Every website needs HTTPS, and free certificates have made it easy. So why do paid certificates still exist? The answer is not stronger encryption: it is everything around it.
What is the same
A free domain-validated (DV) certificate and an expensive one use the same encryption. Visitors see the same padlock, and browsers trust both.
When a free certificate is enough
- Company websites, blogs and most online stores.
- Hosting that installs and renews certificates automatically.
- Sites where nobody needs to verify the organisation behind the certificate.
When a paid certificate makes sense
- Organisation validation (OV): the certificate includes your verified company name, which some partners, tenders and enterprise customers ask for.
- Extended validation (EV): the strictest checks, used by some financial and government services.
- Wildcard: one certificate for every subdomain (*.yourbusiness.com), convenient when you have many.
- Multi-domain (SAN): several different domains on one certificate.
- Systems that cannot renew automatically: appliances, older servers or software where a longer manual process is easier to manage.
- Warranty and support from the certificate authority.
Renewal is the real risk
Certificate lifetimes are getting shorter; see the move to 47-day certificates. Whatever you choose, automate renewal wherever possible, and monitor expiry for anything that cannot be automated. Our SSL checker shows a certificate's details and expiry date.
At IDX
Every IDX hosting plan includes free auto-renewing DV certificates. When you need OV, EV, wildcard or multi-domain certificates, we offer them with fast validation and installation help. Read more about certificate types.
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