According to statistics from Let’s Encrypt CA, as of November 2017, 67% of web pages loaded in Firefox had HTTPS enabled, a significant increase from 45% at the end of the previous year. Browser developers such as Mozilla and Google are preparing to take further steps: marking all HTTP websites as “Not Secure.”
With the widespread adoption of HTTPS, adding an SSL certificate to your website has become a necessary trend.
There are currently many free and user-friendly SSL certificates available. Therefore, this article reviews the key aspects of free SSL certificates.
1. Let’s Encrypt
Official Website: https://letsencrypt.org/
Review: Undoubtedly, Let’s Encrypt is currently the most widely used free SSL certificate provider. Furthermore, their official blog announced that starting in 2018, they would provide wildcard SSL certificates. This is undoubtedly good news for individual website owners. The only drawback is that Let’s Encrypt certificates have a validity period of only 3 months, although they can be automatically renewed via scheduled tasks.
How to Apply? You can install LAMP and use the `lamp add` command to automatically create an SSL certificate. Alternatively, you can manually apply through the following online application sites:
Online Application Site 1 (Chinese): https://freessl.org/
Online Application Site 2 (English): https://www.sslforfree.com/
Online Application Site 3 (English): https://gethttpsforfree.com/
Updated on March 15, 2018:
Let’s Encrypt now officially supports issuing free wildcard certificates (Wildcard SSL), which must be issued manually using certbot or acme.sh.
2. TrustAsia
Official Website: https://www.trustasia.com/
Review: TrustAsia is an emerging domestic SSL certificate provider and a Platinum Partner for Symantec in the Asia-Pacific region. Following Symantec’s acquisition of its CA business by DigiCert, its certificate chain has shifted from Symantec to DigiCert. They now also offer free 1-year DV SSL certificates.
Online Application Site: https://freessl.org/
3. AlwaysOnSSL
Official Website: https://alwaysonssl.com/
Review: AlwaysOnSSL is a new free and automated Certificate Authority. Operated by CertCenter and Digicert, it provides free 6-month DV SSL certificates.
Online Application Site: https://alwaysonssl.com/
4. Comodo
Official Website: https://www.comodo.com/
Review: Before the advent of Let’s Encrypt, Comodo held the largest market share. With the rise of Let’s Encrypt, Comodo’s market share in DV SSL has gradually declined, but it remains a leading enterprise in the SSL industry. Currently, Comodo also offers free 90-day DV SSL certificates.
Online Application Site 1: https://secure.instantssl.com/products/SSLIdASignup1a
Online Application Site 2: https://www.100tb.com/
Note: 100TB provides free 1-year Comodo certificates, provided you register as a member and apply via their backend. 100TB’s policy states that issued certificates can only be used on their products; otherwise, there is a risk of revocation. When applying, please prepare your own CSR (Certificate Signing Request). Here is an online CSR generation tool. Reference URL: https://www.csr.sh/
5. Cloudflare
Official Website: https://www.cloudflare.com/
Review: Cloudflare has offered free SSL certificates for a long time, provided your domain is resolved through Cloudflare. Simply registering for the Free Plan is sufficient.
Note: As long as your domain is added to the Cloudflare Free Plan, when setting up the A record, ensure that “Traffic to this hostname will go through Cloudflare” is selected. Generally, this free Universal SSL certificate includes many other domains (the certificate is also issued by Comodo). Of course, if this concerns you, you can purchase their Dedicated SSL Certificate ($5/month) or Dedicated SSL Certificate with Custom Hostnames ($10/month).
6. AlphaSSL
Official Website: https://www.alphassl.com/
Review: Actually, AlphaSSL does not offer free SSL certificates, and their prices are quite high. However, AlphaSSL has a partnership with SingleHop, issuing free certificates to SingleHop customers, including wildcard SSL certificates. Someone developed an automatic certificate issuance tool based on this rule. Details: https://github.com/Vittfarne/ASSL
In other words, if you have SingleHop services, you can use your account credentials and this tool to get free certificates. However, inevitably, this kind of “free ride” cannot last long. Usually, accounts are closed by SingleHop due to abuse.
It is worth noting that if you apply for this SSL certificate, you must be prepared for the possibility that the certificate may be revoked at any time.
Reference URL for details: https://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/comment/2306096/#Comment_2306096
Online Application Site: https://en.assl.space/
Closing Remarks:
Since Let’s Encrypt started offering free DV SSL certificates, the SSL certificate market has begun to undergo significant changes.
It is worth mentioning that StarCom was originally an Israeli certificate provider offering both free and paid SSL certificates before being acquired by the Chinese company 360. It once held a place in the CA market. The issue with StartCom was that it was discovered allowing backdating of certificate issuance dates to avoid browser warnings for SHA1 certificates after January 1, 2016. Ultimately, on November 16, 2017, StartCom announced the termination of its business, stopping the issuance of new certificates from January 1, 2018, and ceasing OCSP and CRL services in 2020.
Wosign faced a similar situation. Mozilla deemed WoSign’s most serious issue to be the forgery (or artificial manipulation) of certificate issuance dates. Consequently, Mozilla and Chrome no longer trusted them, leading to their exclusion from the market.
Finally, with the widespread adoption of HTTPS, we are pleased to see more CAs beginning to offer free DV SSL certificates.