Writer: Laura Bernheim
Editor: Lillian Castro
Reviewer: Christina Lewis
About a decade ago, unencrypted website connections were a common sight. You might recall browsing and noticing many URLs beginning with “HTTP” instead of “HTTPS.” The “S” indicates security, made possible by SSL certificates.SSL certificates encrypt the data you transmit over the internet. They play a crucial role in safeguarding your credit card details during online shopping or your login information when accessing social media accounts.
If you’re building a website, having an SSL certificate is a must. It protects your site visitors from hackers intercepting their information. Plus, you can get one for free if you follow my advice. I’ve compiled a list of the best web hosting with free SSL certificates. Read on!
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Best Overall: Web Hosting With Free SSL Certificate
Although the industry talks about encrypted client-server communications in terms of SSL, the Secure Sockets Layer protocol has been deprecated in favor of the more modern Transport Layer Security. You’ll technically receive a TLS certificate; remember that the SSL naming convention seems to have stuck.
Regardless of the acronym used, certificates indicate that a website employs HTTPS instead of plain HTTP, offering protection against security threats. In web browsers, an SSL certificate is visually confirmed by a lock icon or a green area next to the URL, while unsecured sites often show a red X or the words “Not Secure.”
While SSL certificates aren’t the ultimate solution to all online threats, they significantly lower risks and are remarkably easy to set up. Choose a hosting provider that prioritizes customer support and offers comprehensive hosting solutions.
For those reasons, Bluehost is our go-to option for all levels of site owners:
1. Bluehost.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.99
- Beginner-friendly setup with free domain for the first year
- AI-powered site setup with 1-click WordPress install
- Free CDN, malware scanning, WAF, and DDoS protection
- Weekly backups + 99.99% uptime SLA
- WordPress.org recommended host since 2005
- Get started on Bluehost now.
Sead Fadilpasic
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB NVMe SSD | FREE (1 year) | 5 minutes |
Cheapest Web Hosting With Free SSL Certificate
Yes, an SSL certificate is another important consideration when you’re starting a new website or exploring web hosting services. Along with essentials like a domain name, content management system, website builder, solid-state drives, and daily backups, SSL certificates are crucial for running a successful site. The great news is that many reputable hosting plans include these certificates for free, easing the burden on site owners.
Even if you build and operate your website by yourself, you can still expect to spend between $300 and $600 to get up and running. It’s understandable to not want to spend even more on another upgrade.
Although top-tier businesses can expect to spend upward of a few hundred dollars on an Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificate, the vast majority of blogs and online portfolios will be served perfectly by free and low-cost alternatives. With the advent of the Let’s Encrypt certificate authority, anyone can obtain a free SSL certificate that automatically renews every 90 days — removing any configuration headaches and extra time spent on the nitty-gritty details of your site.
To make SSL certificates fast, easy, and painless, we recommend investing in an affordable hosting plan that takes the time to give customers all the help they need to get their site online. In 2016, the ultra-popular cPanel site management portal incorporated Let’s Encrypt certificates into its AutoSSL plugin after it quickly became the highest-voted request from users. So, any web host that offered cPanel quickly became a host that offered free SSL certificates.
That being said, you don’t want to just sign up with the cheapest hosting provider. Do your research into the reputation of your prospective web host, services offered, support channels, and add-on tools that can help your secured site gain even more traction online.
You’ll want to look into which hosting type suits your needs. If you’re setting up a small site with low traffic, a shared hosting plan might be just right. These budget-friendly plans provide plenty of resources and often include a free domain name, website builder, email account, and other benefits bundled with your web hosting service. A shared hosting plan shows you don’t have to spend a fortune for reliable web hosting.
IONOS represents the cheapest hosting service that doesn’t skimp on quality or included features:
2. IONOS.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.00
- Most affordable option: Pay just $12 at checkout
- 1-click WordPress install gets you online in minutes
- Unlimited websites, storage, and databases
- Daily backups, free SSL, and 24/7 support
- Free professional email included
- Get started on IONOS now.
Christina Lewis
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
See other top affordable hosts »
Top Shared Hosting With Free SSL Certificate
In the web hosting world, shared servers are where you’ll find the most users with the least experience. Consequently, much of the marketing and information about SSL certificates is aimed at this group. Although free Let’s Encrypt certificates and others are available for VPS hosting, reseller, cloud, and dedicated accounts, it’s often assumed these site admins will configure them themselves, choose a pricier certificate, or manage multiple certificates.
Shared hosting customers, whose website is on the same server as hundreds or thousands of other customers, have a variety of certificates to choose from. Shared SSL certificates validate a specific server or IP address and can be used by multiple sites (however, your URL will change to the hostname in the web browser). With so many free and low-cost options for Domain Validated (DV) certificates, however, we encourage site owners to go this route. These protections include only your domain name.
