Let's Encrypt and Free SSL Certificates

Let's Encrypt made HTTPS free and automatic, and millions of websites rely on it. Its SSL Certificates are trusted by browsers and use the same encryption as any commercial SSL Certificate.

For a business, the real question is not whether the connection is encrypted, but what stands behind the SSL Certificate and who carries the work of keeping it in place.

The Same Strong Encryption

A free Domain Validation (DV) SSL Certificate from Let's Encrypt and a commercial SSL Certificate protect data in transit with the same strength. The padlock looks the same, and a visitor cannot tell them apart from the connection alone.

Where they differ is in identity, warranty, support, and how the SSL Certificate is managed over time. Those are the things a business is weighing, not the strength of the encryption.

What Domain Validation Omits

Domain Validation confirms only that whoever requested the SSL Certificate controls the domain. Nothing about the organization behind the website is checked or recorded, so the SSL Certificate carries no verified business identity.

Organization Validation (OV) and Extended Validation (EV) go further, writing your confirmed company details into the SSL Certificate for customers, partners, and auditors to inspect. That verified identity is the trust and reputation signal that free Domain Validation cannot provide. Learn About Organization Validation 🔗

This is not a gap Let's Encrypt plans to close. Let's Encrypt issues Domain Validation SSL Certificates only, and has stated it has no plans to offer Organization Validation or Extended Validation, because verifying an organization requires human checks that its fully automated model is not built for. A business that needs verified identity needs it from a Certificate Authority (CA) that issues those products. Learn About Extended Validation 🔗

The Padlock Fraudsters Can Copy

Because a free Let's Encrypt SSL Certificate is issued automatically to anyone who controls a domain, with no check on who they are, the padlock has become common on phishing and fraudulent websites. Someone building a convincing copy of your website can obtain the same free Domain Validation (DV) SSL Certificate and show the identical padlock.

The padlock confirms the connection is encrypted, not that the visitor has reached the real business. An Organization Validation (OV) or Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificate cannot be obtained in your name, because the Certificate Authority (CA) verifies the organization and keeps a record of who was checked. That verified name is what separates a genuine company from an imitation of it. Explore Site Seals and Trust Indicators 🔗

Managing the Validity Cycle

Free Let's Encrypt SSL Certificates last 90 days and rely on automation you run yourself. When that automation breaks, through a server change, a Domain Name System (DNS) update, or a firewall rule, the failure often surfaces only once the SSL Certificate has already expired and visitors are seeing warnings.

This is becoming a concern for everyone, not only for those using free SSL Certificates. Industry rules are cutting the maximum validity of every SSL Certificate, currently to 200 days and dropping further in the coming years, so automation will matter for commercial SSL Certificates too. Learn About the Validity Changes 🔗

The difference is who carries that load. A commercial SSL Certificate from Trustico® is bought as a multi-year license, reissued through the term, with a notice sent before the license period ends.

Certificate as a Service (CaaS) can run the automation on your behalf, so you gain the reliability of automation without owning the script that breaks. Explore Managed Issuance 🔗

Whichever route you take, keeping track of what is installed on your own servers stays your responsibility. Good practice is to watch your own SSL Certificates instead of assuming a third party is doing it, particularly since Let's Encrypt no longer sends expiry reminder e-mails. Read About the End of Free Expiry Notices 🔗

Warranty and Accountability

Free SSL Certificates carry no warranty. If the Certificate Authority (CA) issues an SSL Certificate in error, there is no financial cover and no party standing behind it.

Commercial SSL Certificates from Trustico® include a warranty, from USD $10,000 to USD $1.75M depending on the product, and an established provider standing behind the SSL Certificate. Learn About SSL Certificate Warranties 🔗

Support When Problems Arise

Free SSL Certificates come with community forums and documentation rather than dedicated support, so an installation failure or an unexplained validation error is left for you to work through alone. For a business, hours spent on a broken SSL Certificate while a site shows warnings is a real cost.

Trustico® provides support from SSL Certificate specialists, along with installation documentation and an optional Premium Installation service that completes the work for you. Explore Premium Installation 🔗

The Comparison You Have Already Made

We do not like to discredit other providers, and Let's Encrypt genuinely earns its place on the web. The trade-off is easier to see through a comparison most businesses have already weighed. If someone offered to run your business on a free domain name, or on free hosting, you would most likely decline, because those sit at the centre of the business and you want something dependable and accountable behind them.

A free SSL Certificate occupies the same position. It is relied upon for identity and trust as well as encryption, and for a site that carries a brand or a transaction, it is rarely the place to save.

Where a Free SSL Certificate Fits

Free SSL Certificates are a sound choice for development environments, internal systems, and non-critical sites, where a verified identity and warranty matter less and an outage costs little. Being honest about that is part of choosing well.

For a public, revenue-generating, or reputation-sensitive website, the verified identity, warranty, support, and managed lifecycle of a commercial SSL Certificate usually outweigh the saving. With Certificate as a Service (CaaS), one managed license can even cover development and live environments together. Explore Organization Validated Options 🔗

Making the Choice

Choose on identity, warranty, support, and who carries the operational load, not on price alone. The encryption is identical either way, so the decision rests on what the SSL Certificate proves about your organization and what happens when something goes wrong.

For many businesses a commercial SSL Certificate is a small cost against the trust it signals and the risk it removes. Where a free SSL Certificate genuinely fits, it is the right call, and where trust and continuity matter, the commercial option earns its cost.