A comparison of free and paid SSL certificates
Let's Encrypt vs Comodo SSL
Free Let's Encrypt or paid Comodo (Sectigo) SSL? Compare the two most popular SSL certificates by encryption, validation, financial warranty, auto-renewal and trust. Find out which is the right choice for your site.
Let's Encrypt or Comodo SSL?
Let's Encrypt (ISRG, nonprofit) is free, automatically issues DV certificates with 90-day auto-renew, is used by 600M+ sites and is sufficient for most sites. Comodo (Sectigo) is a commercial CA — DV, OV, EV options, warranty $50K-$1.5M, brand recognition, 1-2 year validity. Comodo is better for: e-commerce with payment cards, banks (EV SSL), enterprise compliance. Let's Encrypt is better for: blogs, portfolios, smaller companies, DevOps.
- Let's Encrypt = free, 600M+ sites
- Comodo: $10-500/yr, warranty $50K-$1.5M
- LE: 90-day auto-renew
- Comodo: 1-2 years, brand recognition
- BeoHosting: both available
BeoHosting Team
10+ years of experience — Web hosting and infrastructure specialists
- Let's Encrypt
- Sectigo (Comodo)
- SSL CA
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- ACME protokol
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Free vs paid SSL - Is there a difference in security?
Let's Encrypt is a free, automated and open certificate authority (CA) launched in 2015 by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG). Today it secures over 300 million sites and enabled the HTTPS revolution on the web.
Comodo (now rebranded as Sectigo) is one of the oldest and largest commercial SSL providers. It offers DV, OV and EV certificates with a financial warranty of up to $1,750,000 and dedicated technical support.
The key point: from an encryption standpoint, there is no difference. Both certificates use the same 256-bit TLS encryption. The difference lies in the validation level, the warranty and the perception of trust. BeoHosting offers free Let's Encrypt on all plans plus optional Comodo certificates.
Comparison table: Let's Encrypt vs Comodo SSL
A direct comparison of 13 key characteristics of free and paid SSL certificates.
* Comodo/Sectigo certificate prices are based on the lowest available prices (March 2026).
When to choose free, and when paid SSL?
Let's Encrypt is sufficient for most sites - blogs, portfolio sites, presentation sites for small companies, startups and personal projects. If you only need HTTPS encryption (and you do - Google ranks HTTPS sites higher), free SSL is the perfect choice.
Comodo (Sectigo) paid SSL is recommended for e-commerce sites, banks, financial institutions and corporate sites where a financial warranty and OV/EV validation build extra trust. The EV certificate displays the company name in the certificate, which is visible when users click the padlock.
Let's Encrypt (BeoHosting) - Advantages
- Completely free
- Automatic renewal (zero maintenance)
- The same 256-bit encryption as paid
- Instant issuance (5 minutes)
- Wildcard support (*.example.com)
- 99.9% compatibility with browsers
- Ideal for blogs and small sites
- Included in all BeoHosting plans
Comodo / Sectigo - Advantages
- Financial warranty up to $1,750,000
- OV and EV validation (company verification)
- Longer validity (1-2 years)
- Dedicated 24/7 technical support
- Higher trust perception for e-commerce
- Trust seal (confidence for buyers)
Automatic SSL certificate renewal at BeoHosting
One of the biggest advantages of Let's Encrypt is fully automatic renewal. On BeoHosting servers, certbot automatically renews certificates 30 days before expiry. You don't need to do anything manually - your site will always have a valid SSL certificate.
With paid Comodo certificates, renewal can be manual or automatic depending on the provider. BeoHosting also automates the renewal of Comodo certificates for customers who use them, but the process requires re-validation.
All BeoHosting hosting plans include free Let's Encrypt SSL with automatic renewal. For paid SSL certificates, see our SSL offer.
Conclusion: Let's Encrypt for most, Comodo for e-commerce
Let's Encrypt is sufficient for 95% of sites. It is free, renews automatically and provides the same encryption as paid certificates. Google makes no distinction between free and paid SSL for SEO ranking.
Comodo/Sectigo paid SSL is a justified choice for e-commerce sites, financial institutions and corporate presentations where a financial warranty and OV/EV validation build extra buyer trust.
BeoHosting offers free Let's Encrypt SSL on all plans, plus optional Comodo certificates at affordable prices. Contact us for a recommendation.
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