A single domain, multidomain, and wildcard certificate are all types of SSL certificates that secure your website’s connection to users. They each have their own benefits and uses, but they all accomplish the same thing: they prevent your users from seeing anything other than a padlock icon in their address bar when they visit your site and ensure that all of the information transmitted between their computer and yours is encrypted.
So what’s the difference?
Single Domain Certificates:
Single domain certificates are ideal for small businesses or startups. They’re great for protecting just one site, your main storefront URL, and can be used with multiple subdomains (for example blog.yoursite.com).
Single-domain certificates are the most common type of SSL certificate, and they’re also the easiest to use. These certificates are used to secure an entire domain, and they can only be used on that specific site. They’re great if you have a single website and don’t want to worry about installing a new certificate for every single subdomain you have just get one big one!
If you do have multiple subdomains (like an e-commerce store), then you’ll need to install a wildcard certificate.
Multidomain Certificates:
Multidomain certificates are also known as Unified Communications Certificates (UCC). They allow you to secure multiple domains under one certificate, like www.yoursite1.com, www.yoursite2.com, and so on (with up to 100 total).
You can also use them for email encryption services like Exchange Server with OWA access enabled or for any other service that requires an encrypted connection between clients (like File Transfer Protocol (FTP)).
Multi-domain SSL certificates are popular, but they have their own set of issues. While it’s true that multi-domain certificates don’t expose the security risk of wildcard certificates, they can impact your website’s performance. The longer your certificate is, the more time it takes for the page content to load on your site. So if you have a multi-domain certificate with 5 or 10 SANs, you may feel its effects less strongly than you would with one with 50 or 100.
Wild Card SSL Certificate:
A wildcard certificate is a great option if you have a lot of subdomains on the same server as your primary domain. This is because it secures all of those subdomains at once, so you don’t have to buy individual certificates for each one.
Cheap wildcard SSL certificate is great for people who run a lot of websites, but it can also be risky. If someone gets access to your wildcard certificate’s private key, they can set up another site under your domain, and, because it’s part of your domain, it would appear to be a legitimate site. So, if you have an Extended Validation certificate, you won’t be able to use a wildcard certificate.
However, if you feel like you have control over this risk and understand the consequences of using a cheap wildcard SSL certificate, it may still be a good choice for you.
Final Words
When it comes to SSL certificates, there are a lot of options available. With our Single Domain Certificates, Multi-Domain Certificates, and Wildcard Certificates, you can choose the one that’s right for your needs.
The single domain certificate is the most basic type of SSL certificate. It secures one domain name at a time and can be used on any web server. With our multi-domain certificate, you can secure multiple domains under the same SSL certificate. This allows you to protect all of your domains with one certificate instead of purchasing multiple certificates. If you want to secure subdomains on multiple domains, then our cheap wildcard SSL certificate is the best option for you!
So, you now have a good understanding of the differences between single domain, multidomain, and wildcard certificates.
If you’re still not sure which one is right for your business, remember that there are many factors to consider.
What are your company’s goals? What kind of content will be on the site? How much flexibility do you need with regard to subdomains? Do you want to use SSL with other protocols such as TLS/HTTPS or SMTP?
All these questions can help you make an informed decision about which certificate type is right for your organization.
