{"id":5562,"date":"2018-09-24T02:14:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-24T02:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.truehost.co.ke\/support\/?post_type=ht_kb&p=5562"},"modified":"2024-06-07T13:03:36","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T13:03:36","password":"","slug":"lets-encrypt-ssl-certificate-compared-premium-ssl-certificates","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/truehost.com\/support\/knowledge-base\/lets-encrypt-ssl-certificate-compared-premium-ssl-certificates\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Encrypt SSL Certificate compared to Premium SSL Certificates"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is an SSL Certificate<\/b><\/p>\n

A Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate is a security feature that encrypts communication between your computer and the website server when you access a website. Basically, it allows your computer to \u2018speak\u2019 with the server in a secure language that cannot be eavesdropped by another person. This is very important and soon all websites will have to use SSL.<\/p>\n

We have two types of SSL, Self signed SSL and Verified SSL. Self Signed SSL is one created and issued by yourself from your computer and is not certified by a Certificate Authority (CA). This one shows a yellow marking in place of the green padlock indicating to the visitor accessing the site that the certificate isn\u2019t verified. It\u2019s not advisable to use self-signed certificate for online websites. The other type, Verified SSL is issued by a Certificate Authority and displays a green padlock near the https tag in your browser. These are the certificates that should be used when deploying websites online.<\/p>\n

What is a Certificate Authority<\/b><\/p>\n

A Certificate Authority (CA) is an organisation that verifies and issues an SSL certificate so that it\u2019s installed on a domain name. There are several CAs available. One such organisation is called Let\u2019s Encrypt. What sets this Let\u2019s Encrypt apart from the rest is that, it issues Free SSL certificates, fully verified. Other CAs will sell SSL certificates at some price but Let\u2019s Encrypt will provide the certificates free of charge.<\/p>\n

The Let\u2019s Encrypt certificate is provided free for life for any domain registered. The functionality of the certificates is the same as those provided by premium CAs.<\/p>\n

How to get Let\u2019s Ecnrypt.<\/b><\/p>\n

There are several ways through which Let\u2019s Ecrypt makes certificates available for anyone who wishes to use it. Here are ways to acquire it:<\/p>\n

1. Using your hosting control panel.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Encrypt CA has come to an understanding with many hosting control panels such as cPanel, Plesk, CentosWeb-Panel etc to provide a free SSL plug-in for users to automatically install and renew SSL certificates. At Truehost, this feature is available for all domains hosted with us under our premium packages.<\/p>\n

2. Using websites that provide SSL<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Encrypt CA has an agreement with some websites to provide the certificate for free. Examples of such websites are https:\/\/<\/a>sslforfree.com<\/a> and https:\/\/zerossl.com<\/a>. The issuance process is simple and straight forward for ease of acquiring the certificate.<\/p>\n

3. Using certbot<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

Certbot is a package available for RHEL\/Centos and Ubuntu servers that allows you to automatically fetch, install and renew SSL certificates provided by Let\u2019s Encrypt. This package is best suited for users who use SSH access to a VPS or Dedicated server instead of using control panels like cPanel.<\/p>\n

Comparison between Let\u2019s Encrypt and other premium SSLs.<\/b><\/p>\n

Below is a comparison table between Let\u2019s Encrypt SSL and Other premium SSLs. This will go a long way to help you understand why you should use an SSL certifcaite and when you could opt for the premium options instead of Let\u2019s Encrypt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n

Let\u2019s Encrypt SSL<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Premium SSL<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Price<\/b><\/td>\nFree for life<\/td>\nCost ranges from a few dollars to thousands of dollars depending on the type of SSL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Duration before expiry<\/b><\/td>\nCan be issued for 4 months before it expires<\/td>\nCan be issued for 3 years before it expires<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Set up ease<\/b><\/td>\nVery easy to set up<\/td>\nEase of setup varies with EV certificates being most complex to setup<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Funding of the CA<\/b><\/td>\nDonations\/Sponsorships from individuals and organisations<\/td>\nThese CAs fund themselves from money obtained through selling SSL certificates<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Certificate type offered (DV |OV | EV)<\/b><\/td>\nOffers DV only hence serving as a solution only to some websites<\/td>\nOffers DV, OV and EV certificates hence providing SSL for any website<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Warranty<\/b><\/td>\nDoes not offer warranty in case of data breach<\/td>\nOffers warranties in case your secured site experiences a data breach<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Site seal<\/b><\/td>\nNo site seal provided<\/td>\nSite seal is provided<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Benefits of Premium SSL over Free SSL<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Premium SSL provides warranties for scenarios of data breaches. Free SSL provide no warranties at all.<\/li>\n
  • Premium SSL is better suited for cases where automatic SSL issuance is not provided. Since the SSL lasts for up to 398 days, it makes sense to install this SSL and wait longer before having to repeat the process.<\/li>\n
  • Premium SSL has full support for installation. Support Specialists provide installation support for\u00a0 installation of premium SSL on any platform<\/li>\n
  • Premium SSL can be used to secure any solution such as Exchange Servers.<\/li>\n
  • Premium SSL makes your brand look legit. Though Let’s Encrypt is as secure as any other SSL, some industries such as Financial Institutions may not use it on their websites due to brand integrity.<\/li>\n
  • Premium SSL provide Site Seal which you can embed on your site to announce your site is secured by trusted brands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    In conclusion, Let\u2019s Encrypt brings a solution to the market so that no website has a reason not to run securely under https. However, it does not cover all grounds as some organisations such as banks and e-commerce sites need EV certificates to really secure their clients\u2019 transactions. This is because, EV certificates proof the identity of a site beyond reasonable doubt by adding the organisations name on the address bar. That cannot be achieved using Let\u2019s Encrypt. But at least, if all goes south, the least to expect from any site, whether e-commerce, a blog, a mail server or an online portal is that they should be secured by SSL because Let\u2019s Encrypt provides SSL certificates free \u2013 for life.v<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What is an SSL Certificate A Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate is a security feature that encrypts communication between your computer and the website server when you access a website. Basically, it allows your computer to \u2018speak\u2019 with the server in a secure language that cannot be eavesdropped by another person. This is very important […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"doc_category":[],"doc_tag":[],"class_list":["post-5562","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry"],"year_month":"2026-07","word_count":938,"total_views":0,"reactions":{"happy":0,"normal":0,"sad":0},"author_info":{"name":"w m","author_nicename":"wm","author_url":"https:\/\/truehost.com\/support\/author\/wm\/"},"doc_category_info":[],"doc_tag_info":[],"yoast_head":"\nLet\u2019s Encrypt SSL Certificate compared to Premium SSL Certificates -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/truehost.com\/support\/knowledge-base\/lets-encrypt-ssl-certificate-compared-premium-ssl-certificates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let\u2019s Encrypt SSL Certificate compared to Premium SSL Certificates -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is an SSL Certificate A Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate is a security feature that encrypts communication between your computer and the website server when you access a website. 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