Cheapest SSL certificate (2026)

The cheapest SSL certificate is free: Let's Encrypt and other ACME CAs issue browser-trusted DV certificates, and most hosting panels renew them for you. The cheapest paid one we verified on 10 November 2026 was Namecheap Standard SSL at $11.00 for the first year, followed by PositiveSSL ($16.00) and RapidSSL Standard ($18.65) at GoGetSSL.

All prices below were copied from the sellers' own pages on 10 November 2026. Prices change often and taxes or currency conversion may apply, so the seller's checkout page is always authoritative.

Cheapest paid DV certificates (1-year price)

Namecheap Standard SSL at $11.00 was the cheapest paid DV certificate, ahead of PositiveSSL at $16.00. A DV certificate only proves that you control the domain and is issued within minutes. Sorted by the lowest verified 1-year price:

The ranking uses price only. Commissions never change the order, and the same product often costs different amounts at different sellers: PositiveSSL ranged from $16.00 to $20.00, so compare the identical product before you compare brands.

Try a free certificate first

For most websites the right answer is a free certificate that renews itself. Let's Encrypt states that it does not charge for certificates, and it supports single names, several names in one certificate and wildcards through the DNS-01 challenge. cPanel's AutoSSL uses Let's Encrypt by default, so many shared hosts already give you a certificate without asking. On your own server, certbot or acme.sh does the same job; see how to renew certificates automatically.

A free certificate and an $11.00 certificate are technically equivalent. Both are DV, both use the same algorithms, and browsers show the same padlock. Pay only when one of these applies:

• your hosting panel cannot run ACME and you have no shell access;
• a customer, bank or tender requires a commercial CA or a warranty;
• you need your company name in the certificate, which free ACME CAs do not offer (Let's Encrypt says it has no plans to issue OV or EV);
• you want phone or chat support from the seller.

Read free vs paid SSL for the full trade-off.

First-year price, renewal price and multi-year plans

Look at three numbers before buying: the first-year price, the renewal price and the per-year price of longer plans. Namecheap Standard SSL was $11.00 for the first year but $13.20 on renewal. The same page listed $8.99 per year for 2- to 4-year plans and $5.99 per year on a 5-year plan. SSL.com listed Basic SSL at $49.00 for one year and $36.75 per year over five years.

Those long plans are subscriptions, not long-lived certificates. Since 15 March 2026 a publicly trusted TLS certificate is valid for at most 200 days. The limit drops to 100 days on 15 March 2027 and 47 days on 15 March 2029. A "5-year" purchase therefore means reissuing and reinstalling the certificate many times. Unless the seller or your server automates that, the cheapest plan can cost you more time than money. Our guide to multi-year SSL after the 200-day limit explains when prepaying still makes sense, and the validity timeline lists the dates.

What the cheapest certificates leave out

Cheap DV certificates skip company checks, so they cannot show your organization name. Warranty amounts also differ: sellers list $50,000 for PositiveSSL and $10,000 for RapidSSL Standard and Namecheap Standard SSL, against $500,000 for GeoTrust QuickSSL Premium. A warranty is a promise from the CA under its own terms, so read them before you treat it as insurance. Site seals differ too: the cheaper brands come with a static seal, while GeoTrust and Thawte list a dynamic one.

None of this changes how well the connection is encrypted. If you only need HTTPS, the cheapest trusted certificate does the job.

Cheapest option for each certificate type

The cheapest paid option differs by certificate type:

• Wildcard: Sectigo EssentialSSL Wildcard at GoGetSSL for $84.00. See cheapest wildcard SSL.
• Multi-domain: Namecheap SAN Certificate at $35.99 for three domains. See cheapest multi-domain SSL.
• OV: Sectigo InstantSSL at GoGetSSL for $32.80. See cheapest OV SSL.
• EV: Namecheap EV SSL at $76.99 for the first year. See cheapest EV SSL.

Checklist before you pay

Five checks before paying prevent failed issuance and surprise renewal costs:

1. Generate the private key and CSR yourself, for example with our CSR generator or openssl, so no seller ever holds your key.
2. Check your CAA records with the CAA checker. Namecheap certificates are now issued by SSL.com, PositiveSSL by Sectigo and RapidSSL by DigiCert, and a CAA record that names the wrong CA blocks issuance.
3. Compare the renewal price and the refund window. Namecheap lists a 15-day refund period for its certificates.
4. Plan the reissue: put a reminder at least every 200 days, or better, automate it.
5. After installing, test the site with the SSL checker to make sure the intermediate certificate is served.