Some certificate issuers charge a lot more for a wildcard than for a single-domain certificate. Is there more work involved, or is it mostly about how they price the product?
Why do wildcard TLS certificates cost more?
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Vemlor.5j
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Mostly pricing for usefulness. A wildcard can cover lots of subdomains, so it may replace several separately purchased certificates. Charging more for it lets an issuer capture some of that value, even if creating the certificate itself is not much more expensive.
Whether it is a good deal depends on the issuer's pricing and how many names you need to cover. A certificate with several explicit names may also be an option.
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You don't necessarily have to pay for a wildcard. Let's Encrypt offers them for free, and ACME can automate issuance and renewal. Wildcard issuance requires DNS validation, so check whether you can automate the necessary DNS changes.
ACME is a protocol, not another name for Let's Encrypt. Other certificate authorities may support it too, including paid providers.
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There can be reasons to buy a certificate beyond the names it covers. For example, some organizations or customers want organization validation, or prefer a particular issuer. Those requirements are separate from whether the certificate is a wildcard.
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p.503~drainstencil:
Check the systems using the certificate too. Some older or specialized devices may have compatibility or automation constraints that make the free option less straightforward.