SSL Zen — SSL Certificate Installer & HTTPS Redirects
Free SSL certificate for WordPress — install a Let's Encrypt SSL, force HTTPS, fix mixed content and redirect HTTP to HTTPS. No coding needed.
Safe pick
Yes — SSL Zen is a safe, well-maintained plugin to use in 2026. It runs on 10K+ sites, is rated 4.9/5 and was last updated 1 week ago, and scores 85/100 on our health check.
- Proven at scale on 10K+ active sites
- Loved by users — 4.9/5 from 665 reviews
- Actively developed — last update 1 week ago
- Momentum — downloads up 168% vs the previous 30 days
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where SSL Zen stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| force ssl | #3 |
| free ssl | #5 |
| mixed content | #7 |
| ssl | #4 |
| ssl certificate | #3 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 from 665 reviews
About SSL Zen
From the official readme · v4.7.43Description
Secure your website with a Free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate.
SSL Zen is a ‘Free SSL certificate’ plugin that helps you to secure your website, protect your customer’s data and show your visitors you’re trustworthy and authentic.
Manually installing a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate involves editing SSL configuration files on your web server and troubleshooting issues. With this plugin, you can follow a few steps to get your free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate. No coding required, no more mixed content, or insecure content warnings. You require no special developer experience to move your HTTP web pages to HTTPS or to force SSL on your website.
Features of Free Version:
- Generate a free SSL certificate by verifying your domain ownership
- Install the free SSL certificate on your server or cPanel by following our video tutorials
- Renew the free SSL certificate by re-verifying and re-installing the SSL certificate every 90 days
- Settings page that shows your SSL certificate validity duration
- Get an email reminder 30 days before the free SSL certificate expires
- Secure padlock in the browser using Let’s Encrypt™ Free SSL certificate
- SSL certificate is a ranking factor for search engines
- SSL certificate displays information about your domain name and is verified by Let’s Encrypt™
- Enable secure payment processing on websites with SSL certificates
Note: The free version requires you to manually verify your domain name with Let’s Encrypt by uploading a file on your server. You will also need to upload the free SSL certificate on your server and configure them. SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt is only valid for 90 days and need to be manually renewed. If you fail to renew your free SSL certificate, your website will start showing a not secure warning to the visitors.
If you want the plugin to automatically install the SSL certificate and auto-renew it, please check the premium version of the plugin.
Features of Premium Version:
- Automatic domain verification
- Automatic free SSL certificate generation
- Automatic free SSL certificate installation
- Automatic free SSL certificate renewal
- Automatic HTTP to HTTPS redirection
- Premium support – Live Chat & Email
CLICK HERE TO BUY THE PREMIUM VERSION
Why get an SSL certificate?
- Trust – Starting from July 2018, Google Chrome has begun to mark all non-SSL websites as ‘Not-Secure’. When your users see the broken padlock, their trust wavers!
- Security – SSL certificate provides authentication, trust and compliance. If your customer is filling out forms, or making payments on your website, you need an SSL certificate to protect sensitive data from eavesdroppers.
- SEO – Google ranks SSL-enabled websites higher than unsecured websites. Hence, securing your website also helps get you on top of Google’s search results.
Facing problems with the plugin?
We have detailed documentation for the most common issues you might face while installing SSL using our plugin. Please visit our documentation site at docs.sslzen.com
Please leave a review
If our plugin helped you secure your website, please leave a review here
For more information about our plugin, please visit sslzen.com
Want SSL Zen plugin in your language?
You can directly translate the plugin in your language here
When you add translations, get in touch with us as we will get you listed as a Project Translation Editor for our plugin.
Legal:
- By downloading our plugin, You agree to Let’s Encrypt® Terms of Service
- By downloading our plugin, You agree to LEClient license terms, a PHP LetsEncrypt client library to verify domain ownership and generate an SSL certificate for your website.
- We use Let’s Debug API, a diagnostic tool to help figure out why you might not be able to issue a certificate for Let’s Encrypt®.
- We use Freemius to collect non-sensitive diagnostic data about your website should you opt-in.
- Optional email updates: if you tick the optional “email me SSL tips and updates” box during setup, your email address and site domain are sent to SSL Zen (sslzen.com) to add you to our mailing list. This is entirely optional — leaving it unticked has no effect on the plugin, and you can unsubscribe from any email at any time. See our privacy policy at https://sslzen.com/privacy-policy/.
Internet Security Research Group™, Let’s Encrypt®, ISRG™ are trademarks of the Internet Security Research Group. All rights reserved.
