Every Host Dada hosting plan includes a free SSL certificate, which puts the padlock in your visitors' browsers and encrypts everything sent to your site. Most websites never need anything more. This guide explains what a paid certificate adds and when it's worth buying one.
What an SSL certificate does
An SSL certificate (more accurately a TLS certificate) lets your website load over https://. Information passing between the visitor and your site, such as contact forms, logins and checkout details, is encrypted. Browsers show a padlock, and they label sites without one as "Not secure".
The encryption is the same strength whether the certificate is free or paid. What changes is how much the certificate authority checks about who owns the website, plus the warranty and support that come with it.
Free SSL: included with your hosting
- Essential and WordPress hosting: in the Host Dada Control Panel, go to SSL/TLS and click Activate Free SSL. If your domain uses Host Dada nameservers, you get a wildcard certificate that covers the domain,
wwwand every subdomain. It renews automatically. - ProFlex hosting (cPanel): AutoSSL issues and renews free certificates for every domain on your account automatically, as long as the domain points to your ProFlex site.
Free SSL in the Host Dada Control Panel: one click covers the domain and its subdomains.
Free certificates are Domain Validated (DV). They prove you control the domain, which is all a browser needs to show the padlock.
Paid SSL: what you get extra
Paid certificates are bought in the Client Area from trusted certificate authorities (RapidSSL, GeoTrust and DigiCert). They come in three validation levels:
| Type | What is checked | Typical issue time | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain Validation (DV), e.g. RapidSSL | That you control the domain | Minutes to a few hours | Sites hosted elsewhere, or servers where free SSL isn't available |
| Organisation Validation (OV), e.g. GeoTrust True BusinessID | Your domain and that your business is real and registered | Usually 1 to 3 working days | Businesses that want their company name in the certificate details |
| Extended Validation (EV) | The most thorough business checks | Usually 3 to 5 working days | Banks, larger online shops, regulated businesses |
Paid certificates also include a warranty from the certificate authority and a site seal you can show on your pages. Wildcard versions cover all subdomains of one domain.
Which one do I need?
- Brochure site, blog or small shop on Host Dada hosting: the free certificate is all you need. Card payments are normally handled on your payment provider's own secure pages (Stripe, PayPal and similar), so you don't need a paid certificate to take payments.
- A tender, insurer or customer asks for an OV or EV certificate: buy a paid one.
- The website or service isn't hosted with Host Dada (for example a mail server, an intranet or a device): a paid DV certificate is the simplest option.
- Your domain isn't on Host Dada nameservers: free SSL still works as long as the domain points at your hosting, though it covers only the names that point here rather than issuing a wildcard. See Activate free SSL and force HTTPS.
Troubleshooting
My site shows "Not secure" even though SSL is active
The certificate is probably fine, but the page loads some images or scripts over http://. See Fix "not secure" and mixed-content warnings.
Free SSL won't activate
The domain must point at your Host Dada hosting before a certificate can be issued. If you have only just changed nameservers or DNS, wait for the change to spread (usually a few hours) and try again. See How long do DNS changes take?
My email program shows a certificate warning
That is a different issue: your email app is using the wrong server name. See Certificate warning in my email program.
Last reviewed: October 2026
