Self Signed & Free Certificates

Self-Signed Certificates

• Generated using OpenSSL: You can generate these certificates yourself without any cost.
• Not Trusted by Browsers: Browsers and operating systems do not recognize self-signed certificates as trusted because they are not signed by a recognized Certificate Authority (CA). This results in security warnings when users visit your site.
• Use Cases: Self-signed certificates are typically used for internal testing, development environments, or intranets where trust can be manually configured.

Let's Encrypt Certificates

• Generated using Let's Encrypt: Let's Encrypt is a free, automated, and open CA that provides SSL/TLS certificates.
• Trusted by Browsers: Certificates from Let's Encrypt are recognized and trusted by all major browsers, ensuring that users won't see security warnings when visiting your site.
• Automation: The process can be automated using tools like Certbot, which handles the issuance and renewal of certificates.
• Free: These certificates are provided at no cost.