RapidSSL is owned by VeriSign, the very first Certificate Authority (CA) in existence. Since they are the oldest CA to exist, their SSL certificates are recognized by 99% of all web browsers.

RapidSSL certificates provide the same level of security and acceptance as certificates costing hundreds of dollars more. We use RapidSSL certificates ourselves in parts of our website.

Benefits:

  • Cheaper than AlphaSSL.
  • Provides up to 256-bit encryption for your website.
  • Has a $10,000 warranty for your customers.

Disadvantages:

  • Only covers one host while AlphaSSL covers both the www and non-www version of your website. Example: https://www.yourdomain.com and https://yourdomain.com can be secured with 1 AlphaSSL certificate while securing these 2 hosts requires 2 RapidSSL certificates.
  • Level of support for cellphone/mobile devices is unknown.

Compatibility List

The following web browsers recognize RapidSSL certificates:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 5.01+
  • AOL 5+
  • Netscape 4.7+
  • Opera 7+
  • Safari
  • Mozilla 1+
  • Firefox 1+

What is SSL?

SSL facilitates e-commerce by encrypting communication between your customer's browser and your server.