Darmowy certyfikat SSL. Dla każdej domeny, w każdym planie.

1. SSL is no longer an add-on, it is a requirement

For years, browsers have labeled sites without SSL as insecure, and search engines favor HTTPS in their rankings. Even so, some hosting providers in Poland still treat certificates as separate add-ons, especially extended certificates (higher-tier DV, OV, EV), which have their own separate prices in the price list.

On Saplo, every Box, from Box S to Box XXL, receives a free Let's Encrypt certificate automatically as soon as you connect a domain to an app, without having to use an external certificate provider's panel or add a separate line item to your invoice just for HTTPS.

The certificate renews automatically before it expires. Let's Encrypt issues certificates for 90 days, so there is no need to remember to renew it manually, which is a common cause of sudden HTTPS errors on websites with manually renewed certificates.

2. Free SSL vs paid certificates from competitors

Competitor A has a separate SSL add-on (a DV certificate) for $7 per year (public pricing, as of 2026-10-10). It is described as a basic certificate for small sites, a blog, or a simple one-page site, something included in every Saplo plan at no extra charge.

Competitor B sells a DV certificate at a promotional price of $5 for the first year, but renewal already costs $41 per year (public pricing, as of 2026-10-10), more than eight times the promotional price. This can be an unpleasant surprise at renewal for anyone who does not keep track of the price list.

Competitor C offers certificates from $2 per year (a basic domain-validated certificate) to $244 per year (an extended certificate; public pricing, as of 2026-10-10), showing the range of commercial certificate prices, which depend on the validation level and the issuer's brand.

For a typical company website, blog, or online store, a DV certificate (domain validation, i.e. Let's Encrypt) provides the same connection encryption as a paid certificate. The main difference is the level of identity verification for the domain owner, which only matters for large financial institutions.

3. When free SSL is not enough

Organization Validation (OV) and Extended Validation (EV) certificates make sense for financial institutions, banks, and large payment platforms, where the browser address bar also shows a verified organization name rather than just the domain. This can be a regulatory requirement in some industries.

A wildcard certificate, which covers all subdomains with a single entry, can be useful when you manage many subdomains outside the standard Let's Encrypt mechanism. Let's Encrypt also supports wildcard certificates, but they require DNS verification, which is more technical than standard HTTP verification.

For 99% of typical projects, including business sites, stores, blogs, and web apps, the free Let's Encrypt certificate is sufficient. It provides the same connection security standard used by major services, not just small sites without a budget for a commercial certificate.

4. How it works technically in Saplo

Once you connect a domain to an app, the Saplo panel automatically verifies domain ownership and orders a Let's Encrypt certificate. No manual DNS record configuration is required for validation, as long as the domain already points to the Saplo server.

Certificate renewal runs in the background before the certificate expires, so your site will not stop working over HTTPS because you missed a renewal deadline, which is a common issue with certificates that require manual intervention.

The certificate covers the main domain and its subdomains connected to the same app. There is no limit to the number of domains covered by SSL on your Box, just as there is no limit to the number of domains themselves. If you manage several subdomains for the same company, such as a store and a blog on separate subdomains, this provides one simple SSL setup covering all of them. You do not need to configure each subdomain separately, and certificate management is easier than with providers that require you to purchase SSL separately for every subdomain.

5. How to check whether an SSL certificate works correctly

After connecting a domain, check in your browser that the site opens over HTTPS without an untrusted certificate warning. This usually takes a few minutes after the domain starts pointing to the Saplo server.

Online SSL certificate testing tools, where you enter your domain to test its SSL configuration, show certificate details, the expiration date, and whether the certificate chain on the server is configured correctly.

If the certificate does not activate automatically, the most common cause is incorrect DNS record configuration. The domain may not point to the Saplo server yet, or DNS propagation may not have finished on all nameservers.

When you move a site from another host, the old SSL certificate does not transfer automatically. A new Let's Encrypt certificate is issued from scratch once you connect the domain to an app on Saplo.

Certificate renewal runs in the background without any action from you. However, note that Let's Encrypt certificates are valid for 90 days and are renewed automatically well before they expire.

6. SSL and search engine rankings

Search engines have favored HTTPS sites in their rankings for years, so missing SSL can genuinely affect your site's visibility in search results, regardless of the quality of its content.

