An SSL certificate works with your browser (or your customers’ browsers) to encrypt web traffic between you and your website. It does not protect the code on your site or make your site safe from a coding perspective. It secures the connection between you and the site itself.

When you visit a website and see the padlock to the left of the address in your browser, that’s indicating if the site is being loaded securely via SSL (https:)

Please visit this thread on our forum for more details.

The short answer is yes, however the good news is that Charlottezweb offers FREE cPanel-provided SSL certs on all hosting accounts.

Most people should not need to purchase one however there are some considerations. The Free cPanel certs are registered to cPanel and it will show up that way if people view your certificate. This is likely no issue for 95% of site owners however if you are a business, you may want to weigh the value of having the certificate registered in your business name. Commercial (non-free) certificates offer added insurances, additional validation steps to ensure ownership and more. Please contact us if you have questions or would like to discuss further.

Charlottezweb can purchase certificates from GeoTrust, Symantec and Sectigo at rates below public pricing.

We typically recommend GeoTrust (see available options below) but will be happy to discuss other options with you as needed.

Absolutely! You don’t have to purchase your certificate from Charlottezweb to use it with your hosting here. You will need to contact us to install it, however. Please contact us for details.