At the pricier and more secure end of the SSL spectrum, OV certificates link and verify your business name and domain name, ensuring you are the site administrator. Sites with EV certificates undergo a much stricter validation process and, as a result, enjoy the most positive reception in web browsers and among customers.
Expert-recommended shared hosting providers strike the right balance between tight security, helpful customer support, and affordable solutions. To explore the shared hosting packages we endorse, read through our reviews:
3. Hostinger.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.69
- Best overall value: The most complete shared hosting plan at this price point
- AI builds your site in minutes — no technical skills needed
- Free domain, free SSL, and weekly backups on all plans
- Managed WordPress with AI agent and free email marketing
- 30-day money-back guarantee with 24/7 expert support
- Get started on Hostinger now.
Sead Fadilpasic
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 20 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 3 minutes |
4. SiteGround.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.99
- Best for security: AI blocks 99.99% of malicious traffic automatically
- Free CDN across 170+ locations, daily backups, and free SSL
- Unlimited traffic, free email, and free site migration included
- 4.9/5 Trustpilot rating with 98% customer satisfaction
- 24/7 in-house expert support via live chat, phone, and tickets
- Get started on SiteGround now.
Lynn Cadet
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD – 100 GB Google Cloud SSD | FREE (1 Year) | 6 minutes |
5. GreenGeeks.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.95
- 300% renewable energy match; the web’s leading green host
- LiteSpeed servers with daily backups and free CDN on all plans
- Free SSL, DDoS protection, and AI-powered firewall included
- 1-click installs for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and 150+ apps
- 99.9% uptime with 24/7 support via phone, chat, and email
- Get started on GreenGeeks now.
Dave McQuilling
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 25 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
6. IONOS.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.00
- $1/month for 12 months with no hidden fees or price surprises
- Unlimited websites, storage, and databases on all plans
- Free SSL, free domain, and professional email included
- Personal consultant assigned to every account after signup
- Daily backups, 99.9% uptime, and 24/7 expert support
- Get started on IONOS now.
Christina Lewis
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
Top “WordPress & PHP” Hosting With SSL Certificate
Even though WordPress is the galaxy’s most popular content management system, the platform and its underlying programming language can be notoriously vulnerable when not maintained or updated properly. WordPress and PHP are used so frequently across the web that they carry massive targets on their backs — if you can expose a weakness in the WordPress core program, you expose millions of blogs and businesses.
Similarly, PHP does not come out of the box ready for SSL certificates. Many programmers will use a software library, such as the popular OpenSSL, to implement basic cryptographic functions needed for SSL certificates. However, even the open-source library has fallen to attackers, perhaps most notably the Heartbleed security bug that was publicly announced in 2014 that affected about 17% of all Internet’s secure web servers. SSL or TLS vulnerabilities are frustratingly common, and PHP developers should ensure all HTTPS requests are performed using the curl extension.
Now that we’ve scared you with all the doom and gloom, let us part the clouds and enable the sun to shine through. Open-source communities boast millions of developers working to secure all aspects of internet communication, and you can rest easy knowing that the experts handle things. As before, your best move is to align yourself and your online presence with a reputable WordPress hosting provider with the technical resources to keep you and your visitors safe.
When it comes to the best WordPress hosting, these hosts are a safe bet:
6. Hostinger.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.69
- Best overall value: The most complete managed WordPress hosting at this price
- Kodee AI Agent manages your WordPress site via simple chat
- LiteSpeed servers boost site speed by up to 40%
- WAF, malware scanner, DDoS protection, and auto-updates
- Free migrations — 85% completed in under 5 minutes
- Get started on Hostinger now.
Sead Fadilpasic
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 20 GB SSD – 100 GB NVMe | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
7. SiteGround.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.99
- Best for performance: WordPress sites average 78% faster speeds after migrating to SiteGround
- Free AI agent manages your WordPress site via simple chat
- Smart WAF, AI bot protection & geo-distributed backups
- Free staging, WP-CLI, SSH, Git, and one-click migrations
- 4.9/5 Trustpilot — 98% customer satisfaction for 10+ years
- Get started on SiteGround now.
Lynn Cadet
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD – 100 GB Google Cloud SSD | FREE (1 Year) | 6 minutes |
8. Bluehost.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.99
- Best for WordPress: WordPress.org’s longest-running recommended host since 2005
- 0.35s average load time — independently verified by WPShout
- AI builds your complete WordPress site in under 60 seconds
- Yoast SEO, NVMe SSD, WAF, and daily malware scans
- 24/7 WordPress experts — under 2-minute average response
- Get started on Bluehost now.
