Ask HN: HTTPS Where can I get a cheap certificate?

by dawie on 3/14/2011, 8:43 PM with 9 comments

I need to have HTTPS running on my site. I am hosting it with Dreamhost. What is the quickest and cheapest way to get up and running?

  • by there on 3/14/2011, 8:53 PM

    if you want a certificate that works with pretty much every modern browser, you can get a free one from startssl in about 10 minutes:

    http://www.startssl.com/?app=1

    otherwise there are a number of places that may give you slightly more coverage for older browsers for like $10. i used http://www.cheapssls.com/ for a discounted wildcard ssl cert from them the other week (the actual certs they sell come from reputable companies).

  • by d_r on 3/14/2011, 9:16 PM

    As much as I dislike GoDaddy, I've used them in the past and it was fine and affordable. FYI, if you do use GoDaddy (and some other providers), you need to specify an "intermediate" certificate since their own certificate is not directly trusted by root CAs. This is transparent to the end user as long as you set it up correctly on your box. More here: http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=d_r

    NameCheap, my current registrar of choice, gives out free SSL certs with domain registrations (and I think transfers.) Haven't tried using their certs yet, though.

  • by alex_smith on 3/15/2011, 6:15 AM

    It depends upon your requirements. If you just need to show an https to your users, then you can try namecheap.com or even http://www.rapidsslonline.com (strongly recommended). The latter one provides better support. Both will provide a rapidssl certificates for around $10-11 for a year.

  • by jolan on 3/15/2011, 12:17 AM

    Dreamhost sells them for $15 and if you're using their panel will also handle installation and setup.

  • by mrduncan on 3/15/2011, 1:58 AM

    If you do decide to go with GoDaddy, you can save a considerable amount of money by googling for "ssl certificate" instead of going directly to their website.

    Their advertisement price is $12.99 per year (it's $49.99 per year on their website).