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An encryption-based internet security protocol, SSL or “Secure Sockets Layer,” provides a high degree of protection to your website and its data from potential attackers. As a result, your customers can share their sensitive information over the site without worries. But this SSL certificate comes at a cost.
Luckily, web hosting service providers now bundle a “free SSL certificate” with all their plans. And you need to renew it after every 30-90 days (if automatic renewals aren’t available to you.)
This article takes you through the ten best web hosting with free SSL, their detailed reviews, and more. So let’s start without any further ado.
Here Are The Top Web Hosting With Free SSL
- HostArmada – Best Web Hosting With Amazing Customer Support
- FastComet – Best Web Hosting For Shared & Cloud Hosting
- A2 Hosting – Best Web Hosting For Linux
- Ultahost – Best Web Hosting With High Security
- Verpex Hosting – Best Cheap Web Hosting
10 Best Web Hosting With Free SSL (Bought & Tested)
Launched in 2019, HostArmada might still need time to be an experienced player in the market. Still, it has managed to secure the top spot in our review, courtesy of its amazing plans (Start Dock, Web Warp, and Speed Reaper) and excellent 24/7 customer service. You’ll also be impressed with its easy-to-navigate cPanel, 99.99% uptime, different hosting types, free SSL, decent inode count, and more. Their pricing starts at $2.49/month – apt for individuals and small businesses.
- Overall Score – 4.9
- Features – 4.8
- Reliability – 4.9
- User Friendly – 4.8
- Support – 4.7
- Pricing – 4.8
Features – Besides free SSL with all its three hosting plans, you also get a free domain, daily auto backups, multiple location hosting, one-click website migration, and more. Added to these are multiple layers of high-tech security firewalls.
Reliability – HostArmada ensures high-end performance with SSD implementation and utilization of HTTP/2 & HTTP/3 servers. Their entry-level plans are powered by an NGINX web server, whereas the top tier uses LiteSpeed for unmatched performance.
User Friendly – With free migration and cPanel integration, seamlessly manage and control the hosting features for your website’s performance. One-click application installer and automatic updates add to HostArmadas’s user-friendliness.
Support – HostArmada’s customer support is one of their biggest positives, with 24/7 live chat support for quick resolutions. In addition, the team is prompt, technical, and on-point. Regarding response times, it’s instant on chat & phone and 1 hour on ticket & email.
Pricing – The company has three competitive plans, starting at just $2.49/month (Start Dock) and going to $4.49/month (Speed Reaper). The middle plan, i.e., Web Warp, costs just $3.74/month. All these plans are designed to serve individuals, SMEs, and large businesses.
Pros
- Next-level security with the latest technologies in all plans
- All-in-one cPanel that’s easy to use
- Allows more traffic even on the basic Start Dock plan
- Quick scalability as and when required
Cons
- Not so-reliable refund policy
- Responsiveness over tickets & emails can be improved
With 4.9 stars out of 5 on Trustpilot, you can never go wrong with FastComet. Whether starting a new website or migrating the old one, FastComet has a rich collection of features, especially if you’re interested in its shared and cloud hosting. Web Application Firewall (WAF), expansive website builder, free domain transfer, daily backups and much more, make FastComet worth trying. From individuals and small startups to large business owners, FastComet welcomes all.
- Overall Score – 4.7
- Features – 4.6
- Reliability – 4.6
- User Friendly – 4.6
- Support – 4.7
- Pricing – 4.6
Features – SSD-based hosting, custom plans, Cloudflare integration, 360° website security, daily/weekly backups, and free migration are some of the amazing features of FastComet.
Reliability – FastComet promises an uptime of 99.95%, a response time of 0.92 seconds, and a loading time of less than a minute. All these numbers speak to the brand’s reliability. Remember the 11 server locations for unmatched website performance and round-the-clock availability.
User Friendly – FastComet is a huge hit among newbies for its user-friendliness. It’s simple to use, packed with useful systems and equipment, mobile-friendly, and more. Let’s not forget everyone’s favorite – all-rounder cPanel with all the latest features accessible at your fingertips.
Support – Leaving aside the response time of 3.8 seconds, we appreciate FastComet’s support staff, that’s reachable via email, phone, tickets, and live chat.
Pricing – Starting at just $2.49 and the most premium plan, Shared hosting, costing merely $4.99, FastComet is probably the cheapest web hosting with free SSL we’ve come across.