Installation
To install this plugin:
- Make a backup of your website and database
- Download the plugin
- Upload the plugin to the wp-content/plugins directory,
- Go to “plugins” in your WordPress admin, then click activate.
- You will now see an SSL Zen icon on your left navigation bar. Click on it and follow the step-by-step guide.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get a free SSL certificate for WordPress?
Install the free SSL Zen plugin, enter your domain and email, verify domain ownership with a one-time DNS record or file upload, then install and activate the free Let’s Encrypt® SSL certificate — no coding required. Your WordPress site will be served over HTTPS with a valid padlock in minutes, and SSL Zen fixes mixed-content warnings and redirects HTTP to HTTPS for you.
How do I fix “Not Secure” or mixed content warnings in WordPress?
SSL Zen installs a free SSL certificate, forces HTTPS on every page, and automatically rewrites insecure HTTP resources to HTTPS so the “Not Secure” warning and mixed-content errors disappear. No manual code edits needed.
What is an SSL Certificate?
An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates the identity of a website and encrypts information sent to the server using SSL technology.
Are your SSL certificates really free?
Yes. All SSL certificates are generated by Let’s Encrypt® (nonprofit) with a mission to create a more secure and privacy-respecting Web by promoting the widespread adoption of HTTPS.
What benefits does an SSL certificate provide?
An SSL Certificate protects your customers’ sensitive information such as their name, address, password, or credit card number by encrypting the data during transmission from their computer to your web server.
How do I install my SSL certificate?
If you are using the free version of the plugin, you will be able to download the SSL certificate. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the SSL certificate on your web server or hosting panel.
How long are the SSL certificates valid?
Let’s Encrypt® SSL certificates are valid for 90 days and can be renewed at no additional cost. You can easily renew your SSL certificate through our plugin.
How do I renew an SSL certificate?
Simply follow the same process you used to generate and install the SSL certificate the first time and your SSL certificate will be renewed.
Do I need technical knowledge to set up an SSL certificate?
We’ve made the process of generating and installing the SSL certificate extremely easy. All you have to do is follow our simple step-by-step guide.
Is your SSL certificate plugin safe to install on my website?
Our plugin is open-source and anyone can download and inspect it before installing it on their website.
Do you support Wildcard SSL?
We currently do not support wildcard SSL. Our plugin is only built to generate an SSL certificate for your WordPress website/blog.
Which browsers will trust Lets Encrypt’s SSL certificate?
SSL certificates generated by Let’s Encrypt are trusted and supported by all major browsers.
Do I need to do the verification again when I want to renew my free SSL certificate?
The verification results are valid, at the time of writing, for 30 days. If you renew within that period, you should not need to re-verify. Outside of that period, you will need to do the verification again. However, it is a very simple process that requires almost no time.
I have installed the SSL certificate correctly, but my site is still “Not Secure”
The most likely reason for this is that you are still loading some resources, such as images for example, via HTTP. Browsers in this case will show “Mixed content” errors in the developers’ console. If you do not want to use developer tools, you can easily check which resources those might be by using “Why No Padlock?” service. You can read more about “Mixed Content” and how to prevent it here.
Can I see the name of my company on the SSL certificate?
Free SSL certificates are of Domain Validation type (DV) and do not hold that information. To have the information about your company, the certificate would need to pass Organization Validation (OV) or Extended Validation (EV). Both require paperwork (such as actual company checks) and cannot be offered for free as a result.
