: Https://example.com and https://www.example.com: Should I use one or two SSL certificates? I am in the process of enabling HTTPS on my web sites. I have a web site, let's call it example.com,

@Shanna517

Is there any reason to prefer one option over the other?


Assuming the use of Let's Encrypt and that each certificate lists just the www and non-www versions of a single domain, the only likely drawback to using a SAN certificate is the possibility of some compatibility issues with older browsers, mostly prior to 2003.

On the positive side, there would be only a single certificate to automate for each primary domain (e.g. [www.]example.com). However, you might still want separate certificates for true sub-domains (e.g. sub.example.com) in case they need to be updated... so this could be a tossup benefit-wise.

As a purely personal opinion, I see no reason not to use a SAN certificate in this instance unless browser compatibility is a priority.

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@Michele947

You would just need to order the one cert for example.com. The www is part of it or included by default. If you wanted other sub-domains, ie server.example.com, then you would either need a wildcard domain cert [*.example.com] or order two to cover the extra domain. Hope this helps answer your question.

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