Pros
- Stable cloud infrastructure powered by Linode
- Best-in-class Shared hosting pricing
- No malware or attacks with enhanced security mechanisms
- 45-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- No domain name included
- Most advanced features are only available in the premium plans
What makes A2Hosting sit at the top 8 is its reliability, performance, and ability to serve startups, bloggers, eCommerce vendors, and larger businesses like no one else. Launched in 2003, A2Hosting has servers in Amsterdam, Michigan, Arizona, and Singapore. While the web hosting providers with free SSL discussed so far offer Windows hosting, this company caters to Linux users.
- Overall Score – 4.6
- Features – 4.6
- Reliability – 4.7
- User Friendly – 4.5
- Support – 4.6
- Pricing – 4.5
Features – Feature-wise, A2Hosting doesn’t come up with anything unique, and you get unlimited NVMe SSD storage, free SSL, quick site migration, free automatic backups, choice of data center location, etc. But most features are hidden under the Turbo.
Reliability – If we talk about how reliable A2Hosting is, it gets a 4.6/5 from our experts. It offers an average loading time of 597 and a response time of 1289 ms. The company also guarantees an uptime of 99.9%, i.e., your website is down less than 1/1000th of the time.
User Friendly – We felt a little disappointed when we encountered the old cPanel popular back in the early 2000s. It needs subtle aesthetics but not functionality. For example, it lets you add your domain, install WordPress, set up an email account, manage security settings, boost performance, etc.
Support – A2Hosting has a good support system, if not the best. If you’re facing any problems, you can contact their technical support executives 24/7 via phone, live chat, or email. However, there can be some wait time, depending upon their availability.
Pricing – The pricing of A2Hosting depends on the hosting you choose – Shared, WordPress, VPS, and Dedicated. If you’re interested in the basic plan, be ready to shell out $2.99, $11.99, $39.99, and $155.99, respectively. But note that the last three plan rates are for a 2-3 years commitment.
Pros
- Amazing 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Caters to everyone’s needs
- Decent multi-channel support system
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- Website loading time isn’t the best
- Quite expensive and only for Linux-based hosting
Whether a blog, eCommerce store, social networking site, or company website, Ultahost takes each to new heights with its blazing-fast web hosting and top-notch security. Furthermore, it has 7 data centers in Germany, Canada, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, the United States, and the European Union. Founded in 2018, UltaHost is one of those few web hosting services with a guaranteed uptime of 100%. So, if nothing else makes you think about UltaHost, its unmatched uptime will surely do.
- Overall Score – 4.8
- Features – 4.7
- Reliability – 4.8
- User Friendly – 4.8
- Support – 4.8
- Pricing – 4.7
Features – Some cool features of UltaHost that we liked include SSD-only servers, Cloudflare CDN, SSH & SFTP access, vertical scaling, RocketBooster, etc. Additionally, you get a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Reliability – Reliability is the biggest positive for UltaHost as their state-of-the-art data centers ensure 100% uptime, quick loading speed, and the least time. What about security? Don’t worry, as dedicated firewalls, IP whitelisting, BitNinja security, and database security have your back.
User Friendly – With a user and navigation-friendly cPanel, it’s very straightforward to control everything related to your website. Domain name registration, migration, connecting to the support team, website building, and much more can easily be done via the cPanel.
Support – The support team at UltaHost is responsive over all available mediums, email, phone, live chat, and tickets. You can also get your queries resolved through their extensive knowledge base.
Pricing – UltaHost has a broad range of plans, categorized into Shared, VPS, VDS, and Dedicated hostings. These cost $3.29, $5.50, $37.50, and $129.90, respectively. Some common features in all plans include full root access, free SSL certificates, free domain transfer, NVMe SSD storage, etc.
Pros
- Excellent 100% uptime
- Decent pricing with year-around discounts
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Numerous apps and tools integration
Cons
- Domain transfers on monthly plans aren’t free
- No refund for domain registration and cPanel
Another great web hosting solution with a free SSL is Verpex, founded in 2018. Besides their best-in-class uptime guarantee of up to 99.99% and website speed of 8128kb, the company also offers unlimited free migrations irrespective of the plan. We highly recommend Verpex to individuals and SMEs due to the limit (10) of the number of websites that can be hosted.
