Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates are critical to many websites, such as e-commerce stores. But not all hosting companies offer the best ones with their hosting plans.
We’ve reviewed over 1,500 hosting plans from over 380 hosting providers and selected those with the best SSL certificate options. Then we shortlisted the hosts which offer dedicated IP addresses either with their current plans or as add-ons a la carte.
Finally, we asked real users. Using our massive database of over 1 million words of independent customer reviews, we’ve identified the top 10 hosts for SSL hosting.
What Is SSL Certificate Hosting?
With an SSL certificate, the connection between a computer and the web server is encrypted. The data between the computer and the server is scrambled so that nobody can intercept it and see what is being sent.
If an eavesdropper manages to intercept the connection, all they will see is gibberish. It’s extremely important to keep names, passwords, credit card information, and other data private.
Common SSL certificate implementations include:
E-commerce: SSL certificates protect a company wanting to sell goods and services, and online SSL certificates help your business stand out in search engine results
Search engine optimization (SEO): Google has confirmed that sites that have SSL certificates are given preference in the search engine results pages
Types of SSL certificates
Standard certificates: This certificate is held by the certificate authority (CA).
Proxy certificate: This is less common; it’s used on a proxy server to filter outgoing and incoming internet traffic or by people who want to disguise the origin of their web traffic.
Shared certificate: Most common on shared hosting plans, this is best suited for people just starting or running a website as a hobby.
Free SSL certificates: There are two types of free SSL certificates: free ones from your provider or those from Let’s Encrypt. It’s becoming more common for providers to offer free SSL certificates and participate in the Let’s Encrypt project or CACert.
How To Choose an SSL Certificate Host
Because SSL is so important to modern websites for security and SEO, web hosting providers worth their salt will make it easy for site owners to incorporate SSL certificates into their sites.
Here are several factors you’ll need to consider when choosing an SSL certificate hosting provider:
Pricing: Costs are usually consistent with the traditional hosting plans of providers specializing in SSL certificates. Assess if the overall cost of your chosen web hosting plan is worth the features and quality of support you expect to get.
Hosting plan: Not all hosting packages include SSL certificates. Consider whether the host has all the features you’re seeking.
Secure Shell (SSH) tunnels: You might also want to look for hosts that offer SSH tunnels for the secure transfer of data.
Technical support: Having a reliable customer support team ready to help you anytime is a game changer. Choose a web hosting provider with a proven track record of reliable customer support.
Some hosting companies are turning to cloud technologiers rather than offering VPS and derdicated servers. SiteGround is an example of one such hosting provider. Cloud hosting does allow you to access the higher levels of system resources you might need, making it a good option for many people.
It has a free tier based on Let’s Encrypt, but also offers paid options that are marketed to businesses.
These certificates come with warranties in case something bad happens to a site. There are options that should please anyone, ranging from small sites to e-commerce.
Pros and cons of SiteGround
Pros
Free content delivery network (CDN), domain, and SSL
Pioneer in providing free SSL certificates
WordPress partner
Cons
No dedicated or virtual private server (VPS) options
Higher monthly pricing
What customers are saying about SiteGround
SiteGround does not claim to be the most affordable hosting available as it prioritizes speed and provides quality hosting solutions. Customers are happy with SiteGround’s high-end servers, redundant power, and data circuits for fast speed and reliability.
Excellent hosting at an entry-level price with helpful support you can trust
All of the industry-standard hosting security features are available from Bluehost.
A free shared SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt SSL is included with all hosting plans at Bluehost, which significantly increases your website’s security. Additionally, it guarantees that your website adheres to security best practices for effective SEO.
The sole drawback to Bluehost's security is that backups are performed at the company's discretion, thus, daily backups are required for complete security.
Pros and cons of Bluehost
Pros
WordPress-approved
Easy-to-use dashboard
Unlimited domain hosting
Cons
No automatic daily backup
No monthly billing on shared hosting
What customers are saying about Bluehost
Bluehost is well-liked by its customers for a good reason. All Bluehost hosting plans include a free SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt SSL, which increases the security of your website. The backup services and helpful support are reliable and come at an entry-level hosting price.
A free SSL certificate is included with every A2 hosting plan, and some subscriptions also offer a premium SSL certificate like RapidSSL.
Additional crucial security features include daily kernel upgrades, distributed denial of service (DDoS) defense, and 24-hour network monitoring.
