SSL Certificates

which one to chose

[fashezee]

For those who are purchasing SSL certificates for the first time, you
may want to review [whichssl.com...]

[amznVibe]

hmm, according to that chart, all you need to avoid is
GeoTrust QuickSSL, GeoTrust FreeSSL, IPSCA

I don't think IE 4.01 and below is a huge issue.

Plus there are technical workarounds for most SSL
issues. I used a shared certificate for a few clients
that don't have heavy SSL needs and it saves a bundle.

[hakre]

yeah there is a lot of rip with ssl certificates. if you only need the encryption and not the certificate that you're the server which is the server to be (in case of ownership not technically), then you don't even need a certificate authority and you can make your own one. :)

[thewebcompany]

whichssl is run by comodo. They sell the instantssl. Not very surprising when this site suggests as listed by amznVibe everything but the competition. The site is nice to get an overview of what's out there, but might be tendencious. :-)

Instantssl is certainely not the worst choice (I've checked the competitor sites too) but anyway is whichssl a promotion site for them and not an "independant overview".

check who is for further info. It is very fair declared that comodo made this site. (Good point too)

[Midwest]

I wasn't aware of GeoTrust's cross browser issues?

[bcc1234]

I just got a cert from instantssl.
Only took me 2 minutes.
I generated csr, filled out an order form, scanned the certificate of formation and e-mailed them the image.
That's all.
Two days later I received my cert in the e-mail.

I remember the pain of getting a cert with verisign - it was hard especially for new businesses; not sure if they made it easier now or not.

Besides, if you can get a cert for $49 - why not just try and see if you start loosing sales or not :)

[thewebcompany]

Geotrust offers on their website a so called chained ssl, which should be (according to them) exactely the same as instantssl. This seems true, as InstantssL is neither a autonomous certificate but just a certificate based on Baltimores root certificate. (described at the instantssl site too)
Geotrust offers that for 14$ a year.. why spend 49 if you can get with 14$ the same? :-)

If you just run a low traffic site, you might even try the freessl. You reach (according to my statistics) more than 97% of users, probably enough for just a first try. To avoid the warning pop ups I'm just redirecting customers coming from other not compatible browsers to a not secure site, to avoid to get them warning pop ups. This is certainely not a professional aproach, but for small sites or some first try maybe an option.

[amznVibe]

This discussed turned out alot more helpful than I thought.
Right now I get "free" ssl with a shared certificate, but
you get the last warning message about the name on the
certificate not matching the site name (all the other check
marks are in place). Would freeSSL avoid this?
(minus the browser compatibility factor of course).

Of course my only interest right now for SSL is the encryption factor over broadband, etc.
I am not doing commerce over shared SSL (sending to paypal, etc)

freeSSL Sounds worth playing with for other clients not on this server... I will have to investigate! -aV-