The Best WordPress Hosting Companies That Support Let’s Encrypt

This year has seen an explosion of interest in privacy-minded web hosts, especially since the introduction of the GDPR in May 2018. Now more than ever, website owners and developers are starting to see the value in keeping their visitors’ personal data safe and secure.

Since the beginning of this year, several big name web hosts have announced support for Let’s Encrypt, the open source certificate authority that encrypts your web traffic and stores it securely on their servers. This means that if you host your website with any of these providers, all your traffic will be encrypted (scam alert!). The main reasons why so many web hosts support Let’s Encrypt are because everyone, from small businesses to large corporations, depend on the Internet for daily activity. If someone or something goes wrong with the infrastructure supporting your website, you could have serious problems.

Let’s Encrypt is a free certificate authority operated by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG), a nonprofit dedicated to making the web safer for everyone. The reason why ISRG picked Let’s Encrypt to support is because it’s a flexible and open-source alternative to the more traditional, commercial certificate authorities such as Comodo and GeoTrust. Traditional certificate authorities require you to purchase a license from them in order to get a certificate, while Let’s Encrypt is completely free. Additionally, traditional authorities limit the number of certificates you can get per day, while Let’s Encrypt has no such limit.

1⇒2: What Type of Web Hosting Should You Use?

When deciding which web host to go with, you’ll need to examine a number of factors. While not all of these factors will apply to your situation, you should have a general idea of what to look for.

For the purposes of this article, we are going to discuss the two most crucial factors that you need to make sure are addressed by whatever web host you select; these are the security and privacy of your data.

On the surface, it may seem like a virtual tie between the two companies discussed below; however, if you examine both of their websites, you’ll discover that one company actually offers a better user experience than the other (in case you’re wondering, go with the one with the green button!). In all likelihood, you’ll have different priorities and may not need all the features that the more expensive company can offer. That being said, it’s always a smart move to spend a little more money where you need it.

1⇒3: Is Staying With The Big Boys A Good Idea?

With the explosion of interest in privacy among webmasters and bloggers, it’s no surprise that so many have jumped on the Let’s Encrypt bandwagon. Among the web hosts that support the encryption initiative, there are several big names; some of which can also provide you with a better overall user experience than the big boys (see above for 1⇒2).

Forbes recently published an article listing several reasons why you may want to choose a smaller, more nimble company over a larger one; some of the advantages smaller web hosts offer include a better customer experience and more control over the appearance and functionality of your site.

Oftentimes, you’ll hear webmasters and bloggers discuss the idea of staying away from shared hosting and opting for either a VPS (virtual private server) or dedicated hosting instead. While both options provide greater control over the appearance and functionality of your site, shared hosting poses a greater security risk because all of your data is stored on behalf of others. With dedicated hosting, on the other hand, you’re storing your data on servers that are solely dedicated to you.

Where Can I Buy SSL Certificates?

As discussed above, HTTPS is an umbrella term that refers to a secure version of what would normally be an HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) connection. When a user clicks the little lock icon in the address bar of their browser, they are being redirected to a secure site (i.e., one that uses HTTPS).

While the primary purpose of HTTPS is to provide a secure connection to a website, it also has the side effect of making the web content more accessible. When a user lands on a secure site, their device will present them with a small lock icon, indicating that the site is encrypted and, as a result, more trustworthy.

An SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt is currently available for sale for just $12.95 for a year’s worth of domain validation. Plus, if you purchase a premium account from one of the supported web hosts, you’ll receive a free dedicated IP address (as seen in the image below).

You should purchase a certificate that will stay valid for a year; this way, if you ever decide to renew it, the price will stay the same.

How Do I Buy An SSL Certificate?

Let’s Encrypt offers a straightforward path to obtaining a digital certificate for your website, with just a few steps required to get started.

First, you’ll need to choose a domain name for your site. If you already have a domain for your site, like https://www.betapro.com/, you can skip this step and go straight to the next.

Next, you’ll need to decide which type of certificate to purchase; a wildcard certificate will cover all subdomains of your chosen domain (e.g., https://www.betapro.com, https://blog.betapro.com, etc.), while a domain-validated certificate will be tied to just your chosen domain (e.g., https://www.betapro.com). These two types of certificates provide the same level of security, but the former is more convenient because all of your subdomains will be covered by one certificate.

If you decide to go with a domain validated certificate, you’ll need to provide some basic information about yourself. This should include a contact email address and, if you’re applying for a business certificate, you’ll need to provide some basic information about your company. After you provide this information, you’ll be able to purchase the certificate that you need.

If you’re applying for a wildcard certificate, you don’t need to provide any contact information because the certificate automatically covers all subdomains. Additionally, if you’re applying for a business certificate, you won’t need to provide any information about your company. However, if you want to stay anonymous, you can provide a fake name and email address, and no one will be any the wiser.

Let’s Encrypt – The Open Source Version Of The Giant

Perhaps the most recognizable name among the hosts that support Let’s Encrypt is WordPress itself because of its incredibly popular content management system. In fact, WordPress itself is a proud supporter of Let’s Encrypt and uses the platform to host several of their own websites. Even the company’s name is a derivative of Let’s Encrypt. The list of WordPress-related domain names that utilize Let’s Encrypt is huge and includes some of the biggest and most well-known blogs and websites in the world. Given its popularity, it’s not surprising that WordPress chooses Let’s Encrypt to power websites related to the company’s own product.

Why Use WordPress?

There are many reasons why you might want to use WordPress, but perhaps the biggest is that it’s open-source. This means that instead of being housed in a physical location and controlled by a company (like most proprietary software), WordPress’ code is available for anyone to download and examine. As a result, if you ever feel that your rights are being violated or that the software is faulty, you have the option of taking it down and replacing it with the latest version.

Additionally, while WordPress is extremely popular and has millions of websites running on it, the community spirit among webmasters and bloggers is incredibly welcoming. If you ever need help or advice, you’re sure to find someone who will help you out or who has already been through the same situation you’re in.

When it comes to selecting a web host, you’ll need to look for the one that offers the best value based on a number of factors. To begin with, you should look for a host that is currently supporting the Let’s Encrypt certificate authority. Not only does this mean that all of your traffic will be encrypted, but it also provides you with greater peace of mind because your sensitive data will be stored on secure servers.