Why I Should Conduct an SSL Certificate Price Comparison

An SSL certificate is considered a must-have for any business that operates a website. After all, it’s what enables you to use the HTTPS encrypted protocol to securely transmit data between your end users’ clients and your server. But as you’ve likely seen when perusing various SSL reseller and certificate authority (CA) websites, though, prices can vary dramatically from one certificate to the next. This is why an SSL certificate price comparison is important.

Why do some SSL certificates cost much more than others? And what should you consider when you compare SSL certificate prices?

Encryption Is Not the Key Consideration for an SSL Certificate Price Comparison

Surprise! Contrary to popular belief, the actual level or type of encryption isn’t one of the considerations you should be making when comparing SSL certificate prices. Why? Because all types of SSL certificates (which are actually now TLS certificates since TLS replaced SSL, but we digress), whether free or commercial, offer the same level of encryption. They all now support up to 256-bit encryption with 2048-bit key length, but the actual strength solely depends on the capabilities of the end user’s web browser and your web server.

So, what should you consider when you want to buy and compare SSL certificates?

6 Things to Consider in Your SSL Certificate Price Comparison

There are several important considerations when weighing your options and choosing the best SSL certificate to suit your needs. Here are a few of the top things to keep in mind when you want to compare SSL certificate prices:

• CA brand reputation and reliability
• Issuance speed
• Site seal
• Warranties
• Support
• Refunds

There’s Something to a Name…

The brand name of the issuing certificate authority can make a big difference in your SSL certificate price comparison. Major CAs’ products can carry higher price tags than those of other brands. For example, PositiveSSL, a sub-brand of Comodo CA, offers significantly discounted SSL certificates.

However, many of these major brands can get away with such high price tags because of the reputations that back their names.

How Quickly a CA Issues a Certificate

When considering pricing, issuance speed is important. After all, the sooner you can get your certificate, the faster you can secure your site and start building trust in customers.

However, the speed at which a certificate authority issues a certificate depends primarily on the validation they must perform. A domain validation (DV) SSL certificate only requires verification to ensure that the person who requested the certificate is actually in control of the domain. Because this type of validation is automatic and doesn’t require the CA to take the time to manually verify anything, it means that a DV certificate takes minutes to issue.

An organization validation (OV) certificate, on the other hand, is one that requires domain validation as well as basic business validation. Because there is some manual validation required of the CA, it can take one to three days for them to issue a certificate. Extended validation (EV), as the name implies, takes this a step further and requires extensive business validation. This can take up to five days to issue a certificate.

Does It Come with a Site Seal — And If So, What Type?

Every SSL certificate price comparison should include site seals. Site seals, sometimes called trust seals, are visual indicators that a website is secure. They’re typically offered as either static or dynamic elements. A Comodo Secure Seal is an example of a dynamic site seal.

But what are the benefits of using a site seal?

• Better conversion rates
• Increased trust with customers and site visitors
• A differentiator from your competitors
• Displays verified company details (dynamic site seals)

What Kind of Warranty Comes With It?

Not all SSL certificates come with warranties. For example, free SSL certificate providers never offer warranties with their SSL certificates. This is a service that commercial SSL certificate providers give their customers to offer additional piece of mind and protection. Warranties can range significantly depending on a certificate’s brand, validation level, and functionality. Some certificates come with $10,000 warranties while others offer $1.75 million warranties.

What About Customer Support and a Money-Back Guarantee?

When you purchase SSL certificates from some CAs or resellers, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll also receive complimentary customer or technical support with it. Or, for that matter, that it’s good support.

When you purchase an SSL certificate from ComodoSSLstore.com, you’ll have access to 24/7 support via email, phone, or web chat. Not only are our customer support team members knowledgeable and accurate, but they’re also great conversationalists and can help keep you from falling asleep at your keyboard.

Not All Certificates Come with Refunds

If you’re unhappy with your SSL certificate purchase, it would be great to be able to get a refund, right? But not all SSL certificate providers offer this option. Luckily, ComodoSSLstore.com does! We offer a 30-day replacement or refund policy (30 days from the initial order date) for most products.

See for yourself why more than 100,000 people choose ComodoSSLstore.com as their go-to resource for SSL certificates!