Pros and cons of A2 Hosting
Pros
Offers lowest cost for SSL installation
Unlimited server licenses
99% browser recognition rate
Cons
No auto daily backup
No monthly billing option
What customers are saying about A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting team received several comments of appreciation from its customers for responding quickly to their concerns. Aside from providing top-tier security, A2 Hosting offers blazing-fast servers that guarantee customers’ websites visibility in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS).
InMotion Hosting is another hosting provider jumping on the free SSL bandwagon. It offers free certificates across all its web hosting plans. The downside is that these free certificates must be pointed to InMotion’s servers or they won’t work.
If you’re handling customer data, it is recommended you use your own certificate over a dedicated IP.
Pros and cons of InMotion Hosting
Pros
Free domain and SSL
Excellent uptime
Zero downtime migrations
Cons
Limited support
Automatic backups aren't free
What customers are saying about Inmotion Hosting
All customers are happy they can access InMotion Hosting’s experienced technical support teams to address any issues right away. Also, the unlimited bandwidth for all of its shared hosting clients helps them receive as much traffic as they want without any worries.
SSL is important to e-commerce. If you’re selling stuff over the internet, you might want to consider a host that specializes in e-commerce, such as WP Engine. Among other features, it offers free SSL certificates across all its plans.
Pros and cons of WP Engine
Pros
Leading platform for WordPress
Excellent loading speeds
60-day money-back guarantee
Cons
Premium pricing
Exclusive to WordPress
What customers are saying about WP Engine
The solid-state drive (SSD), CloudFlare CDN, and NGINX technologies offered by WP Engine are praised by customers for ensuring web pages load rapidly.
Additionally, customers receive top-notch support from WordPress experts who are available to answer any questions across various time zones.
Frequently Asked Questions About SSL Certificates Hosting
How long does an SSL certificate last?
That depends on the CA you have selected to go through and the plan you picked.
Much like purchasing a domain name or hosting package, most SSL CAs offer a variety of levels and allow you to purchase different timeframes of coverage.
What is public key infrastructure (PKI)?
A PKI is a company or service that manages keys and certificates, allowing website visitors and servers to communicate over a trusted network. The PKI provides a means to verify the identity of the website you are visiting.
What does my browser check for when it connects to an SSL site?
When your browser identifies an SSL site, it will send a request for the SSL certificate and verify it has not expired, that it was issued by a trusted CA, and is being used by the website it was issued for.
If any of these checks fail, your browser will warn you that SSL does not secure the site.
What sort of data can be secured using SSL?
SSL is not specific to a certain type of data but uses public key cryptography for authentication and secret key cryptography with a digital signature to send and receive data. Any data type can be secured, from text to images to database content.
What should I do if I lost my SSL password?
You must keep the password you used to create your SSL certificate because this private password is the only way to verify you and your site. You will need to create a new SSL certificate if you lose that password.
If you use a shared SSL certificate or one provided by your web host, you will not have the SSL password, so you don’t have to worry about it. Instead, your web hosting provider will maintain this information.
Can I have more than one SSL certificate per IP address or on a single web server?
Your hosting server must support Server Name Indication (SNI) to do so.
Until recently, multiple SSL certificates could not be installed on a single IP address, so if you had virtual hosts to host multiple domains from a single IP, you could only install one SSL certificate.
You can now include the hostname with SNI when passing information on an SSL verification check. Doing so allows a single IP address to support multiple SSL certificates.
Before going this route, check with your hosting provider to ensure SNI is supported.
Do all browsers accept SSL?
There are always exceptions, but you should feel confident when you choose SSL because it covers over 99% of internet users.
SSL is supported by the following popular browsers (among others): Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer v5.01 and above, Safari, Opera v7 and above, Brave, Samsung Internet, and Sony PlayStation.
The complete list is too exhaustive to include here, but unless someone is still using their Windows 3.1 machine to go online, their browser probably supports SSL.
Who developed SSL?
Netscape originally developed SSL in the early 1990s. But it was not until v3.0 was released in 1996 that SSL received general acceptance. A complete redesign was needed to overcome the many security flaws plaguing previous versions.
Can I allocate only some directories to have SSL certification, or do I have to secure my entire site?
That depends on the setup your server host provides and the software you have installed to host your site.
In most cases, you can designate a subdomain to be used as your secure site and only enable SSL for that site.
For instance, you can set up a general site, www.cool-site.com, which does not have an SSL security protocol. When you need to collect information from your visitors, you could send them to your subsite, secure.cool-site.com, where their information would be secure.