- Overall Score – 4.8
- Features – 4.6
- Reliability – 4.6
- User Friendly – 4.7
- Support – 4.7
- Pricing – 4.8
Features – On the features front, Verpex offers you lots of options. For example, daily backups, unlimited bandwidth, free SSL, domain name, LiteSpeed server, and unlimited migration. All that at just $0.99/month is amazing!
Reliability – Verpex, too, does a good job with 8128kb website speed, 99.50%-99.99% uptime, and 1.8 seconds loading speed. Don’t fret about your sites’ security with high-end firewalls and encryption.
User Friendly – As aforementioned, Verpex is an amazing choice for newbies as it’s extremely user-friendly. It comes with an easy-to-use cPanel, one-click WordPress installation, a team of hosting experts, etc.
Support – Verpex takes pride in its vast customer support system housing reliable members. Based on your requirements, you can get your queries resolved through email, live chat, phone number, and a ticketing system.
Pricing – Beginners or SME owners can choose any web hosting plan among the four – Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold with many common offerings. While Verpex’s basic Iron plan comes under a dollar/month, its premium plan, Gold, is priced at $6/month with many common features.
Pros
- LiteSpeed web server-powered hosting plans for immense performance
- Multiple hosting plans
- Cheapest monthly plans ever, starting at $0.99/month for the “Iron” plan
- Incredible website speed
Cons
- Can just host ten websites
- Slightly costly renewal rates
Ranking comparison between the Top Providers
Best Web Hosting With SSL: Final Recommendation
That’s everything you should know about the best web hosting with free SSL. Be it your personal blog, an eCommerce store, or large business websites, a legit SSL certification is a must for you and your visitors’ safety.
Fortunately, there are a significant number of web hosting providers that offer it for free with all their plans. The above are a handful of them.
Our best pick is HostArmada due to its cheap yet comprehensive hosting plans starting at just $2.49/month, free domain name, free migration, intuitive cPanel, and more. Be it individuals or businesses, HostArmada caters to all. HostArmada also has a robust security system in place, courtesy of CPHulk BruteForce protection, an IP-based firewall, and regular updates.
How Do We Rank The Best Web Hosting With Free SSL?
Our team of experts, along with AI, has performed several category-specific and independent tests across various aspects to present the best web hosting with free SSL through this piece. Besides thorough in-house testing in real-time, we also evaluated genuine customer reviews of each web hosting.
The key parameters that helped us rank the best web hosting with free SSL are as follows.
- User Reviews: ”Genuine” user reviews are the best way to understand where web hosting stands in the crowd. Be it beginners or professionals, every review counts.
- Performance & Reliability: What is the guaranteed uptime? In case of any downtime, does the company have any compensation policy? Don’t settle for anything less than 99.99% uptime, with 99.95% being the least the best web hosting with free SSL offers.
- Types Of Hosting Offered: We evaluate what types of hosting the company offers. For example, shared, dedicated, reseller, VPS, WordPress, cloud, and more. The more hosting types, the better.
- Customer Support: Live chat, phone, email, tickets, and knowledge base are our prime focus while evaluating the hosting provider for its customer support. Round-the-clock availability of experienced executives is brownie points.
- Site Speed: No visitor will prefer to wait for your site to load for a long time. This leads to a high bounce rate on your website. That’s why we consider the website loading speed of each hosting provider, which depends on SSDs, the number of data centers, the location of servers, etc.
- Bandwidth & Storage: The next parameter of our evaluation process includes the available bandwidth & storage. While more storage means you can store more content on the servers, a high bandwidth means more data visibility to your visitors at any time.
- Traffic Volume: Although you can scale your requirements anytime, we appreciate a high-traffic volume handling capacity from the beginning—for example, 2,000, 3,000, 5,000, or even 10,000 visitors per month.
- Scaling Potential: How quickly the company lets you scale your requirements? Does this process take time and cost significantly? One-click scalability with minimal costs is our chief determinant here.
- Features Included: What features does each hosting plan bring to your table? Domain name, site migration, daily/weekly backups, and server, among others, are standard, irrespective of the company.
- Ease Of Use: We analyze how easy everything is for beginners, from creating their website to monitoring it through the cPanel.
- Starting Price: What is the starting price? Is it worth considering the plan’s features, or is it too much? Most hosting providers charge anything between $1 to $2.50 for their base plan.
