{"id":499,"date":"2019-08-15T20:20:26","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T20:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cheapsslsecurity.com\/p\/?p=499"},"modified":"2025-03-26T07:05:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T07:05:38","slug":"what-is-a-san-certificate-and-how-does-it-work-to-secure-my-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cheapsslsecurity.com\/p\/what-is-a-san-certificate-and-how-does-it-work-to-secure-my-site\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a SAN Certificate and How Does SAN SSL Work to Secure My Site?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ll break down what is SAN certificate is SSL and why it matters to your organization<\/h2>\n

SANs. Hardly anyone seems to love acronyms as much as IT and infosec professionals. Well, except maybe government or medical professionals… but, you get the point. However, what is SAN in SSL? You\u2019re likely here because you\u2019re wondering \u201cwhat is a SAN certificate\u201d and how is it useful? Well, you\u2019ve come to the right place for an answer. This is kind of our area, after all.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s break it down.<\/p>\n

What Is a SAN SSL Certificate in SSL\/TLS?<\/h2>\n

In cybersecurity, a SAN certificate means an SSL\/TLS certificate that is capable of securing multiple domains or subject alternative names (SAN) under a single certificate.\u00a0A user can customize the SAN certificate anytime during its validity period to add multiple subject names (up to 250) to the certificate.<\/p>\n

In IT, a SAN could mean a storage area network. But in the case of SSL\/TLS, which is what we\u2019re talking about in this article, SAN means \u201csubject alternative name.\u201d A SAN is a field that allows you to specify the host names that will be covered under a single SSL certificate. A SAN SSL certificate<\/a> can secure both internal and external domain names using industry standard 128-256-bit encryption.<\/p>\n

But, wait, covering multiple domains \u2013 isn\u2019t that the job of a multi domain SSL certificate?<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, right you are. Because not all servers allow for multiple certificates to be installed, it\u2019s useful (and often times more cost effective) to use one certificate instead of multiple to cover all of your domains. Hence, a multi-domain certificate. However, these certificates are sometimes referred to a SAN SSL certificates or even UCC SSL certificates, a term that stands for \u201cunified communications certificates.\u201d The biggest difference is that a UCC was originally designed specifically for Microsoft\u2019s Exchange and Communications servers (however, UCC certificates can now be installed on other servers as well).<\/p>\n

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Purchase SAN Certificate\/Multi-Domain SSL & Save Up to 88%!<\/h2>\n

We offer the best discount on all types of SAN SSL Certificates (Multi-Domain SSL). We offer certificates from the leading CAs, including Comodo CA, Sectigo, Thawte, and GeoTrust with SAN certificates starting as low as $18.02 per year.<\/p>\n

Shop SAN SSL Certificates<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
SAN Certificates<\/th>\nValidation Needs<\/th>\nWarranty Amount<\/th>\nIssuance Time<\/th>\nCheapest Price<\/th>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Comodo Positive Multi-Domain SSL<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\nDomain<\/td>\n$10K<\/td>\nMinutes<\/td>\n$18.02\/yr.<\/td>\nREAD MORE<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sectigo OV SSL Multi-Domain\/UCC<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\nDomain +
\nBasic Business<\/td>\n		$1MM<\/td>\n1-3 Days<\/td>\n$73.70\/yr.<\/td>\nREAD MORE<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comodo DV UCC SSL<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\nDomain<\/td>\n$25K<\/td>\nMinutes<\/td>\n$93.30\/yr.<\/td>\nREAD MORE<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
QuickSSL Premium SAN (Sub-Domains)<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\nDomain<\/td>\n$500K<\/td>\nMinutes<\/td>\n$96.69\/yr.<\/td>\nREAD MORE<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comodo Multi-Domain SSL<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\nDomain +
\nBasic Business<\/td>\n		$250K<\/td>\n1-3 Days<\/td>\n$101.14\/yr.<\/td>\nREAD MORE<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comodo UCC SSL<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\nDomain +
\nBasic Business<\/td>\n		$250K<\/td>\n1-3 Days<\/td>\n$101.92\/yr.<\/td>\nREAD MORE<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sectigo UCC SSL<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\nDomain +
\nBasic Business<\/td>\n		$1MM<\/td>\n1-3 Days<\/td>\n$101.92\/yr.<\/td>\nREAD MORE<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
GeoTrust True BusinessID Multi-Domain<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\nDomain +
\nBasic Business<\/td>\n		$1.25MM<\/td>\n1-3 Days<\/td>\n$125.94\/yr.<\/td>\nREAD MORE<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
PositiveSSL EV Multi-Domain<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\nDomain +
\nBasic Business<\/td>\n		$1MM<\/td>\n1-3 Days<\/td>\n$128.18\/yr.<\/td>\nREAD MORE<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Positive Multi-Domain Wildcard<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\nDomain<\/td>\n$10K<\/td>\n1-3 Days<\/td>\n$148.18\/yr.<\/td>\nREAD MORE<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Differentiating SAN vs Multi Domain SSL<\/h2>\n

A multi domain SSL certificate is a single certificate that covers multiple FQDN domains \u2014 or what are known as \u201cfully qualified domain names\u201d \u2014 such as www.domain.com or domain.com. These certificates typically include SAN fields that allow you to specify any additional host names you wish to secure. So, this means that most multi domain SSL certificates will allow you to secure multiple FQDN domains as well as hundreds of SANs.<\/p>\n

One important note: The list of SANs you include on a certificate are public \u2014 meaning that if you don\u2019t want people knowing that your domain is affiliated with another domain, it\u2019s best not to list it on that certificate. So, if you\u2019re a parent company that is known for selling vegetarian products but have another subsidiary that sells products containing animal byproducts, you may want to use a separate certificate.<\/em><\/p>\n

How a SAN Certificate Works<\/h2>\n

A SAN name in the SSL\/TLS certificate can be a domain name, a subdomain name, IP address, or even a common hostname. A user can add up to 250 subject alternative names in the subject field of a SAN or UCC SSL certificate.<\/p>\n

Now that we\u2019ve answered your original question about \u201cwhat is a SAN SSL certificate,\u201d let\u2019s break down how it works. Let\u2019s say, for example, that you have the domain \u201cmydomain.com.\u201d If you wanted to secure multiple domains, you could simply list them in the certificate\u2019s SAN field. Examples of SAN domains include:<\/p>\n