your domain), to protect your connections to your websites or your email via POP3, SMTP and IMAP. You can create certs with any encryption strength you wish.
- StartCom / StartSSL
[Latest Update (4 December 2017): StartCom announced in November 2017 that it will cease operating as a Certifcate Authority from January 2018, and will revoke all certificates issued by it in 2020. As a result, I have removed the link above, since you will no longer be able to get certificates from them.]
[Update (27 September 2016): it looks like Mozilla, makers of the Firefox browser, have a long list of issues with WoSign, the company that owns StartSSL, and are going to distrust both WoSign's and StartCom's certificates. Update (31 October 2016): Google, makers of the Chrome browser, are also going to distrust WoSign's and StartCom's certificates. Update (8 August 2017): Microsoft will remove WoSign and StartCom certificates in Windows 10 after September 2017.] This company provides free digital certificates so that you can create an SSL secured site with encryption. You are allowed as many certificates as you wish. You will need to provide your personal details. This company charges for some of their validations although I'm not sure if these charges apply to the free certs. Like all things on the Internet, you should probably read their documentation and terms and conditions before committing to the certificate.
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