Domain validation: proof you control the domain
The authority checks one thing — that the domain is yours to use — with an email to an address on it, a DNS record or a file it reads from the site. Nothing about your company is verified, which is why this level costs the least and asks the least of you.
Per year on a one-year term. Two- and three-year terms are on the cards below.
Domain-validated certificates
No introductory rate: a certificate renews at the price on this page, and that price follows the authority’s.
GeoTrust QuickSSL Premium
- Domain validation
- Covers one hostname
What this level means
What gets checked
Control of the domain: an email to an address on it, a DNS record you add, or a file the authority reads from the site.
What a visitor sees
A padlock and an encrypted connection, the same as at every other level. The certificate names the domain and nothing else.
When it is enough
A blog, a brochure site, a staging domain, an internal tool — anywhere nobody needs to know which company is behind the name.
Other validation levels
Organization validation
The authority confirms your company in a public registry and writes the checked name into the certificate.
Extended validation
The full vetting procedure: legal existence, registered address, and the authority of the person who asks.
Wildcard
One certificate for a domain and every subdomain one level below it — shop, blog, api, staging.
SSL questions
Is DV less secure than OV or EV?
The encryption is the same. What differs is what the certificate tells a visitor about who is behind the domain — DV says nothing about that.
Can I get a DV certificate for subdomains?
Yes — that is a wildcard, and two of the DV certificates here are sold that way. They are listed on the wildcard page.
Not sure which certificate you need?
Tell us the domain and what it has to satisfy — a payment provider, an audit, a client's checklist — and we will say which level is enough.