Why is godaddy HTTPS/SSL certification so much cheaper than digicert, thawte, and verisign?

Question

I am a novice on HTTPS/SSL but GoDaddy charges $12.99 and Digicert, thawte, and Verisign charge $100-1000+ for SSL certificates.

I must be missing something on the quality of the encryption or something. Can someone explain some of the basic differences that lead to these dramatically different prices?

Update $12.99 is a sale price. Typically SSL certificates cost $89.99 on GoDaddy. Here's a link on Godaddy which makes the very comparison this question asks about: http://www.godaddy.com/Compare/gdcompare_ssl.aspx?isc=sslqgo002c

thanks,

tim

Answer 1

Apart from unserious offerings, you can distinguish between cheaper domain-validated SSL certificates and the more expensive extended-validation SSL certificates (EV).

Both certificates are technically the same (the connection is encrypted), but domain-validated certificates are cheaper, because the seller only have to check the domain. The EV-certificates also require information about the owner of the domain, and the seller should check, if this information is correct (more administrative effort).

Normally you can see the difference when you visit the site with a browser. Firefox for example will highlight the domain in blue for domain-validated SSL, and green for extended-validation SSL.

Two examples:

• https://accounts.google.com/ (domain-validated)
• https://www.postfinance.ch/ (extended-validated)

In most cases the domain-validated certificate is fine, the user will have no disadvantages and the EV-certificates are really (too) expensive.

Answer 2

From the GoDaddy website:

Enjoy the backing of established industry standards. There is NO TECHNICAL DIFFERENCE between our certificates and any other major Certification Authority.

Source: http://www.godaddy.com/ssl/ssl-certificates.aspx?ci=9039

Pricing is a funny thing sometimes. While I have no idea why GoDaddy prices their products the way they do some companies go for more customers at a cheaper rate, whereas others go for a higher price and attract less customers.

As a simple comparison, Company 1 can attract more customers by offering their products at a cheaper price. However Company 2 can offer their products at a higher cost, which could offset a lower number of customers.

Company 1: 100 customers paying $20/month = $24,000/year

Company 2: 200 customers paying $10/month = $24,000/year

So as you can see in this VERY SIMPLE comparison, both models ended up with the same annual revenue, however one company offered their product for twice as much as the other.

Answer 3

Which is worth more, a reference from me or a reference from Bill gates? You have to remember that certs are more than a technical solution, they are someone vouching for you and companies can set whatever price they think their reputation is worth.