The DigiCert Difference - WildCard SSL Plus

DigiCert's "WildCard Plus" SSL Certificates

Do you need one certificate to secure an entire domain with multiple subdomains ("www.digicert.com," "mail.digicert.com," etc.)? Do you have multiple servers (web servers, mail servers, intranet servers, testing servers) that all need an SSL certificate? WildCard Plus, DigiCert's wildcard certificate, is the product for you. WildCard Plus certificates have all the features you would expect from a wildcard certificate, along with a few features you may not get with other wildcards.

Why call it "WildCard Plus"

We added the "Plus" to the name because when you buy a DigiCert WildCard certificate, you just get more:

• More freedom. Our Unlimited Server License means you are free to use your certificate anywhere you like without having to pay us extra license fees. Put it on your web servers, your intranet servers, your mail servers -- put it on any server and any platform, and you don't have to pay us a dime extra.

  Your customer account has a simple "Additional License" interface that allows you to issue as many certificates as you need to, quickly and for no extra charge.

• More compatibility. WildCard Plus certificates have a couple compatibility features that you won't find in traditional wildcard certificates:

  • Your own site. A typical wildcard certificate for "*.digicert.com" will work with names like "www.digicert.com and mail.digicert.com," but not "digicert.com" itself.

    This often comes as a disappointment to administrators who want to protect both https://www.digicert.com and https://digicert.com with the same certificate.

    DigiCert WildCard Plus resolves this problem by including the base domain in every wildcard certificate as a subject alternative name, a little-used but well-supported capability of SSL certificates.

  • Mobile devices. WildCard Plus certificates allow you to choose up to ten specific subdomains ("mail.digicert.com," "www.digicert.com," etc.) to list in the certificate, resolving issues some mobile devices have with the star (*) syntax of wildcard certificates.

    "Some of our customers have problems securely connecting to their company mail server, because their mobile devices do not support wildcard name matching," said Christopher Skarda, DigiCert's Director of Security Services. "We found that many of these mobile devices do support Subject Alternative Names. By putting the wildcard (e.g. '*.digicert.com') and the mail server name (e.g. 'mail.digicert.com') into the same certificate, we found a way to enable devices to accept the specific host name. In the past, the only option was to purchase a separate SSL Certificate."

    And because this is done in our "Additional Licence" interface -- instead of in the original certificate -- you can issue as many certificates as you need to for as many subdomains as you need. So when we say "up to ten specific subdomains," that is per certificate, so our Unlimited Server License makes this unlimited too.

Great value for your dollar

DigiCert's WildCard Plus certificates cost $495 for one year, $445/year for two years, and $395/year for three years. Take a look at our WildCard Plus Comparison page to see how well WildCard Plus compares to GeoTrust and Thawte (VeriSign currently does not offer wildcard certificates on their website). Our prices are significantly lower, but feature-for-feature, you will see that our product would be a better value even at the same price.