SSL Certificate expired- any Free options?

[goodraw]

Hi, the ssl certificate has expired on my wordpress site; we do not have e-commerce or take any form of payments on site- the only reason it was added was because ranking was affected negatively if you didn't have one.

We have located several,but have been unable to install,and after talking to TSO Host who are hosting the domain,they suggest that the hosting package we have with them won't allow it,but if we pay for a more expensive one,then we can install the certifacte!

Would anyone have advice on how to circumvent this; the site is fairly basic and we don't want to pay a great deal more than currently as the extras we don't need.

 

[fisicx]

Most decent hosts offer ssl for free. Mine get set up automatically.

 

[codefather]

Hello

Let's say you should always use an SSL certificate and even go HTTPS only because browsers are starting to scare people about not using encrypted connections.
Payments or not, if you have login for example, you definitely need HTTPS hence the SSL certificate.
So people should always and only use HTTPS connections.

Let's Encrypt is a Certificate Authority that issues free certificates.
(website letsncrypt.org, URLs are not allowed here)
You don't go to their website and get a certficate, you do with some client software usually installed on hosting servers, or another machine and then upload to your server.

However, if your hosting provider does not allow you to upload a certificate, there's not very much to do.
You can get as many free certificates you want, but you still have no choice for uploading them to the hosting server.
Other options liek reverse proxying may work, but you need another extra server to to the SSL proxying, which doesn't make sense, you add complexity, latency, and another cost.

The most obvious and efficient solution is actually to upgrade the hosting plan.
Your second option is to switch to another hosting provider which includes free SSL certificate by Let's Encrypt or any other CA.

 

[UkAppCoder]

Most decent hosts offer ssl for free. Mine get set up automatically.

So does mine. I suspect goodraw is on the £3.99 per month package at:

tsoHost is now a part of 123 Reg! | 123 Reg

Welcome to 123 Reg! Discover your new home for domains, email, web hosting, and more.

www.tsohost.com

... which does not include an SSL certificate.

Their next package is £16.99 plus VAT = £20.40 per month, which includes SSL.

I use a2hosting and pay £12.40 per month (including VAT).

Compare some packages, goodraw, and don't go too cheap if you want quality.

 

[goodraw]

Most decent hosts offer ssl for free. Mine get set up automatically.

May I ask who your host is?

 

[goodraw]

UKappcoder:

I'm actually on Lite hosting 14.99 PA!
They're discon. it and have put me on Cpanel Delux at ~£72 PA.
As I said,I don't need anything fancy and there seem to be quite a few at low prices;only prob is after a year or so they push up the prices.

 

[goodraw]

@codefather

Thanks for the info. I think moving to another host is best option

 

[fisicx]

May I ask who your host is?

I’ve got a dedicated server but it’s

Domain Name registration and Web Hosting | Hosting UK

Rated 5 stars by customers, Hosting UK provide great value Domain Names, Web Hosting, Windows & Linux hosting, Cloud and Dedicated Servers, with UK support.

hostinguk.net

 

[UkAppCoder]

goodraw wrote:

I'm actually on Lite hosting 14.99 PA!
They're discon. it and have put me on Cpanel Delux at ~£72 PA.
As I said,I don't need anything fancy and there seem to be quite a few at low prices;only prob is after a year or so they push up the prices.

Sounds outrageous, goodraw! I've been with my webhost for many years now. When I started with them, they promised never to increase my monthly charge, and they've stuck to that promise.

I don't know what they charge new customers, or whether they still offer the same promise, but you might like to check them out, or find a webhost with a similar promise. But do look for quality.

I have absolutely no affiliation with a2hosting, but I am a software engineer/programmer with over 20 years experience, and I can confidently assert that for just £12.40 per month on their shared hosting package, I potentially have one of the most powerful websites on the planet!

Your current host really sounds like it's taking the p.

EDIT: Sorry - I was reading "14.99" and "£72" as monthly charges instead of annual. Therefore my "outrageous" comment was out of order.

Nevertheless, you should still balance price with quality so that you can get your free SSL certificate. Good luck!

 

[goodraw]

Sounds outrageous, goodraw! I've been with my webhost for many years now. When I started with them, they promised never to increase my monthly charge, and they've stuck to that promise.

I don't know what they charge new customers, or whether they still offer the same promise, but you might like to check them out, or find a webhost with a similar promise. But do look for quality.

I have absolutely no affiliation with a2hosting, but I am a software engineer/programmer with over 20 years experience, and I can confidently assert that for just £12.40 per month on their shared hosting package, I potentially have one of the most powerful websites on the planet!

Your current host really sounds like it's taking the p.

Yes they are.
When I started with them they were quite good,as was their support;but now that's gone too.

The new rate won't start till Jan 23; and I'll check out a2hosting-thanks for the heads up.

