Are you looking for the best ssl provider 2021? Do you need a reliable SSL for your website? If this is what you are looking for keep reading this article.
What is SSL?
Savvy internet users, as well as businesses and organizations, may have heard mention of the term SSL but have only a vague idea of what SSL means, how it works, and why it is important.
What does SSL stand for?
SSL is the acronym for Secure Socket Layer, a cryptography protocol that is a standard technology for keeping an internet connection secure and safeguarding any sensitive data that is being sent between the user and the provider.
What does SSL do?
In essence, SSL is used to protect criminals and hackers from intercepting, capturing, or changing sensitive information such as credit card data.
So yes the answer to do SSL certificates encrypt data is a positive yes.
In order to understand SSL, we have to go back in time to the 1960s, where various protocols were developed to share information among scientists by computer. and realize we are talking about large mainframe o0mputers here. Personal computers such as the Apple Computer did not come out till 1976.
However, a computer scientist at Cern in Geneva, Switzerland by the name of Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web and the HTTP protocol.
Bear in mind that in his wildest imagination, Mr. Berners-Lee never could have imagined the behemoth that the world wide web developed into, in 1991.
However, HTTP protocol proved wildly popular, and by 1993, a few million personal computers were sold, And by 1995, most people were no longer accessing their personal computers from America Online, Compuserve, or similar closed businesses.
In 1995, businesses were openly selling products via credit card on the World Wide Web and shortly before that time, industry executives and computer scientists began urging
that a new, encrypted form of security be developed, and this web encryption technology developed into SSL.
What is SSL encryption
SSL is a set of software that is encrypted and maintains data. During the handoff between the internet browser and a companies website servers, a set of security keys is generated between the two parties.
The data is then encrypted and decrypted by the person’s internet browser. In addition, an authentication message is relayed back and forth to ensure that information has not been altered.
The authentication message helps assure the internet browser that the information has not been altered, chiefly aimed at spoofing websites which criminals use to pretend they are Bank of America, General Motors, etc., and obtain valuable personal data.
SSL is therefore a valuable and viable way to prevent personal information from being hacked.
Do I need an SSL certificate
Technically no if yours is solely an entertainment or opinion website that does not collect any data from people.
However, even then, as Google will not rank you as high for not having an SSL certificate, it makes sense to get one.
The entire encryption, the sharing of keys, and the confirmation messages define what is SSL connection.
How do ssl certificates work?
Essentially, all the data to encrypt the data, send the keys to your browser and accept the return keys happens all within the software established on your server as well as the software in a browser such as Firefox or Chrome.
It should be noted that there is a newer version of SSL called Transport Layer Security, but to avoid confusion, TSL is primarily labeled SSL by folks in the field.
what is the difference between SSL and TLS? Essentially there are only minor differences. All modern companies us TLS as the technology of SSL is obsolete, but even though everyone uses TSL now, it is still termed SSL.
In the next section, we will discuss SSL Certificates and why a business needs them but the obvious question for many is, “Okay if people trust websites with HTTPS addresses over HTTPS, I’ll simply change my website address from Bob’s Sushi House at
http/www.BobsShushi.com to https/www.BobsShushi.com and people have my promise that neither I nor our shady bookkeeper will steal your cred card information. It’s no big deal.”
Unfortunately for cheap Bob, it doesn’t work that way.
When an internet surfer in New York City types in a web address, it contains a number of packets of information, one of those pieces of information is which port to deliver the information to.
When an internet surfer types in HTTP or clicks on a link with that address, all browsers default. whether you use Chrome, Firefox or Safari will default to port 80 on your computer, and the port number is an important part of the internet connection.
On the other hand, all browsers default to port 443 for HTTPS addresses. And it is literally impossible to connect via port 443 if a company does not have the necessary SSL Certificate and the necessary software installed on their server.
What is an SSL certificate
An SSL certificate is not a license you pin up on your wall but the actual authorization, including software that you install on your server in order to begin to encrypt data and send authentication messages and authentication keys.
Why you need an SSL
There are a number of reasons why you need SSL and an SSL Certificate.
