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Knowledge Base

Get your free SSL certificate

Your cPanel hosting includes free SSL certificates from Let’s Encrypt, issued automatically by cPanel’s AutoSSL service. There’s nothing to buy and nothing to install by hand.

What has to be true first

Section titled “What has to be true first”

AutoSSL can only issue a certificate once both of these are in place:

  1. The domain is added to your cPanel account — as the primary domain, an addon domain, or a subdomain.

  2. DNS points at our server. Let’s Encrypt validates a certificate by fetching a file from wherever the domain currently resolves. If it still points at your old host, validation fails and no certificate is issued.

Check where a domain currently resolves at whatsmydns.net.

When it issues

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AutoSSL runs on a schedule — once every 24 hours. So after adding a domain and pointing DNS at us, a certificate normally appears within a day without you doing anything.

Renewals are automatic too. Let’s Encrypt certificates are valid for 90 days and AutoSSL renews them well before expiry, so a working site stays working.

If a certificate doesn’t appear

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Work through these in order — the first two cover most cases:

  • DNS isn’t pointing here yet. The most common cause by far. Verify at whatsmydns.net that the domain resolves to our server’s IP.
  • It hasn’t been 24 hours. Give the scheduled run a chance before assuming something is broken.
  • The domain isn’t actually in your account. Check cPanel → Domains. A domain you own but haven’t added is invisible to AutoSSL.
  • A redirect is intercepting validation. Forced redirects — especially domain-wide ones in .htaccess — can stop Let’s Encrypt from reaching the validation file.
  • CAA records are blocking issuance. If your DNS has a CAA record naming a different certificate authority, Let’s Encrypt is refused. It must permit letsencrypt.org.

Making your site actually use it

Section titled “Making your site actually use it”

An issued certificate doesn’t automatically mean visitors get HTTPS. Once it’s in place, make sure your site loads over https:// and redirects visitors from http://. In WordPress, that’s usually setting both the WordPress Address and Site Address to the https:// version under Settings → General.

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Still stuck?

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Still stuck? Open a support ticket and our team will help.