Browsers mark sites without SSL as insecure in the address bar. To visitors, this looks the same whether the site is a blog or a store accepting payments, and it can affect trust in your brand.

A free Let's Encrypt certificate provides the same ranking benefits as a paid certificate. Search engines do not distinguish between certificate validation levels when assessing whether a site is encrypted, they only consider whether encryption is present.

SSL is also required by payment gateways for online stores. Without it, a store cannot accept online card payments at all, no matter how good its product selection looks.

7. Migrating a site and SSL certificates: what to keep in mind

When you move a site from another host to Saplo, the SSL certificate used by your previous provider does not transfer automatically. Let's Encrypt certificates are tied to the specific server and configuration on which they were issued, not to the domain independently of its infrastructure.

A new certificate is issued automatically once you connect the domain to an app on Saplo and its DNS records begin pointing to the Saplo server. During the migration itself, there may be a brief period when the site on the new server does not yet have an active certificate.

It is best practice to test the site on a temporary *.saploapp.pl subdomain, where the certificate is already active, before switching the main domain. This minimizes the time during which the production domain is available without an active certificate.

For sites with significant organic search traffic, a brief interruption in HTTPS availability during migration rarely affects rankings because search engines understand the context of a migration. However, a long delay in activating the certificate after migration could affect whether visitors perceive the site as secure.

After the migration, check whether all site assets, including images, scripts, and styles, load over HTTPS rather than HTTP. Mixed content can trigger browser warnings even when the domain has an active, valid SSL certificate.

The Let's Encrypt certificate renews automatically about every 60 days, before the 90-day certificate expires. Once the migration is complete, you do not need to take any further action regarding SSL itself.

8. Client education: why SSL is essential in 2026

Some small business owners still see SSL as a technical detail with no real impact on their business. That may have been true a decade ago, but today browsers and search engines clearly mark sites that do not use an encrypted connection.

Educating clients in this area is part of the role Saplo plays in supporting them. Instead of leaving SSL as a separate decision, the certificate is active by default on every plan. This eliminates the risk that someone forgets to enable it or does not understand why it is needed.

For customers migrating from hosting where SSL was a paid add-on, switching to a model with the certificate included can make a noticeable difference from the very first invoice, without needing to explain why the previous provider charged for it separately.

For developers and agencies that recommend hosting to their clients, having SSL always active and free makes it easier to talk with end clients. You do not need to explain the difference between a basic and an extended certificate unless the client has specific regulatory requirements.

In practice, for the overwhelming majority of websites in Poland, such as one-page business sites, blogs, and small stores, SSL should be as simple as it is on Saplo: enabled automatically, with no separate decision to make and no separate invoice just for encrypting the connection.

9. SSL as part of a broader website security policy

An SSL certificate protects data transmitted between a user's browser and the server from interception in transit, but it does not protect the application itself from code flaws, outdated plugins, or weak admin panel passwords. Treat SSL as one element of a broader security policy, not the only one.

On Saplo, in addition to free SSL, every application runs in an isolated LXC container. This provides another layer of protection independent of connection encryption and limits the impact of a potential breach to a single application, without affecting other applications on the same Box.

Regular updates to the application itself (WordPress, PrestaShop, custom code) remain entirely the customer's responsibility, regardless of how well the infrastructure-level SSL certificate is configured, because a vulnerability in an outdated plugin is not fixed simply by using an encrypted connection.

If you're building a website security policy from the ground up, SSL is a good first step, but only that. Strong admin panel passwords, regular updates, backups for incidents, and monitoring for unusual activity on your website or application come next.

Saplo handles some of these elements at the infrastructure level (isolation, backups starting with Box L, automatic SSL), but the final responsibility for the security of the application and its content always remains with whoever manages the website or store.

10. Summary: SSL as the standard, not an exception

A free, automatic SSL certificate on every Saplo plan shows what the market standard should look like in 2026: no separate line item on the invoice, no need to remember a renewal, and no difference in how customers on the smallest and largest plans are treated. Some competitors still treat SSL as a product to be sold separately, which, given that Let's Encrypt has been available for free for years, is difficult to justify other than as additional margin on something that costs the provider nothing to handle automatically. For customers comparing offers, it is worth asking one simple question: is SSL listed as a separate pricing item, or is it simply a quiet, default part of every plan, without having to look for it in the fine print of the service terms?