The first ti to assure customers their data is confidential. For example, while credit cards are the most popular method of payment on the internet, studies have shown that upwards of 1/3rd of all online shoppers are hesitant to do so.
For these millions, seeing that a company uses SSL significantly boosts their online shopping confidence.
Secondly, Google and other search engines treat those who use SSL and have SSL Certificates differently. For one thing, if a website handles confidential data, Google will not only reduce the rankings of a website but in their Chrome browser, they will post a bright red “not secure” warning in the website address bar.
In addition, websites that accept credit cards are subject to Payment Security Industry Audits and having SSL in Place and an SSL Certificate goes a long way to helping your business meet PCI compliance standards.
For consumers, knowing their ID’s, passwords, credit card data, home addresses, telephone numbers, and social security card numbers are critical information that they worry about constantly.
And with good reason too. Not only have there been hundreds of breaches by various groups amounting in the millions, but hackers are ever-present on the World Wide Web.
SSL and SSL Certificates give customers a sense of peace and security.
Lastly, SSL and SSL Certificates establish the verified identity of a company. Verifying the companies identity is part of the SSL and SSL Certificate process.
Unfortunately, Website Spoofing is extremely popular and very profitable for hackers and spoofers, and cost consumers millions of dollars each year.
And there is no telling how devious hackers can get in masking genuine websites as their own.
One popular method is to cloak the domain address using domain forwarding technology.
Thus Sani’s website in Nigeria at http://www/Sani.ng can be appearing to be the address for Wells Fargo bank in the US.
Another method is to take advantage of how browsers translate different languages.
In 2017, one enterprising fellow managed to snag the domain name xn--80ak6aa92e.com and have it show up on several popular browsers as apple.com.
Oddly, by typing in xn--80ak6aa92e.com you will at least get a warning on many browsers that the site is not associated with Apple, but the owner of the site, Xudong Zheng, publish a very interesting explanation of how Phunycode spoofing works.
The point is, that having an SSL and an SSL Certificate will protect many of your customers from spoofing schemes.
How to get ssl certificate
In order to get an SSL certificate, you have to apply for one and get one from a trusted source.
One method is to obtain your SSL authorization from a trusted provider. Due to the tremendous amount of server required knowledge required there are only around 200 or so trusted advisors who run the entire show, however, there are thousands of sources that will sell you certification for your SSL.
So how does that work? Well, these 200 or so trusted providers authorize a great many people to sell their SSL authorizations.
For example, just about any domain seller. of which there are hundreds, will sell certificates for SSL.
There are also hundreds and hundreds of internet hosts that will not only sell an SSL certificate but do the job of integrating the SSL software on the back end.
In addition, there are many third-party SSL certificate vendors that also deal in SSL certification. Most of these are resellers of certificates representing the popular trusted authorities. SSL certificate vendors may not be your best choice unless they are associated with a reliable4 trusted source to do the actual work.
In order to obtain a certification for SSL, you will first need to verify who you are.
This one reason that many certificates are supplied by domain name sellers.
If you already have the domain with them and have done so for a couple of years, they have all of your details on file to verify your information. The same is true with hosts.
Once you’ve been verified for an SSL, the company selling you the SSL authorization will send you the certificate and the necessary software to install the SSL on your servers.
How to install SSL certificate?
If you have shared host servers, be sure and contact your hosting company to see how it all works. Sometimes you will be required to switch from co-hosting to leasing or buying a dedicated server as co-hosting and SSL encryption may not always co-exist.
As a part of the process, you will need to choose which sites, sub-domains, or domains should be protected with the certificate.
Once the certificate is installed by your backend IT guys or by the company that sells you the certificate, there will be a process of checking. Using a number of different browsers your IT folks will need to test whether everything is encrypted or not.
You may be wondering if you always need to install the certificate, and the answer is no. For example, many people purchase their certificate from Go Daddy, and the no-sweat answer to how to install SSL certificate GoDaddy will install it for you.
Finally, there will be a process of checking. Using a number of different browsers your IT folks will need to test whether everything is encrypted or not.