 

[fisicx]

How important to your business is the website? If it’s a key component in your marketing plan pay a bit more for some decent hosting. Especially as it’s a business expense and tax deductible.

 

[Securigo]

Hi, I will recommend letsencrypt, easy and totally free

 

[codefather]

What about OVHcloud hosting WITH Let's Encrypt SSL, £1.18/month ?

 

[YasmeenLondon]

My recommendation is that you change hosts, as many have mentioned any decent host will provide the SSL for free, letsencrypt is a good option, I've used it on countless websites, my worry with your hosting is that they couldn't care less about security, and in shared hosting this is a recipe for disaster.

 

[NickGrogan]

I've never heard of shared hosting without SSL, definitely time to change.

I use WebhostUK - shared hosting - cheapest package, with SSL is £14.99 per year. Business Cloud at £50 per year is plenty for most sites.

 

[gpietersz]

Cpanel Delux at ~£72 PA

Cpanel can be configured to let you install a free Lets Encrypt certificate and most hosts will do that or similar. It looks like TSOHost are keen on extracting some money out of you for SSL for no good reason.

They used to be quite good a few years ago, but since they got bought by GoDaddy they seem to have gone downhill. When any kind of hosting company gets taken over, you should almost always start looking for alternatives.

I've never heard of shared hosting without SSL, definitely time to change.

I have, but not for a few years now! When I had my first website in about 1998 SSL was still a rarity but over the last few years it has become rare to see a site that is not https. Most mail servers were open relays too. Doing that sort of thing now is not a good idea

 

[Russ Michaels]

LetsEncrypt is the free option. But dealing with this manually if your host does not suppor tit is a PITA. You will have to manually renew every 3 months.
the easiest solution will be to use a host that offers letsencrypt, any decent host offers this,

here is an explanation of lets encrypt vs paid ssl.
This site will not allow me to post links, just remove the bit that says <remove>
https<remove>://michaels.me.uk/lets-encrypt-vs-paid-ssl-certificates/

The other option, if you want to stay with your current host is to use Cloudflare to proxy your domain.

 

[webjaved]

TSO Host should be able to install Let's Encrypt SSL for free.

They're awful. I would recommend moving away from them.

You can also set up your domain in Cloudflare, point the nameservers to it and then use the SSL provided by Cloudflare. You don't have to worry about it expiring/renewing.

 

[SteveWestropUK]

TSO are on my 'hosts to avoid' list - not worth the battle, in the same way that most of their services aren't worth the price. The used to have a good reputation until selling their soul to NoDaddy.

Full disclosure - I provide webhosting with SSL included, but more interested in keeping people safe from bad hosts than keeping my bank balance up. Krystal are very good if you want to stick with a mainstream provider that cares.

 

[ctrlbrk]

Krystal are very good if you want to stick with a mainstream provider that cares.

I just checked these guys up. They claim "99.99% uptime guaranteed" in their hosting plans, then you check their actual uptime and there are obvious gaps.

 

[ecommerce84]

I’d also not recommend TSO Host - I was a customer with Compila years ago, they got bought by VidaHost who in turn got bought out by TSO Host, and I’m sure TSO were owned by GoDaddy.

The service, speed, uptime, everything plummeted overnight.

I moved to GURU (guru.co.uk) after a recommendation on here and couldn’t be happier. They include SSL as standard on all their packages.

 

[RussellWhiting]

Hi, the ssl certificate has expired on my wordpress site; we do not have e-commerce or take any form of payments on site- the only reason it was added was because ranking was affected negatively if you didn't have one.

We have located several,but have been unable to install,and after talking to TSO Host who are hosting the domain,they suggest that the hosting package we have with them won't allow it,but if we pay for a more expensive one,then we can install the certifacte!

Would anyone have advice on how to circumvent this; the site is fairly basic and we don't want to pay a great deal more than currently as the extras we don't need.

Route your domain through CloudFlare and then obtain a free SSL. here is the link https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/ssl/

 

[fisicx]

Route your domain through CloudFlare and then obtain a free SSL. here is the link https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/ssl/

Except cloud flare can put a big dent in your site performance. Far better to use a host that automatically gives you an SSL.

 

[gpietersz]

Except cloud flare can put a big dent in your site performance. Far better to use a host that automatically gives you an SSL.

That depends what you are doing. If every request has to be relayed through to your site (e.g. a web API) then yes. If you have lots of static assets and users in locations distant from where your site is hosted, then its probably going to be a lot faster.

 

[fisicx]

That depends what you are doing. If every request has to be relayed through to your site (e.g. a web API) then yes. If you have lots of static assets and users in locations distant from where your site is hosted, then its probably going to be a lot faster.

Indeed. But most sites are local. Very few have a true international scope.

