I’m done with GoDaddy—sneaky renewals, SSL certs being reissued early for partial time, and their cluttered checkout process.
Looking for a simple, no-nonsense registrar that also sells SSL certificates in the U.S. I don’t need hosting, email, or marketing—just domains and SSL.
Paid SSL is mostly unnecessary unless you’re legally required to use OV/EV certificates, which is rare. Free SSL from Let’s Encrypt works for nearly all cases.
Cloudflare Registrar is a great option for domains since they charge wholesale prices—no markups. Many registrars lure you in with cheap first-year rates and then hike up renewal costs, but Cloudflare doesn’t play those games.
If a hosting provider doesn’t offer free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates, avoid them. The encryption is the same as paid certs, and they renew automatically—no manual installs needed.
Micah said:
If a hosting provider doesn’t offer free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates, avoid them. The encryption is the same as paid certs, and they renew automatically—no manual installs needed.
We run our own private cloud, so we manage our own servers. Certbot handles the automation, but some enterprise clients require paid SSL for compliance reasons.
No need to pay for SSL. Even Google and Microsoft use free certs for most things. If you must buy one, get it from your server provider, not a random third-party.