SSL certificates create a secure environment for visitors. It ensures that all data between the browser and the web server is encrypted. If a malicious actor were to intercept web traffic to your site, it would be jumbled up. This keeps data such as personal and credit card information from falling into the wrong hands.

SSL certificates also allow websites to authenticate themselves. An authenticated website prominently displays a lock in the address bar on all major browsers. Conversely, browsers like Chrome label websites without SSL as ”Not Secure” in red.

On top of that, search engines such as Google penalise websites without SSL certificates in search rankings as they pose a potential threat for users.

SSL technology goes into deep technical detail, but to put simply, it creates a public key and a private one. The public key enables anyone to encrypt data which can only be decrypted by the server that has the private key. Likewise, data encrypted with the private key makes sense only when decrypted by the public key, thereby ensuring that the data has come from the genuine source.

SSL Certificates can only be issued by one of only a few Certification Authorities (CAs). The CAs provide several levels of validation, some of which require a stringent manual check. That”s why the cost of an SSL certificate varies. If you”re interested, here are the various validation levels and certificate types and what they mean:

Extended Validation
Extended Validation (EV) is the highest level of validation. The certificate authority (CA) only awards the EV certificate after a rigorous background check following strict industry guidelines from the CA/B (Certificate Authority/Browser) Forum. It is thus the most expensive type of validation and widely used by large e-commerce sites and banks.

Organisation Validation
Organisation Validation is the next highest level of validation. It is also awarded after the certificate authority (CA) conducts a manual vetting process. It does not have to conform to CA/B Forum standards and is thus the less expensive than an EV certificate.

Domain Validation
Domain Validation certificates are typically used by small businesses and startups. While they provide the same levels of encryption as the other certificates, they are issued without manual vetting after an automated process. It is thus faster and cheaper than Extended and Organisation Validation.

Certificate Types

Single Domain Certificates
Single Domain Certificates, as implied in its name, cover a single domain and all paths leading from it. It is available at all three validation levels at various price points and is the most common for small companies and startups.

Wildcard Domain Certificates
Wildcard Domain Certificates cover all subdomains at a given domain. For example, if your domain is www.domain.com, a Wildcard Domain Certificate also covers subdomains like store.domain.com and country.domain.com. It is usually expressed by a wildcard character, or *.domain.com, which is where the name comes from. It is also available at all three validation levels.

Multiple Domain Certificates
A single Multiple Domain Certificate covers up to 100 unique domains. It is also easy to add or remove domains to the certificate, which allows network administrators to manage it easily. Like the other two types, it is available at all three validation levels and can be cheaper than purchasing multiple Single Domain Certificates.

Unfortunately, upgrades/downgrades are not supported by the certificate authorities. If required you can purchase a new certificate and install it on the same web server as the old certificate.

No. If you use our hosting then all our servers support the Server Name Indication protocol (SNI). A dedicated IP address is not necessary for SSL in this case.

We are certainly able to install SSL certificates for you, however this is a chargeable service (€ 15,-) due to the work involved. To place an order for SSL installation, please contact our sales team.