Cheap SSL Certificates for Small Websites?

zaqattack911 asks: "In the workplace today it is becoming more and more common for everyday applications to be accessible over the web. Just about all the booking and tracking systems at my job are handled via web-apps these days. Along with this trend, is the increased need for secure transactions over the web. Just about all of the apps on my webserver are going to be SSL only. Some of them are for internal use only, some for the outside internet to use. Is there a cheap alternative to getting your certificates signed? Self signing my certificates works of course, but just about all browsers make a big fuss about it. Verisign asks for about 400$ initially, and 300$ to renew a certificate every year. This seems like a scam to me, and I'd love to know if anyone knows of alternatives out there? Is there a way to get around the certificate signing business? I looked at a company called RSA Security which allows a company to 'self sign' and use their accepted signature. The website doesn't mention the price, and I'm sure it's not very affordable. What else is there?"

Comments

Re:Building better technology

[MartinB]

However, charging the same person $N every single year to change the expiry date in the certificate is not a useful service - it is highway robbery.

Oh please. When will you learn about business pricing? If it's worth more to me than the price I pay for it, it's a useful service.

If paying $400 per annum means that I get $401 additional contribution to my bottom line each year, it's made me money, and I'm doing it, and not complaining (other than in the general 'trying to get a better deal' way).

If you're going to comment on business, please at least have the courtesy to find out the basics first.