There are a number of SSL checking software apps that will help you ensure everything is working properly.
This software can help you check for SSL errors.
What is an SSL error. It is a message that shows up in the browser that indicates which indicates that the SSL connection could not be made properly and the connection is insecure.
Don’t forget the clean-up
Besides making sure your SSL software is working, don’t forget the cleanup.
First, for the hundreds of people who continually type in HTTP instead of HTTPS, create a 301 redirect to direct people to the right website address.
Second, change every internal link as well as ads to HTTPS.
Finally, register the correct HTTPS address to Google and all search engines, and point all web analysis tools to the right
What are different types of SSL for websites?
The most common SSL authorization is the Standard SSL authorization. A standard SSL authorization will normally protect 1 website although even the Standard SSL authorization will support unlimited servers.
The price for a Standard SSL authorization at https://www.iebweb.com/products/ssl,best place to buy SSL certificate will cost only $67.
For that price, the Standard SSL authorization will protect a single website for an entire year.
So $67 is a partial answer to the question of how much does an SSL certificate cost?
Meanwhile, in answer to the same question how much is GoDaddy SSL, the price is about the same.
A standard SSL will boost SEO rankings, provide domain validation, offer SHA-2 & 2048-bit encryption, can be issued with minutes, will display the HTTPS padlock, offer a security trust seal provide unlimited reiuses, and offers $100,000 worth or warranty in the rare case of encryption breaches.
For most small businesses, the Standard SSL is all that is needed.
Premium SSL authorization
The cost for a Premium SSL authorization almost sells itself in that while you get all the standard SSL benefits such as boost SEO rankings, SHA-2 & 2048-bit encryption, Display of the HTTPS padlock a green address bar, support unlimited servers, a trust seal, and unlimited reissues, you also get $1 million dollars worth of protection service.
The cost of all this? A mere $150 per year.
Obviously, for most businesses, the additional insurance coverage makes the Premium SSK Service a better deal.
The next type of certificate is called wildcard SSL Certificate.
So what exactly is wildcard Standard SSL certificate? And what is wildcard ssl certificate all about?
A wildcard Standard SSL certificate allows the use of an asterisk to provide protection to a number of subdomains with the same general heading. For example, BobSushicould use Bobs Sushi Takeout, Bobssushi Store, BobsSushi Mail, etc, all connected the same Bobs Sushi domain and all protected with HTTPS.
With a wildcard SSL, the same great features, ie boost SEO rankings, SHA-2 & 2048-bit encryption, Display of the HTTPS padlock a green address bar, support unlimited servers, a trust seal, and unlimited reissues are provided and you get $100,000 worth of encryption coverage.
The typical cost for Standard Wildcard coverage is around $350 per year.
5-domain SSL proteection.
Next, there are standard and premium 5 site SSL packages.
Both boost SEO rankings, SHA-2 & 2048-bit encryption, Display of the HTTPS padlock a green address bar, support unlimited servers, a trust seal, and unlimited reissues are provided and the primary difference is you get $1 million dollars worth of coverage for the 5 domain premium package and $100,000 of encryption package for the Standard package.
The price of the 5-domain standard package is only $100 a year, while the price of the 5-domain premium package is $350 per year.
So you can see that regardless of which package you choose you will always be able to boost SEO rankings, SHA-2 & 2048-bit encryption, Display of the HTTPS padlock a green address bar, support unlimited servers, a trust seal, and obtain unlimited reissues.
Managed SAN SSL Service and Managed DV SSL Service
Different serving companies call different SSL Services by different names.
Essentially, whether a company calls them Managed DV SSL service or Managed SAN SSL Service as Go-Daddy does, or 1 domain and 5 domain packages, the services remain the same.
The most comprehensive guide to SSL Certificate
We set out to make this article the most comprehensive guide to SSL Certificate service on the internet so please bear with us as we try to answer many common SSL questions
Read along and see whether we do not provide you with the most comprehensive guide to SSL Certificate use
The number 1 question for our SSL certificate buyer’s guide is, does it matter who I buy my SSL authorization from?
