What Is SSL/TLS? Certificates, HTTPS, Free Options and Lifetimes to 2029 (2026)
What is SSL/TLS? See how HTTPS works, SSL vs TLS, certificate types, free Let's Encrypt, shorter certificate lifetimes and fixes for common errors.
What Is SSL/TLS? Certificates, HTTPS, Free Options and Lifetimes to 2029 (2026)
A complete guide to understanding SSL, TLS and encryption certificates from scratch 💡 Affiliate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Affiliate Disclosure . 📅 Updated October 2026 Built on the official documentation of Cloudflare, SSL Shopper and Let's Encrypt, and updated with the certificate lifetime schedule to 2029 and the TLS versions accepted today. You open a site and find a small padlock next to the address, and you open another and a red page says your connection is not private. One technology called TLS, and one certificate that people call SSL even though its correct name has been TLS for more than twenty years, make the difference between the two cases. That confusion is the source of most of the questions: do I buy SSL or TLS? And why does my host say "free SSL" when the browser runs a different protocol? In this guide we explain what SSL and TLS are from the roots, and we buil…
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I’m Hossam Hassan, a tech writer and the founder of Technoa5bar. I write practical guides, reviews and comparisons on web hosting, AI tools, website building, SEO, digital marketing and making money online, so you can choose the right tools with con…