Sead Fadilpasic
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 – 100 GB NVMe SSD | FREE (1 year) | 7 minutes |
See other top WordPress hosts »
Best Free Web Hosting With SSL Certificate
We see free web hosting as a temporary fix or a way to explore a new platform—not a long-term solution. When it comes to online security and the infrastructure supporting your website, it’s crucial not to cut corners. These choices can potentially harm your readers and customers.
While free hosting plans often limit the number and scope of available features, SSL certificates usually remain intact. Since shared SSL certificates operate at a server level, rather than a domain level, your site benefits from infrastructure that follows security best practices for all users. Sure, you might end up with a subdomain (yoursite.hostname.com instead of yoursite.com), but you’ll still meet the basic HTTPS requirements.
Platforms that offer free hosting plans, which are particularly common in the website builder market, can be a good stepping stone to creating an online store. The emphasis on simplifying the site creation process extends to configuring product listings, managing shopping carts, and processing payment and shipping information.
SSL certificates are especially critical for eCommerce operations, as customers trust that brand to keep them safe. An EV or Operational Validation (OV) SSL certificate is required for compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) regulations that enforce secure online transactions and payment processing. Many eCommerce platforms outsource this step to gateways, such as Square, PayPal, or Stripe, that take care of your specialized security.
Although we don’t recommend operating your store out of a free hosting plan, the three options below will help you get started designing your site and online store before upgrading to your own domain name with your web hosting company:
9. Wix.com
Monthly Starting Price $17.00
- Start designing FREE for 14 days
- FREE domain with most plans
- Drag-and-drop templates, specific to industry
- Exhaustive knowledgebase of articles
- Huge app market available
- Get started on Wix now.
Lynn Cadet
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14-day FREE trial | 2 GB – Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
10. Weebly.com
Monthly Starting Price $0.00
- All-in-one hosting and drag-and-drop builder
- Start designing for FREE, upgrade whenever
- Easily build a blog, personal site, or online store
- 100s of FREE templates for websites
- $100 credit toward Google advertising
- Get started on Weebly now.
Alexandra Anderson
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 500 MB – Unlimited | FREE (w/ paid plans) | 3 minutes |
More on free hosts with SSL included »
What is an SSL Certificate?
Picture yourself in a doctor9s office. It seems pleasant, and the waiting room is lively. As you fill out your forms, you spot the office9s letterhead saying Miss Jane Doe instead of Dr. Jane Doe. Quite curious.
You get called back for your appointment and realize there aren’t any diplomas on the wall. When you return to the front office to pay, the receptionist reads off your credit card number loud enough for the folks in the waiting room to hear.
The situation may seem a little far-fetched, but it illustrates the impression you give visitors when your website doesn’t adequately protect them or meet general security standards. SSL certificates are the first step toward safeguarding sensitive information and signaling that your site is trustworthy.
HTTPS secures a private, authenticated connection to a website’s server. It encrypts interactions between you and the site, like filling out a form, to stop attackers from eavesdropping or tampering with the data. That’s why SSL certificates are increasingly crucial for building and maintaining customer trust.
Even though 85% of consumers shopped online in 2016, research from the NCC Group showed only 20% said they felt very secure doing so. Nearly two-thirds of shoppers think an online data breach will compromise their financial information within a year, and roughly 30% said they would not revisit a website or open emails from an organization that had been breached.
Given these consumer attitudes, it’s essential to pick the best web hosting service to protect your site visitors’ information and your reputation.
What are the Benefits of Using an SSL Certificate?
A few years ago, Google announced its intentions to notify web users when they visited an unsecured site. SSL certificates have been around for more than a decade, and the news shined a light on the urgency to protect sensitive online information.
Since the original proclamation, Chrome and other browsers have increasingly and gradually upped the ante. Secure websites commonly display a lock or other indicator, while those still using the HTTP protocol are increasingly hit with visual penalties and SEO consequences.
Implementing an SSL certificate comes with many perks and benefits, ranging from increased customer trust and eCommerce sales to improved security and positioning in search results.
Whether you’re browsing the internet or running your own site, the encryption provided by HTTPS safeguards passwords, credit card numbers, addresses, names, and other personal data. This information is directly delivered to the legitimate site, preventing interception by attackers in a man-in-the-middle exploit.
Security is especially important to small and medium-sized businesses, as 46% of all cyber breaches impact businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees. Although larger organizations represent a bigger potential windfall to the criminals, they tend to have more resources to devote to security.
Small businesses and freelancers often juggle business goals and website maintenance, with less experience in technology developments and online security. By teaming up with one of the top web hosting companies we’ve mentioned, you’re taking important steps to protect your site visitors’ data.
No matter what type of site you’re building or hosting plan you require, now is the perfect time to switch to HTTPS. And why not make the transition for free?
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