Here is the question we get asked a lot, ‘can SSL certificate be used on multiple domains?
Answer?
Yes, a single SSL certificate can be used to secure more than one domain. In fact, there are three types of such certificates you can choose from. They include; Multi-Domain/SAN certificate, Wildcard certificate, and the UCC certificate.
In this article, we will examine what all these three types of SSL certificates entail and most importantly, where to buy them for cheap.
Are you ready?
Let’s get started, shall we?
What is a Multi-Domain SSL Certificate?
As its name suggests, a multi-domain SSL certificate is one used to secure more than one domain name.
Someone may wonder, how many domains exactly?
Well, the exact number of domains you can secure with a multi-domain SSL certificate is left in the hands of the certificate authority (CA).
In most cases, the objective of using such an SSL is to secure all the qualified domains, or what other people refer to as DQDNs.
Such qualified domains can be top-level domains or sometimes the subdomains.
With that said, you also need to know of a single-domain SSL certificate. As you can already guess, this one is used to secure only one domain (the WWW and its non-WWW variations.)
Now, let’s look at types of SSL falling under the multi-domain category.
Types of multi-domain SSL certificate
I need you to pay attention here.
Why?
Because what you are about to see is confusing. Just try to stick with me.
- SANs (subject alternate name)- you must have heard about SAN SSL certificate. Well, it turns out, multi-domain SSL is sometimes referred to as SAN certificate. The reason being, multi-domain certificates come with additional fields (SANs) you can use to add extra domains you’d wish to secure with that SSL.
- UCCs – again, this is an aka for multi-domain certificate. These are the types mostly used on Microsoft Exchange and Office Communications servers.
- Multi domains Wildcards – these are types of multi-domain SSL certificates that cover more than one domain and unlimited subdomains.
Up to this point, the question of can SSL certificate be used on multiple domains is ¾ done.
Why do you need multi-domain SSL?
Why are people going these SSL certificates?
#1. Multi domain validation
Most multi domain SSL certificates come with different validation levels.
- Domain validation (DV)
- Organization validation (OV)
- Extended Validation (EV)
DV is the most basic level of validation. Here, the SSL lets your users know the website is secured (authenticated) by a CA.
On the other hand, OV and EV take this whole validation thing to the next level. On top of offering the basic domain security, the two take up extra steps to authenticate a site.
#2. Improve the security of your site
Today more than ever, there has been an increased cyberattack that mostly targets users’ financial information.
In fact, a website is attacked every 2 minutes all over the world. This is scary considering that online shopping is just gathering speed around the world. In fact, this industry is now worth billions of dollars.
As much as people are making money through online sales, the security of their users’ information while on their sites is of importance.
This is the reason why most websites are moving to secure their sites using an SSL certificate.
What this does is reroute all data transfer on their sites from the normal HTTP to HTTPS protocol.
What is happening here is the encryption of the channel.
Other reasons why you need a multi-domain SSL include;
- Instead of buying several certificates for your sites, just buy a multi domain certificate.
- Helps you avoid costly encounters that come when your certificates expire. Things like brand damages, fines as a result of non-compliance, among other bad stuff.
- Instead of tracking and managing a ton of certificates and private keys for your hundreds of domains, you are now only monitoring one SSL certificate and its keys.
Wrapping up multi domain SSL certificate
I promised to reveal where to buy multi domain SSL certificate for cheap, and here we go.
| ASKSSL STARTER | MULTI-DOMAIN SSL | WILDCARD DOMAIN SSL | MULTI-DOMAIN WILDCARD SSL |
| Domain Validated | Domain Validated | Domain Validated | |
| $10,000 Warranty | $10,000 Warranty | $50,000 Warranty | |
| 1 Domain | Domains: 3 – 250 | Domains: 1 | |
| Sub Domain: 0 | Sub Domain: 0 | Unlimited Subdomains | |
| 3 Min Issuance | 3 Min Issuance | 3 Min Issuance | |
| PRICE $3.99 | PRICE $16.99 | PRICE $49.99 |
To get free SSL, click here.