And the really wishy-washy answer is maybe?
First, it’s obvious that you don’t want to buy your SSL from some hacker group in the former Soviet Union, China, or Nigeria. Not if you want to avoid the ultimate hack which is criminals getting ahold of all of your data.
However, most modern internet browsers recognize around 160 or so root SSL authorizations.
People often ask us what is the largest SSL certificate provider and the answer is IdenTrust with 38 percent of all SSL certificates authorized on the net.
IdenTrust provides trusted SSL security to that provides digital certificates to financial institutions, healthcare providers, government agencies, and enterprises
Does that mean you should jump out and buy a certificate from IdenTrust? Not necessarily. The answer is maybe if you are a large bank or corporate entity, but if you just need ordinary SSL security, Identrust is far from the cheapest.
In fact, it’s possible to even obtain a free SSL certificate from many hosting plans and if you are a small or medium-sized business they will work just as well
So another of our SSL certificate buyer’s guide is what is the best place to get an SSL certificate and where to buy SSL certificate.
And the answer is online from a source you trust. Where can I get SSL certificate?
As indicated earlier, virtually all domain sellers and hosting companies sell SSL Certificates as well as the top root domain companies such as DigiCert, Sectigo, and GlobalSign.
S0 what are security certificate price? This is the third most popular question of our SSL certificate buyer’s guide, and the answer, as you can expect, depends upon your security needs.
NOt only can you get a certificate for free is some cases from your hosting company, but inexpensive SSL certificate sellers abound on the net. For example, NameCheap.com sells inexpensive SSL certificate, backed by the root seller Comodo for as cheaply as $9 per year.
So why can some certificate sellers justify charging nearly $70 per year and others sell a similar certificate for $9 per year? And the answer is primarily reflected in customer service.
For example, when you purchase a security certificate from GoDaddy or iebweb.com/, we install the certificate on your server for you as well as test it to be sure the certificate is fully functioning.
With many of the more inexpensive certificates, you and your IT guys are 100 percent responsible for the certificate install.
In addition, you will get excellent customer service as you pay more for your issued certificate.
What is the best ssl certificate to buy?
The answer depended upon your needs. If you just need a certificate to rank in Google and to prove your identity, then buy a Managed DV SSL Service certificate and be done with it.
Your only question here is the best place to get SSL certificate, how much you will pay, and what kind of support you will get in installing the certificate.
As indicated previously, website SSL certificate price can be as cheap as free, as inexpensive as $9 per year, or as expensive as $150 per year.
Besides the customer support, you get there is a matter of encryption leak protection.
For example, one major difference noted between .iebweb.com/ and NameCheap is that they provide only $10,000 worth of breach insurance for a 1-domain standard website and $250,000 for a premium website. Meanwhile, IeWeb offers $100,000 of breach coverage for a standard website and $1 million dollars breach coverage for a premium certificate package
When you purchase security certificate for website, remember that you often get what you pay for.
If you need a Managed SAN SSL Service for up to 5 websites, and in particular are engaged in eCommerce, the best https certificate is one that will not instill confidence in your customers but protect you as well.
In general, the best ssl certificate for website will be one that is installed corrictly and protects you against breaches.
SSL for e-commerce sites are those that protect the e-commerce sites from a breach as well as instill confidence in the consumer.
SSL for e-commerce sites requires a special level of protection and as a consequence SSL for e-commerce sites often se3lect organization or extended validation SSL certificates.
most secure, Best SSL provider 2021
Another question we are frequently asked is what is the most secure SSL?
The short answer is nobody can actually pinpoint which company produces the most secure SSL, but more than likely the most secure SSL comes from the following top companies and organizations:
- IdentTrust
- DigiCert
- Sectigo
- GoDaddy
- GlobalSign
- Certum
- Actalis
- Entrust
- Secom
- Let’s Encrypt
It is said that top 3 or 4 SSL root certificate providers protect nearly 90 percent of the Web that has SSL authorization, and these organizations Extended Validation Certificates are considered to be the most secure SSL certificates.