A well optimised site on decent hosting doesn’t need to be cloudy. Trouble is people often choose cheap shared hosting. Hence the topic of this thread.

 

[gpietersz]

Indeed. But most sites are local. Very few have a true international scope.

True, but some quite small sites in certain sectors (travel, holiday accommodation etc for example) do have international scope so its wroth mentioning - for other people, as it does not look like the OP's business is in one of those sectors.

I suspect you share my dislike of adding unnecessary components to a site, but sometimes its worth it.

 

[fisicx]

I’m helping someone right now who was using a cdn on their site. Completely pointless as their site is almost entirely text. Moved everything back to a UK server and page load speed dropped from just over 2 seconds to about 0.6. The cdn was making things slower.

 

[goodraw]

Thank you all for your contributions.

So I have moved to a new hosting company, namely Webhost.uk.net. Its only ~£17 pa including free SSL lets encrypt cert.

The client portal page looks very much like TSO host !!! I got a feeling that the ownership is the same!

Is go daddy REALLY the BIG daddy!

 

[Russ Michaels]

Thank you all for your contributions.

So I have moved to a new hosting company, namely Webhost.uk.net. Its only ~£17 pa including free SSL lets encrypt cert.

The client portal page looks very much like TSO host !!! I got a feeling that the ownership is the same!

Is go daddy REALLY the BIG daddy!

no Godaddy are absolutely awful, stay away. Search other threads on here about them.

 

[Russ Michaels]

Hi, the ssl certificate has expired on my wordpress site; we do not have e-commerce or take any form of payments on site- the only reason it was added was because ranking was affected negatively if you didn't have one.

We have located several,but have been unable to install,and after talking to TSO Host who are hosting the domain,they suggest that the hosting package we have with them won't allow it,but if we pay for a more expensive one,then we can install the certifacte!

Would anyone have advice on how to circumvent this; the site is fairly basic and we don't want to pay a great deal more than currently as the extras we don't need.

TSO host are rubbish, I have had many clients who use them, and every single one has had issues with terrible support as have I.
All decent hosts offer free letsencrypt ssl these days.
The fact that TSO host does not offer lets encrypt and tells you to upgrade to even install SSL at all says it all really.
SSL is required by default on all sites, otherwise, you get the "not secure" message in the browser, and also affects SEO.

 

[goodraw]

no Godaddy are absolutely awful, stay away. Search other threads on here about them.

Hi Russ,
I know go daddy took over TSO host. And the service declined soon after.

However, I don't know if they own Webhost.uk.net. I commented on it as the client portal page looks suspiciously like that of TSO.
It's working fine,but proof of pudding will be if theres are any problems in the future,and I have to engage with them.

 

[Russ Michaels]

Hi Russ,
I know go daddy took over TSO host. And the service declined soon after.

However, I don't know if they own Webhost.uk.net. I commented on it as the client portal page looks suspiciously like that of TSO.
It's working fine,but proof of pudding will be if theres are any problems in the future,and I have to engage with them.

most hosts use the same billing system called WHMCS, including TSO,, so thus they all look the same unless they use a custom theme.

 

[goodraw]

most hosts use the same billing system called WHMCS, including TSO,, so thus they all look the same unless they use a custom theme.

?

 

[webhostuk]

Hi Russ,
I know go daddy took over TSO host. And the service declined soon after.

However, I don't know if they own Webhost.uk.net. I commented on it as the client portal page looks suspiciously like that of TSO.
It's working fine,but proof of pudding will be if theres are any problems in the future,and I have to engage with them.

We are completely self-owned company with no relation with either TSO or godaddy. So nothing to worry about, Yes we do use WHMCS for billing and we also offer Free SSL and auto-update . Incase you need more information please feel free to contact us.. We are available 24x7 .

 

[goodraw]

We are completely self-owned company with no relation with either TSO or godaddy. So nothing to worry about, Yes we do use WHMCS for billing and we also offer Free SSL and auto-update . Incase you need more information please feel free to contact us.. We are available 24x7 .

Thank you! Nice to know my website hosting company is on this forum.

 

[webhostuk]

Thank you! Nice to know my website hosting company is on this forum.

We have been on UKBF since 2009 .

 

[macScot]

We used Cloudflare which gives you a free account.
So now our domain points to cloudflare and cloudflare points to our webserver.

 

[goodraw]

We have been on UKBF since 2009 .

I noticed that it says the SSL certificate is for 3 months only?

Does is renew automatically?

 

[KM-Tiger]

I noticed that it says the SSL certificate is for 3 months only?

Does is renew automatically?

3 months is normal for Letsencrypt free certs.

Software on a server renews automatically.

 

[webhostuk]

I noticed that it says the SSL certificate is for 3 months only?

Does is renew automatically?

Yes it renews auto.