Does it really matter what SSL provider is used? Are either of these any better than the other?

They are now the same company, Verisign purchased Geotrust.

There is not really a difference other than that Verisign is Known more and some people tent to trust it more.

However Geotrust will come up soon with a new extended protection SSL which is compatible with the new browsers making the address bar in case of IE7 look green meaning that the site can be trusted... Sounds like a good thing.

If I was wanting a SSL for a hosting site I am running, what would be the best? QuickSSL's seem to be fine, Is the Premium only better because they actually give you a seal to put on your website?

There is also RapidSSL, not sure the difference but it's the cheapest...

I suggest QuickSSL is the one we recommend to our customers

They are all exactly the same, technically, as long as the lock icon in the browser status bar is activated.

The only real difference between certificates is perception and brand recognition. Some SSL certificate providers will do "verification" of the company before selling the certificate, etc...

.. .but from a technical perspective, they are all 100% identical in how the actually encrypt the data between your browser and the web server.

mrzippy has got it right.

the only difference is in the "practices statement", which is a document posted on their site.

how many users are actually going to go read it?

the number is infinitely small.

i have tested the rapidssl/quickssl certs on many sites and have never seen a browser problem with current generation browsers.

Verisign is the largest - they basically bought out most of the other SSL providers. We switched over to Comodo - their support was fantastic and the new cert they are getting ready to issue is fantastic

SSL Comparison (http://www.whichssl.com/) might help you out as well.

I searched all of them for my new auction business and the difference is that you get a 128 bit encryption with most, veri-sign uses a 256 I believe, which you don't need, but the big thing is how much insurance you get for your customer is what you pay for mainly, I have Rapid SSL

Verisign has MUCH stronger brand recoginition as SECURITY provider - so if you do it for ONLINE STORE - I would go for Verisign, if for hosting company/small site - Geotrust is OK.

Technically is same company now, but they keep their brand separatly.

I might agree but the question was: is veri-sign any better of a ssl technically!!

I might agree but the question was: is veri-sign any better of a ssl technically!!

No, Verisign is a waste of money although their merchant services and gateway look good. GeoTrust is just as good and it is widely recognized and like someone said I guess Verisign owns them now.

Comodo instantssl is good too. As a matter of fact, if you run a Comodo SSL cert, the GeoTrust button that verifies your identity works with it because it is all the same stuff. :D

Thawte is cheaper and Verisign ownes them too.

The only difference in any of them is some have an "insurance" for your customers that you who are you say they are. I don't believe GeoTrust has this.

GeoTrust have a $10k insurance for users but the inside word is that is never ever paid out as the customer is covered by their CC insurance anyway. More smokes and mirrors.

You can get a very good RapidSSL for $12 USD by the way which will do everything that a $5k SSL will do.

GeoTrust have a $10k insurance for users but the inside word is that is never ever paid out as the customer is covered by their CC insurance anyway. More smokes and mirrors.

You can get a very good RapidSSL for $12 USD by the way which will do everything that a $5k SSL will do.Just wondering if you knew who sold Rapid SSL for $12? Resellone.com sell SSL cert's for $10 but they are 128bit, on the GeoTrust website it says they are 256bit so not sure why there is a discrepancy...

We purchased the highest GeoTrust SSL for our client.ithost.ca website. Any reason we chose geo vs veri? No. I might say that some clients prefer verisignt over Geotrust because they see it on sites such as Paypal, Best buy, Tigerdirect etc. Other than that I cant tell you a major difference.


Perhaps someone else can point out a MAJOR differnce between them both.

You just pointed out the major difference.

Its called 'Warm Fuzzies' :)

I use Comodo for all my SSL certificates. They have fantastic support and an easy verification process

You can get a very good RapidSSL for $12 USD by the way which will do everything that a $5k SSL will do.
I would love to know where I can get a rapidssl for $12 so if you don't mind sharing that info let me know.

Well close to $12. Thought this place was common knowledge :).


http://www.servertastic.com/store/product.asp?numRecordPosition=1&P_ID=222

www.resellone.com $10! :)

Its rapidssl is 10 bucks at both places! Many thanks guys I had no idea ssl certs were so cheap

They are all exactly the same, technically, as long as the lock icon in the browser status bar is activated.

The only real difference between certificates is perception and brand recognition. Some SSL certificate providers will do "verification" of the company before selling the certificate, etc...

.. .but from a technical perspective, they are all 100% identical in how the actually encrypt the data between your browser and the web server.

Actually, "technically" there is a big difference between different SSL certificates.

Each SSL certificate product has a different minimum encryption level. Some start minimally guranteeing 40 bit encryption and some start guranteeing at 128 bit encryption.


Encryption levels do differ. The level of encryption needed depends on your needs.

But its important to note this.

The other important thing to note is the browser ubiquety (IE the recognition of the certificate by browsers.)

For example there is a bigger difference between QuickSSL and QuickSSL Premium other than the site seal. The Premium certificate is present in mobile devices such as PDAs and smartphones and therefore will work without any warning messages whereas the QuickSSL is not and will produce a warning error.

That is one of the reasons for the extra cost difference.

Hi guys... I made this thread a while back but had another question, I am looking to get some SSL's but not sure what to buy as they range so massively in price. But basically it's for an online store, with up to 1000 products and customers all over the world... Any ideas? I ask the SSL companies but they all tell me to spend $1000 on the best one they have...

Either RapidSSL which you can get for around $10 USD or Comodo's PositiveSSL which you can get for around $11 OR

Thawte SSL which you can get cheap too :).

Hi guys... I made this thread a while back but had another question, I am looking to get some SSL's but not sure what to buy as they range so massively in price. But basically it's for an online store, with up to 1000 products and customers all over the world... Any ideas? I ask the SSL companies but they all tell me to spend $1000 on the best one they have...
We use rapidSSL certificate (www.rapidssl.com) and pay $15.

It is very good, and provides 128bit encryption, whch is industry standard.

Personally, I think as long as the "lock icon" at the bottom of the browser is showing, then it does not matter what type of certificate you use. The rapidSSL certificate is compatible with 99% of browsers, and is easier to install then the comodo certificate.

I'm just a consumer but if I had to choose between GeoTrust and VeriSign on site 1 using GeoTrust and site 2 using VeriSign and they are selling the same product I would choose site 2 which is using VeriSign because there is a sign of trust when I see the VeriSign seal on a website. :)

You might want to check the price difference between a verisign SSL and a GeoTrust SSL (even though they are exactly the same SSL and both from the same company). It really wouldn't be worth a site getting a verisign SSL unless they were doing a very high volume of sales.

Holy God VeriSign charges a lot more then GeoTrust.

I see now why my bank and other top companies I see using them.