Do you want to check your site’s SSL certificate and expiration date? Here are the top 5 free SSL certificate checker in 2024.
The good thing is that there are many free SSL certificate checker tools online. We will look at the best ones in this article.
Do you have an SSL certificate for your website? Even if you are not planning to process payments through your website, it is still essential to ensure that your site is secure by having an SSL certificate.
A lack of it could mean losing customers. Your site will appear less trustworthy and credible in the eyes of your customers.
Additionally, it will be hard to win the favor of search engines when you do not have an SSL certificate. Google uses SSL as one of its ranking factors.
Moreover, having misconfigured TLS/SSL can make your website more vulnerable. Therefore, checking your website's SSL certificate status is critical to sustaining it and ensuring it is a safe place for visitors.
These diagnostic tools will help you verify and troubleshoot common SSL endpoint vulnerabilities and issues.
The Best Free SSL Certificate Checker Tools
Our list consists of a mixture of SSL tools, from free TLS certificate lookup tools to comprehensive website monitoring tools.
To make tracking your website's SSL certificate easier, we prioritized tools with alerting features and a comprehensive dashboard.
If you prefer a straightforward SSL certificate checker tool, you won’t go wrong with FreeWebTools SSL Checker. We loved this tool because of its intuitive user interface.
The tool doesn’t bombard you with options or other disruptive information. All you need to check the validity of your SSL certificate is to enter the website URL into the provided field.
After that, click the Check SSl button just beneath the URL text field. The tool will generate a short report that contains critical aspects of your site’s SSL status.
Specifically, you will know if your SSL certificate is valid and the expiration date. Given its simplicity, this tool is ideal for users who only want to check the status of their SSL certificate without worrying about other vulnerabilities.
The good thing is that the tool is entirely free to use. You can access it by visiting this link.
Qualys SSL Labs is one of the most trustworthy free SSL certificate checker tools. It helps you check for the latest vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
All you have to do to check your website's SSL status is enter the hostname into the search bar, which will automatically generate a summary report.
This report offers a wide range of crucial information, ranging from your site’s name to the validity period of the SSL certificate. It also tells you who issued the certificate.
In addition to the above, this tool will tell you which online platforms trust your SSL certificate. For instance, you can check if top providers like Android, Apple, Mozilla, Windows, and Java trust your website.
This is critical because you can know if your customers can visit your website without being warned about a lack of trust.
Generally, SSL Lab is a valuable addition if you want to quickly check SSL certificates without verifying other vulnerabilities.
The good thing is that the information you feed into the system is safe. Qualys doesn’t use the data it receives.
This is another SSL certificate checker that helps you confirm the validity of an installed SSL certificate. The best thing about this tool is that it is free and easy to use.
To get a report about your website’s status, simply enter your server hostname into the provided search bar.
The tool will automatically generate a report of your server type, server IP address, SSL certificate issuer, and the expiration date of your certificate.
Another nice feature of this tool is the trustworthy checker. This functionality checks if top web browsers trust your website.
So, you can know in advance if your visitors will have a positive experience with your site without any disruptive warning about a lack of trust.
You are an ideal user of Comodo SSL Checker if you need a simple tool to manually verify your site’s SSL certificate and trustworthy level without additional scans and vulnerability reports.
Like most SSL certificate checker tools in this list, Geekflare SSL/TLS Scanner lets you ascertain your site’s SSL status and identify other vulnerabilities.
The tool is also straightforward to use. All you need to do to verify the validity of your SSL certificate is enter your website’s name into the search field.
The system will automatically generate a report containing details of your TLS and SSL certificates, including the certificate's issuer and its expiration date.
On top of this, the report also tells you about the discovered vulnerabilities. Your site will be rated as not vulnerable, potentially vulnerable, or vulnerable.
With such information, you can spot weaknesses in your website that cybercriminals can exploit to wreak havoc on your system.
The ideal user of the Geekflare SSL/TLS scanner is an enterprise that wants to take advantage of the free SSL checking while also identifying the vulnerabilities in its sites.
This SSL certificate checker is the brainchild of ManageEngine and Zoho. We included it in this list because it is one of the most trusted flexible cloud monitoring solutions.
Governments and big brands such as GoDaddy, Ford, and Getty Images trust Site 24x7 as their SSL certificate verification tool.
Another likeable thing about this SSL certificate checker is its versatility. This tool can monitor mobile and web applications and cloud architecture.
It is, therefore, a potent tool in the field of domain management. Besides checking if the SSL certificate is valid, this tool will also keep tabs on the functionality of your website.
If your site goes down for some reason, Site 24x7 will alert you. The good thing is that you can get all this information on the dashboard.
Site 24x7 is a robust tool for enterprises that need continuous and comprehensive monitoring of SSL certification.
The good thing is that it has a free trial, so you can test if it meets your needs before paying for premium services.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the primary use of SSL? SSL provides a secure channel between communicating applications that ensures authentication of partners, data privacy, and system integrity. Most organizations and governments add SSL certificates to their online platforms to keep online transactions safe. Having an SSL certificate also secures customer information.
We mainly use SSL to secure sensitive data transmitted over the internet. This way, the intended recipient will be the only one who accesses that information because the information is unreadable to a third party.
What is an SSL certificate checker? This is a tool that verifies the validity of the SSL certificate on your site. It also checks if the certificate is installed the right way. Most SSL certificate checkers will provide crucial information such as the server time, certificate issuer, validity, and other certificate details.
How does SSL work? SSL/TLS works in a simple way. Whenever someone visits a secure site, the installed SSL certificate will provide identification information about the web server and secure the connection. The beauty of this process is that it happens within seconds. Let’s break down further how SSL works:
First, the server or web browser tries to establish a connection with a site's server with an SSL certificate. In this process, the web server should identify itself.
The next step is the transmission of the web server’s SSL certificate. In this case, only a copy of the SSL certificate gets transmitted to the server or browser.
After that, the browser or server verifies the trustworthiness of the SSL certificate and relays a message to the web server.
Once it receives the message, the web server returns an acknowledgement in a digitally signed format. It also starts an SSL encryption session.
From here, access is granted to share secured data between the browser or server and the web server.
How safe is SSL? As mentioned earlier, when you install an SSL certificate on your website, the data transmitted between a web visitor and your website and vice versa is secure. However, you should note that this security framework does not guarantee that the information on the server is secure. Typically, when confidential data reaches the server, it is up to the site's administrator to keep that data safe by encrypting the database.
Wrapping It Up
While no law requires websites to have SSL, it is the best way to keep your website safe from apparent vulnerabilities.
It also improves your credibility in the eyes of your customers, especially in this age of cybercrime. On top of this, you will receive favorable treatment from search engines if your site has a valid SSL certificate.
The good thing is that you can check for SSL certificate validity without paying a dime. Moreover, there are plenty of free options.
We hope the above list of the best free SSL certificate checkers will help you validate your site’s SSL certificate.
Fortunately, some of them allow you to check other vulnerabilities and how top platforms and browsers view your site.
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