- Money-Back Guarantee: It’s common to feel unsatisfied with the hosting services after some time and make up your mind for another host. In such a case, what’s the money-back guarantee? Or is there any full refund policy? Here, a fixed trial period comes in handy.
- Other Factors: Founding year, accomplishments, positive reviews from reputed hosting review sites, last downtime duration, and more also affect a web hosting’s ratings.
How Should You Choose The Best Web Hosting With Free SSL?
Choosing the best web hosting with free SSL may not be easy, with so many hosting services now accessible. However, the following tips will surely narrow down your search, besides saving time and effort.
Website Builder
Nowadays, almost every web hosting with free SSL provides at least one built-in website builder (for example, BoldGrid) with plans to get you started. However, these website builders mostly comprise ready-made templates for a slick-looking website without coding skills or expertise. Ensure your chosen web hosting helps you with an in-house website builder.
SSD Storage
SSDs are the future of data storage in web hosting, as they are much faster, more reliable, power efficient, and durable than conventional HDDs. Most importantly, they have a longer life span and silent operation due to a lack of moving parts.
Note: Almost every web hosting provider has switched to SDDs from HDDs. The above-discussed web hostings are all SSD-based.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is another crucial parameter that determines the quality of your web host’s networks, connections, and systems. Since it’s the capacity of the data and traffic allowed to travel between your website, users, and the internet, it should be sufficient for your requirements.
In general, note down your web page size, views, and monthly visitors to estimate your ideal website bandwidth. For example, 1 GB, 5 GB, 10 GB, 20 GB, 50 GB, etc. But don’t worry much about it, as you can also scale your bandwidth in the future.
Customer Support
The hosting company’s customer support team must be available round-the-clock for quick resolutions of your technical queries. And through different mediums, for example, live chat, email, phone, and tickets. Check your Service Level Agreement (SLA) to know everything about the company’s support system.
Money-Back Guarantees
What if you didn’t like the hosting company’s features or developed complaints regarding the support team within the first few days or weeks only? For such situations, it’s necessary to have a money-back policy in place. It would ensure a 100% refund (or as per the company’s policies) if you felt like you needed more than the services.
Uptime
Uptime (the time your website is operational and accessible to its users) is critical for establishing trust among your users and for more traffic, page views, and sales. As a rule of thumb, 99.99% is the uptime you should strive for. This means your site will be down for an average of fewer than 6 minutes in the year.
Remember that not all web hosting companies guarantee a 99.99% uptime. So, keep a close watch on what you’re getting. But never consider yourself in safe waters with anything less than 99.95%.
Security
According to Fundera, over 43% of small businesses were on the radar of cyber attacks in 2021. Thus, security is the next big thing when paying for web hosting.
Ask yourself these questions and decide: Is there any spam protection? Are there dedicated firewalls? What type of SSL certificate is available?
In addition, if you conduct financial transactions on your website, you must monitor and safeguard all transactions from distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Solutions such as CloudFlare and SiteLock are popular security options.
Scalability
Last but not least, you must keep your future website requirements focused when deciding upon your web hosting with free SSL.
With time, your website may see a spike in monthly traffic which, of course, will impact the website’s storage space, servers, loading speed, security, etc. Therefore, the company should have easy scalability options to cater to all these requirements at reasonable rates.
What Is The Significance Of Web Hosting With SSL? Who Is It For?
The best web hosting with free SSL is vital for business websites that collect user information (such as email addresses, contact details, credit card info, etc.). Still, any website benefits in one way or another from SSL.
Below are the top 3 reasons why web hosting with SSL is significant.
- Establish Trust
Do you know as much as 46% of visitors are likely to skip your website if it’s without SSL? If you’re an eCommerce business owner, this is a huge loss. Isn’t it?
That’s why an SSL certification is a must, especially to establish trust among your users. As a result, visitors can safely exchange their sensitive information with your website, converting them into customers.
- Boost Website Security
An SSL certificate also boosts your website’s security against attackers. It encrypts every piece of data on the site, unlocking more complex security to make it hard to intercept the data exchange.
- Help In SEO
Lastly, SSL certification is also significant to achieve higher search engine rankings.
For your information, Google displays a “Not Secure” warning message on non-SSL sites to alert users about the potential threats on that site. This severely affects any site’s rankings.
But with one, you can leapfrog your competitors on rankings that don’t have an SSL.