Specialized certificates
While SSL works in the same way, many people need specialized certificates for best SSL certificate for WordPress website, best SSL certificate for Joomla website, best SSL certificate for Drupal Website and best SSL certificate for Shopify.
For WordPress SSL, the best SSL certificate for WordPress website and WordPress SSLis often a plugin such as WP Force SSL or Really Simple SSL.
With simple plug-ins, WordPress SSL is incredibly easy.
best SSL certificate for Joomla websiteBe
If you have a Joomla website, the recommendation is also to go with Comodo. They are reasonably inexpensive and ultra-reliable.
best SSL certificate for Drupal Website
If you have a Joomla e-commerce website, perhaps the easiest SSL authorization to buy is one from Comodo. The Comodo store website makes installing the certificate a snap and is your best SSL certificate for Joomla website source.
Best SSL Provider 2021 Certificated for Drupal Website
If you have a Drupal Website, there are many choices but a preferred trusted authority would be Setigo. The best thing about Drupal is that even inexpensive SSL authorizations work well.
Best SSL Certificated for Shopify Website
If you have a Shopify store, the best recommendation would be that the Best SSL certificate for Shopify is Shopify itself.
SSl certificate providers list and best SSL provider 2021
Please bear in mind our SSL certificate providers list and best SSL provider 2021 is only opinion. Your needs may differ.
Among the best SSL providers 2021, you will find Sectigo, GoDaddy (and affiliates such as ieiebweb.com, GeoTrust, EnTrust, SSL.com, Network Solutions, and GoDaddy.
These are considered among the most secure SSL certificate providers as well as the easiest to deal with.
Note, their reliability as being among the best SSL provider 2021 is what put them on the list, not according to cost.
Remember when choosing the best SSL provider 2021 that you will also need to be sure that you are clear about who will install the certificate so choose the best ssl provider 2021 carefully.
Be also aware you can purchase SSL for website just about anywhere, but when purchase SSL for website, it is your responsibility to know exactly what your are purchasing.
As to where to buy SSL certificate, purchase from a source you trust. That’s always the case in business and that’s certainly true of the best place to buy SSL authorization.
Benefits of SSL
Keep in mind when you think about the costs of a good SSL authorization are many benefits.
The first of the benefits is that you will keep hackers and criminals at bay.
The second of the benefits is that you will give people the confidence to shop.
Next on the list of benefits is that you will likely easily pass a PSI credit card audit.
Another of the benefits id that Google will not downgrade you for failure to install SSL
where to buy ssl certificate
The plain fact is, that most people buy SSL certificates from either their domain host or their hosting provider. After all, you trust them, particularly your hosting company implicitly. So that’s typically the best place to buy SSL.
where to buy your SSL certificate becomes murky though if you run a large e-Commerce site and need the very best in security.
In order to purchase SSL for website properly, you need to contrast and compare offerings. Purchase an SSL is more than just finding the cheapest price. Customer service and installation of the certificate are vitally important.
One SSL provider may be significantly cheaper but offer poor customer support. Another SSL provider may be way overpriced. One SSL provider may take their sweet time in verifying your data, meaning that your are not protected for a while. Finally, One SSL provider may be quick about doing your certificate verification.
Still, another SSL provider may have restrictions on how you can use the certificate.
Therefore, we offer our SSL certificate providers list with a note of caution that things can change in a heartbeat in SSL circles.
The best SSL provider 2021 may start out to be the best at the beginning of 2021 and be not recommended toward the end of 2021.
However, most of the best SSL provider 2021 has stood the test of time and you can count on them.
Keep in mind too, that some of the best SSL provider 2021 will have weaknesses such as they don’t support Shopify or are weak on WordPress.
Therefore, e best SSL provider 2021 does not mean they are the best for your situation.
Best https certificate, Best SSL Provider 2021
Keep in mind that every business and organization does not need the best, Extended SSL verification certificsate.
Banks need the best. So do insurance companies. But for the average small business website, don’t overpay by getting services you do not need.