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I need to buy SSL certificates and it is the first time.

1) My option would be the "cheapest ones". What am I going to risk, what kind of service quality I'm going to lose if I buy the cheapest ? Are they less safe ?

2) I've been suggested to use geotrust.com However I'm developing a website in Netherlands and I was wondering if it is better to use an european certificate or it doesn't matter.

If it matters, could you suggest SSL services in Netherlands, or near by ?

Thanks

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  • You should make sure that the certificate authority is recognized by most browsers, otherwise the browser will throw up a scary warning message that could drive away most users. – Lèse majesté Sep 2 '10 at 9:09
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I use Godaddy.com Standard SSL certificates which are inexpensive (currently $24.99 per year) and fast to acquire. They work in every browser so no untrusted certificate warnings.

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    There are a number of places where you can get similarly trusted "low assurance" certificates for as little as $10/year. Namecheap is one place that springs to mind (though that may have been a special offer), and they also currently offer a free one year certificate with new domain registrations (as may other providers, so shop around). – David Spillett Sep 2 '10 at 20:12
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    DreamHost offers them for $15/year, and you get the benefit of not having to deal with a scummy domain registrar like Godaddy, who's in bed with domain squatters and acts very much like a domain squatter themselves. – Lèse majesté Sep 3 '10 at 6:47
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You might take a look at startssl.com. They are based in Israel, but most people (in the US, anyway) have no idea who issues a particular certificate, or where they're based, so I believe the location of the CA is immaterial.

The main risk that you face from choosing the wrong provider is that you might select a CA (certificate authority) that isn't compatible with the browsers used by the people who visit your webpage, which means they'll get scary warnings about "untrusted certificates" and may decide not to interact with your site further.

Also see If I need HTTPS / SSL encryption on my web site, does it matter who I get my certificate from?

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  • +1 for suggesting StartSSL, their unique approach to validation/certificates (see my related answer here: webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/2733/…) is definitely worth a recommendation. The CA root certificate coverage used to be a problem/annoyance (depending on your audience and use case) initially indeed, but this bootstrapping issue seems to fade away pretty quickly as more recent client/browser versions usually include the StartSSL CA certificates by default as well. – Steffen Opel Sep 2 '10 at 11:09

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