= What type of SSL / Secure Certificate do I need? =
*Part 2 of 4 of SSL for Newbies*
There are several types of SSL Certificates (also known as Secure Certificates) that you can choose from. This article explains the differences between the various types:
- Domain Validated Certificates ⤵
- Company Validated Certificates ⤵
- Extended Validation Certificates ⤵
- Wildcard Certificates ⤵
- Multi-Domain Certificates ⤵
*If you already know what you require, skip to "Part 4: How to Obtain an SSL Certificate **Domain Validated Certificate Comodo)
For situations where the general public will be visiting a secure section of your site (e.g., making a payment by credit card), you'll want to utilize a private SSL certificate such as this one. It is directly tied to your domain name, letting customers know they are on the correct website

Private SSL Certificates are appropriate for e-commerce websites and for any situation where you desire secure communication between your website and its visitors

Private SSL certificates are provided free with our Business or Enterprise Packages and are available for purchase with any of our other web hosting packages. We provide the Comodo Positive SSL, which is a domain validated certificate

For more details, visit our article on the Difference between Instant and Positive Private SSL

**Company Validated Certificate Comodo)
A company validated certificate is similar to a domain validated certificate; however, additional documentation must be provided to certify your company's identity. The biggest advantage of a WHOIS company validated SSL certificate is the way your site is displayed in a browser. More validation means more trust, and your visitors will have more confidence in the security of your site

HostGator provides the Comodo Instant SSL, which is a company validated certificate

For more details, refer to the article on the Difference between Instant and Positive Private SSL

**Extended Validation Certificates Comodo)
EV certificates provide secure connections, verify the business' identity, and help to preventthrough a thorough set of checks and validations


These certificates are designed to provide a higher standard of assurance for visitors to authenticate the business behind the domain. The green HTTPS address bar is exclusive to EV SSL certificates and reassures website visitors that they are interacting with a verified business on a secured domain

For more details, visit our article on EV SSL Certificates

**Wildcard Certificates Comodo)
A Wildcard SSL Certificate enables SSL encryption on unlimited subdomains using a single certificate. The subdomains must have the same second-level domain name (i.e. domain.com)

For more details, visit our article on Wildcard SSL

**Multi-Domain Certificates Comodo)
Multi-domain certificates make it possible to secure up to 210 domains with a single certificate. You can mix all your different second-level domains (i.e. domain.com, www.domain.com, domain.net, and otherdomain.com)

For more details, visit our article on Multi-Domain SSL

**SSL For Newbies Series**
- Part 1: What is SSL / Secure Certificate?
Part 2: What type of SSL Secure Certificate do I need?
- Part 3: Important Things You Should Know Before Installing an SSL Certificate
- Part 4: How do I get an SSL Certificate?