• Make sure your SSL Certificate has both a suitable browser recognition and server compatibility for your purposes.

What is browser recognition?
Browser recognition is the percentage of Internet users that will be able to recognize your SSL certificate. If a visitor to your site does not recognize your SSL certificate they will be prompted by their browser to choose whether or not to trust your certificate.

What is a commercially acceptable browser compatibility?
More than 95% is acceptable for production / commercial sites.

Unlike other SSL comparison sites we do not place a great deal of validity in presenting browser recognition "percentages". Instead, we believe in presenting simple conclusions - in this case, is the SSL Certificate acceptable for commercial sites?

Browser acceptance:
Some SSL Providers require you to install more than one certificate. In some cases installing more than one certificate may cause installation difficulties.

Top 2 Enterprise Class Providers	SSL Product Name	Single Cert Install	Acceptable for commercial sites
	Secure Site Certificate
	Commerce Site Certificate
	True Business ID
	QuickSSL Premium
	QuickSSL Certificate
Small to Medium Business (SMB) Providers: SSL Providers are listed in according to price - highest price at top:
Small to Medium Business Providers	SSL Product Name	Single Cert Install	Acceptable for commercial sites
	Secure Site Certificate
	Commerce Site Certificate
	True Business ID
	QuickSSL Premium
	QuickSSL Certificate
A Verisign Company	Web Server Certificate
	SSL Server Certificate
	Webserver Certificate
	OrganizationSSL
	SSL Certificate
	InstantSSL Certificate
	RapidSSL Certificate
	FreeSSL Certificate

How is browser recognition achieved?
Certification Authorities have what are known as Root CA Certificates. These root CA certificates are added into releases of all the major browsers such as Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, etc by the browser vendor (such as Microsoft). When you use your browser you are automatically relying on a "list" of root CA certificates that the browser vendor has deemed you can trust. If an SSL certificate is issued by one of the trusted root CAs, then you will inherently trust that SSL certificate and the gold padlock will appear transparently during secure sessions.

Why is browser recognition important?
If a visitor is using a browser that does not contain the root CA certificate used to issue your SSL certificate, they will be prompted with a security warning:

The signifies that the SSL Certificate has been issued by a CA that your browser does not trust. As more people upgrade their old browsers, this message becomes less frequent. It is also worth noting that people who do not upgrade their browsers are less technically and security savvy and hence are less likely to purchase from your site.

Webserver Compatibility

What is webserver compatibility?
You will need to install your SSL Certificate onto your webserver. Generally, all webservers accept all SSL certificates currently available. Check with the CA to be sure, but webservers such as Apache (including the website control panel variants), IIS, Webstar, Website Pro, Java based, iPlanet, Zeus, Netscape server, Cobalt support the certificates of all SSL certificates featured on this site.

If you choose to use an SSL Provider that requires the installation of more than one certificate then ensure that you have the necessary technical expertise or resources to be able to perform the installation. Also note that loading and managing multiple certificates per installation, especially in an enterprise environment, can be costly and cumbersome.