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As someone who's using StartCom for several years I'm really anxious now. I may use Let's Encrypt for a few sites but not for all and I also got my email certi

by Kovah 10y ago

As someone who's using StartCom for several years I'm really anxious now. I may use Let's Encrypt for a few sites but not for all and I also got my email certificates from StartCom. As far as I know there's no suitable alternative that does not cost $500+ per year, or does anyone have an advice for me?

byuu 10y ago
I hate to say it, but if you need the functionality that Let's Encrypt won't offer (wildcard certificates, longer validity lengths, not wanting/needing to run certbot, code signing, etc) ... your best bet is to look for the SSL resellers. I'm not going to name the one I used (as I'm not marketing for them), but I purchased a three-year AlphaSSL wildcard certificate recently for a little over $110 (for all three years, so less than $40/yr.) It ... absolutely defies common sense that certificate resellers are a thing; but indeed it's the very same certificate I'd have gotten had I paid $150/yr on AlphaSSL's site. The CA model is just completely broken. But right now, our only choice is to find the lowest amount of money to be taken for if we want full HTTPS functionality. And at the moment, that's with the resellers :/
- 0x0 10y ago
  It's funny but I've seen the same thing with virtual carriers for mobile phones. The big name brand can charge a premium because lots of people feel uneasy going with a no-name service. Then they turn around and grab the rest of the market, the price conscious consumers, with an off-brand, avoiding damaging their big name revenue. I'm sure there's even people believing "if it costs more it must be better".
- caf 10y ago
  It ... absolutely defies common sense that certificate resellers are a thing I think that's the kind of thing you should expect in any market where the cost of serving a new customer is dominated by the marketing & sales costs in acquiring that customer.

by Kovah 10y ago

byuu 10y ago

I hate to say it, but if you need the functionality that Let's Encrypt won't offer (wildcard certificates, longer validity lengths, not wanting/needing to run certbot, code signing, etc) ... your best bet is to look for the SSL resellers. I'm not going to name the one I used (as I'm not marketing for them), but I purchased a three-year AlphaSSL wildcard certificate recently for a little over $110 (for all three years, so less than $40/yr.) It ... absolutely defies common sense that certificate resellers are a thing; but indeed it's the very same certificate I'd have gotten had I paid $150/yr on AlphaSSL's site. The CA model is just completely broken. But right now, our only choice is to find the lowest amount of money to be taken for if we want full HTTPS functionality. And at the moment, that's with the resellers :/

0x0 10y ago
It's funny but I've seen the same thing with virtual carriers for mobile phones. The big name brand can charge a premium because lots of people feel uneasy going with a no-name service. Then they turn around and grab the rest of the market, the price conscious consumers, with an off-brand, avoiding damaging their big name revenue. I'm sure there's even people believing "if it costs more it must be better".
caf 10y ago
It ... absolutely defies common sense that certificate resellers are a thing I think that's the kind of thing you should expect in any market where the cost of serving a new customer is dominated by the marketing & sales costs in acquiring that customer.