{"id":653,"date":"2019-09-04T18:08:10","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T18:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cheapsslsecurity.com\/p\/?p=653"},"modified":"2021-05-24T11:20:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T11:20:29","slug":"how-does-a-wildcard-certificate-work-and-how-much-will-it-cost-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cheapsslsecurity.com\/p\/how-does-a-wildcard-certificate-work-and-how-much-will-it-cost-me\/","title":{"rendered":"How Does a Wildcard Certificate Work and How Much Will It Cost Me?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine you\u2019ve got a multitude of subdomains you want to secure but also don\u2019t want to deal with managing individual certificates to cover each one. What do you do? You use a wildcard SSL certificate. But what exactly is a wildcard certificate? How does a wildcard certificate work, and how much does it cost?<\/p>\n

How Do Wildcard Certificates Work?<\/h2>\n

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In the most general sense, wildcard SSL certificates<\/a> are SSL\/TLS certificates are x.509 digital certificates that help to facilitate a secure, encrypted connection between your client (your visitor\u2019s web browser) and your web server. Ever heard of an SSL\/TLS handshake<\/a>? Yeah, these certificates help to make that process possible to not only authenticate your site and\/or organization \u2014 depending on your validation level \u2014 but also to protect the integrity of your data.<\/p>\n

More specifically, wildcard SSL certificates are used to secure your main domain \u2014 also known as a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) \u2014 and an unlimited number of subdomains on a single level<\/em>. Again, to reiterate: A wildcard SSL certificate does not<\/strong> secure subdomains on all levels<\/em>. Anyone who tells you that they do is lying and should be drawn and quartered.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, if anyone tells you that you can purchase (or, worse, get for free) a wildcard EV SSL certificate<\/a> \u2014 meaning one that comes with extended validation (EV) \u2014 then they need to be tarred and feathered before being drawn and quartered.<\/p>\n

Okay, we admit, that may be a bit harsh. But that kind of industry dishonesty is what makes our jobs more difficult when people come to us with incorrect assumptions. The CA\/B forum strictly prohibits the issuance of EV wildcard SSL certificates<\/a> because EV requires an in-depth verification process of the domain and requesting organization before any reputable CAs will issue them. Wildcard certificates are issued with either domain validation (DV) or organization validation (OV) only.<\/p>\n

\u2026 And this is why we\u2019re here to educate you about how wildcard SSL certificates work in real-world applications.<\/p>\n

How Much Does a Wildcard SSL Certificate Cost?<\/h2>\n

Now that you know how these certificates work, how much do they cost? The cost of a wildcard SSL certificate differs depending on a few different factors, including:<\/p>\n