How to safely disable SSL Zen CDN plugin
Before you decide to deactivate the SSL Zen plugin, please make sure of the following things Your website IPv4 A record for your website is pointing to your hosting server. An easy way to check this is by visiting https://www.whatsmydns.net/ and entering your website URL such as sslzen.com If the results show your website server IP address, it means you are no longer using StackPath. The opposite of this is also true. If whatsmydns.net shows your A record as 151.139.128.10, it means you are still using StackPath. We recommend you wait for a couple of hours before deactivating the plugin…
Unable to login using cPanel credentials
For Cpanel Free/Pro users, after installing/uploading the plugin and activating it, at step 1 sometimes cPanel credentials are requested so that we can connect using cPanel’s web API when we are not able to use cPanel’s command line API to connect to your cPanel and verify your domain ownership. Firstly, you can verify if you have a Cpanel account by using this link :2083 or Cpanel. example: sslzen.com:2083 or cpanel.sslzen.com. If you are able to see a Cpanel login screen like below that means your hosting provider comes with Cpanel and you have a Cpanel account. Enter your credentials and…
I can’t install the free SSL certificate on the temporary Bluehost domain
SSL certificates can only be installed on your domain name. If you are trying to install the SSL certificate on a temporary Bluehost domain it won’t work. Please follow these instructions to replace your temporary domain name with your domain name. Article – https://www.bluehost.com/help/article/using-your-temporary-url-with-wordpress#changing-from-temp
Rate Limit Issue while installing free SSL certificate
While installing SSL using the SSL Zen plugin, you might encounter an error message as in the below image or a message like this on the plugin page: “”cpanelfree.xyz” is currently affected by Let’s Encrypt-based rate limits (https://letsencrypt.org/docs/rate-limits/). You may review certificates that have already been issued by visiting https://crt.sh/?q=%your_domain. Please note that it is not possible to ask for a rate limit to be manually cleared. The Duplicate Certificate limit (5 certificates with the exact same set of domains per week) has been exceeded and is affecting the domain…
“Not all authorizations are valid” error message at Step 2 while installing free SSL certificate using SSL Zen plugin
There might be a situation when installing an SSL certificate using the SSL Zen Free/Premium version of the plugin, you end up getting an error message that says ” Not all authorizations are valid”. There are different reasons for the cause of this error. Follow the solution that is suitable for you based on the version of the plugin you are using : Free version /Premium version: Check if your WordPress is installed in the root folder ex: /home/bcyh6ur88/public_html/ .Here is how you can check it: Log in to the WordPress Administrator Dashboard as an administrator. In the menu at the left…
Changelog
Security release: fixes a reflected XSS and a certificate-file path traversal reported by Wordfence. Please update.
4.7.43
- Security: fixed a reflected XSS in the setup message handler (the
uri/hostrequest values are now escaped on construction and output) and a path-traversal / arbitrary-file-read in the certificate-file AJAX handler (now capability-gated and constrained to the keys directory). Reported by Wordfence. All users should update.
4.7.42
- Dashboard: the “More from Zen Plugins” panel now recommends 404Zen — our free broken-link & 404 checker that grades your whole site — with a direct link to it on WordPress.org.
4.7.41
- Added an optional email opt-in during setup (Step 1) and on the SSL-activated success screen — get a reminder before your certificate expires so your site never slips back to “Not Secure”, plus occasional SSL tips. Unchecked by default, one-click unsubscribe.
4.7.40
- Security hardening: certificate, private key, status and debug-log downloads now require administrator privileges and a valid security nonce (fixes a report where the setup-file download handler ran without an explicit capability/nonce check)
4.7.39
- Added anonymous, opt-in setup analytics so we can see where users get stuck during SSL setup and make it smoother (first-party only, no personal data, respects your tracking-consent choice)
4.7.38
- Simplified the post-setup screen: one friendly, no-pressure review request shown to everyone, with a help option always available
Screenshots
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best SSL Zen alternatives
All force ssl plugins →
FAQ
SSL Zen: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 26, 2026
Is SSL Zen free?
Yes. SSL Zen is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory. The developer also sells premium add-ons or a Pro version with extra features.
Is SSL Zen safe to use in 2026?
Yes — SSL Zen is a safe, well-maintained plugin to use in 2026. It runs on 10K+ sites, is rated 4.9/5 and was last updated 1 week ago, and scores 85/100 on our health check.
How many websites use SSL Zen?
SSL Zen is active on 10K+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 1,109,207 times since it launched in February 2019. It was downloaded 6,663 times in the last 30 days.
Does SSL Zen work with WordPress 7.1?
SSL Zen is officially tested up to WordPress 7.0.6, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
What PHP version does SSL Zen need?
SSL Zen requires PHP 5.6 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was SSL Zen last updated?
The latest version, 4.7.43, was released on September 18, 2026 (1 week ago).
Who makes SSL Zen?
SSL Zen is developed and maintained by SSL Zen - Free SSL/HTTPS.
What are the best alternatives to SSL Zen?
The most popular alternatives to SSL Zen are Easy HTTPS Redirection (SSL) (100K+ installs), WP Force SSL & HTTPS SSL Re… (80K+ installs) and SSL Mixed Content Fix (8K+ installs).
Powered by PageForge
Want thousands of pages that rank like these? Build them in an afternoon.
This directory runs on the same engine as PageForge. Turn any spreadsheet, CSV or API into thousands of fast, SEO-ready WordPress pages — with schema, internal links and AI-written copy baked in.
- CSV, Google Sheets & API data sources
- AI content, schema & internal links per page
- Works with Elementor, Gutenberg, Yoast & Rank Math
- Free on WordPress.org — no credit card
