Basically, our customers have two SSL options available – either the free Let's Encrypt certificates, which are included in our web hosting packages, or the paid SSL certificates.
The available SSL certificates differ slightly between the Control Panel and Cloudpit, which is why the respective articles are linked at the bottom of the page.
1. Differences in Availability
Our free Let's Encrypt certificates are tied to our web hosting products – accordingly, you need at least a Small web hosting package to equip your domains with such SSL certificates. With our new web hosting packages, unlimited Let's Encrypt certificates are included.
If you want to upgrade from one of our old web hosting packages with a limited number to one of our new packages, you can read here how it works: --> How can I upgrade or downgrade my web hosting?
Please note that in order to issue the Let's Encrypt certificates for the respective domain, our nameservers must be used.
The reason for this restriction is a technical one – the validity of both the Let's Encrypt certificates and the domain ownership must be validated at regular intervals, which in our case is done via the nameservers. Therefore, no exception to this rule is possible.
If external nameservers are used or our nameservers cannot be used for technical reasons, one of our paid certificates must be purchased. With these, domain ownership can be validated using other methods.
2. Ordering Process
Below are links to the individual articles that describe the ordering process for both the free Let's Encrypt certificates and the paid SSL certificates in our two customer panels.