{"id":5087,"date":"2022-10-18T10:27:35","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T09:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/technocript.com\/?p=5087"},"modified":"2023-08-14T14:01:12","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T13:01:12","slug":"zerossl-vs-lets-encrypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technocript.com\/zerossl-vs-lets-encrypt\/","title":{"rendered":"ZeroSSL vs Let’s Encrypt: What to Choose?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nowadays, enabling HTTPS<\/a> on our websites is an inevitable practice. It helps secure the visitors’ sensitive data being sent\/received while navigating the website. This is crucial to limit the threats to online users when visiting insecure HTTP websites<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To implement HTTPS, website owners need to issue an SSL\/TLS certificate. Obtaining such certificates used to be difficult and expensive. However, it’s getting much easier and cheaper with the available automated and free certificate providers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s Encrypt and ZeroSSL are certificate authorities that provide totally free SSL\/TLS certificates for HTTPS connections. Let’s Encrypt is much more common than ZeroSSL but it has limited capabilities. ZeroSSL comes in multiple free\/paid versions, one of which is almost identical to Let’s Encrypt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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We review and compare both certificate authorities in terms of prices, certificate issuing and validity, limits and renewals, technical support, and many other aspects. Then, we help website owners decide which certificate provider would fit their needs<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is our summary of the comparison between Let’s Encrypt and ZeroSSL:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since we do our best to share high-quality content, this post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission if you act upon clicking on them (i.e. signup, subscribe, make a purchase, etc.). This doesn’t, by any means, impact the experience of\u00a0our\u00a0readers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/th>Let’s Encrypt<\/th>ZeroSSL<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Type<\/td>Certificate Authority (CA)<\/a><\/td>Certificate Authority (CA)<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Certificate Type<\/a><\/td>Domain Validation (DV)<\/td>Domain Validation (DV)<\/td><\/tr>
Website<\/td>https:\/\/letsencrypt.org<\/a><\/td>https:\/\/zerossl.com<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Logo<\/td>\"Let's<\/td>\"ZeroSSL<\/td><\/tr>
Launch<\/td>2014 \/ 2015<\/a><\/td>2016<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Funding<\/td>Sponsorships & Donations (Non-profit)<\/td>Subscription (Paid Plans)<\/td><\/tr>
Certificate Issuing<\/a><\/td>ACME only<\/td>Online, ACME, REST API<\/td><\/tr>
Price<\/a><\/td>Free<\/td>Free \/ Paid<\/td><\/tr>
Certificate Validity<\/a><\/td>90 days<\/td>90 days \/ 1 year<\/td><\/tr>
Domain Verification<\/a><\/td>DNS, File Upload<\/td>DNS, File Upload, Email<\/td><\/tr>
Rate Limit<\/a><\/td>50 Certificates per Week\/Domain<\/td>No Limit \/ Specific Limit (per plan)<\/td><\/tr>
Multi-Domain Certificates<\/a><\/td>Supported<\/td>Supported (per plan)<\/td><\/tr>
Wildcard Certificates<\/a><\/td>Supported<\/td>Supported<\/td><\/tr>
Technical Support<\/a><\/td>Not Available<\/td>Available (per plan)<\/td><\/tr>
ACME Automation<\/a><\/td>Supported<\/td>Supported<\/td><\/tr>
Remote API<\/a><\/td>Not Available<\/td>Available (per plan)<\/td><\/tr>
User Interface<\/a><\/td>Not Available<\/td>Available <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Let’s Encrypt vs ZeroSSL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1. SSL\/TLS Certificates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

SSL\/TLS certificates<\/a> are protocols to encrypt data between web servers and web clients (browsers). Primarily by using encrypted HTTPS connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TLS (Transport Layer Security)<\/a> is the successor of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), and both are used interchangeably with HTTPS certificates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Types of SSL\/TLS Certificates<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Depending on the type of domain they are securing, there are three main types of SSL\/TLS certificates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domain Validated (DV) Certificates:<\/strong> this is the simplest type of SSL\/TLS certificate, it covers basic websites like personal sites, blogs, small online stores, and online portfolios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Both Let’s Encrypt and ZeroSSL provide Domain Validated certificates.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n

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Organization Validated (OV) Certificates:<\/strong> this type provides an advanced level of encryption and is suitable for medium-sized businesses and online platforms. Issuing a certificate of this type usually requires submitting an application to validate the ownership of the domain and the identity of the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extended Validation (EV) Certificates:<\/strong> this type represents the highest standard of security and encryption. It covers advanced businesses and financial organizations that deal with very sensitive visitor information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. What is Let’s Encrypt?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let’s Encrypt<\/a> is a non-profit certificate authority that is run for the public’s benefit and served by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG)<\/a>. It provides totally free TLS certificates to encrypt communications with websites and protect users’ exchanged data. This initiative aims at helping eliminate un-secure HTTP protocols and move towards fully encrypted HTTPS websites.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Let's<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Nowadays, Let’s Encrypt certificates are undoubtedly the most commonly used for HTTPS websites. According to their stats<\/a>, they serve over 300M websites on the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To maintain it as a free solution to secure the internet, Let’s Encrypt is funded by some of the major entities in the digital world, including Mozilla<\/a>, Google Chrome<\/a>, Cisco<\/a>, Meta<\/a>, and AWS<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s Encrypt was the first to provide free certificates for website owners using HTTPS. Before that, obtaining paid certificates was the only reliable way to issue a dedicated domain validation SSL certificate for the website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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3. What is ZeroSSL?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

ZeroSSL<\/a> is another certificate authority to create and manage SSL\/TLS certificates for websites. It is sometimes seen as the first alternative to Let\u2019s Encrypt in terms of providing free SSL\/TLS certificates. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"ZeroSSL<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The project started in 2016, and it currently issues more than 1M certificates on monthly basis<\/a>. The initial purpose was to facilitate installing free 90-Day SSL certificates issued by third-party vendors. Later on, it became a stand-alone certificate authority to issue and validate SSL certificates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although ZeroSSL provides free certificates similar to Let’s Encrypt, it comes with advanced features to manage and monitor the issued certificates. However, some of them are only included in paid subscription services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides ZeroSSL, SSLForFree.com<\/a> used to be another provider of free certificates. SSLForFree.com has become part of ZeroSSL since May 2020<\/a>. So that their certificates are now issued by ZeroSSL as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. ZeroSSL vs Let’s Encrypt: What is the Difference?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We provide a detailed comparison between the two authorities in terms of certificate issuing, pricing, validity, and many other aspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.1. Certificate Issuing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Initially, to understand how certificates can be issued, it’s useful to describe the idea of ACME protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ACME (Automatic Certificate Management Environment<\/a>) is a communication protocol to automate interactions between certificate authorities and web servers. Most hosting providers such as Bluehost<\/a> and Hostinger<\/a> do provide built-in tools that use ACME protocols to automate issuing and validating HTTPS certificates. So website owners don’t need to manually issue and install SSL certificates for their websites. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n

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Although Let’s Encrypt provide helpful online documentation<\/a>, they don’t have any means to obtain certificates directly from their website. The only possible way to issue\/renew a Let’s Encrypt certificate is via tools that use ACME protocol<\/a> (which usually runs on the domain host).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accordingly, to get a certificate from Let’s Encrypt, website owners need to demonstrate control over the website domain. This means if you don’t have access to your domain’s control panel, you will mostly require support from the server admin to issue and verify (see domain verification<\/a>) an HTTPS certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, ZeroSSL provides three possible means to issue HTTPS certificates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n