Secure outlet Layer ( SSL ) is a standard security technology for creating encrypted connections between a server and an end-user. So no one can steal any kind of data users enter on the website or even what pages user visit.
In the past, it used to be difficult and expensive to set up SSL on any kind of website. These days however SSL is a necessity. It is important not just for your visitor’s security but also Google gives less important to sites which are not encrypted with SSL.
Wordpress SSL Plugins
- Really Simple SSL
- SSL Insecure Content Fixer
- Cloudflare Flexible SSL
- Easy HTTPS Redirection
- WordPress HTTPS (SSL)
- WP Force SSL
- One Click SSL
- JSM’s Force SSL
- SSL Zen
- WP Encrypt
If you use WordPress there are many plugins which can help you with all kind of things to set up an SSL certificate from issuing you a free SSL certificate to set up the certificates with like only one click.
Let’s have a look at some of the most important Wordpress Plugins and how these plugins can help you.
1 Really Simple SSL
Really Simple SSL is one of the most popular Wordpress SSL plugins. It doesn’t issue you an SSL certificate but if you already have one it can automatically detect your server settings and configures your site to perform over https and it does this perfectly.
The plugin takes care of most of the problems WordPress has with SSL can face. For instance when there are no headers that WordPress can use to detect SSL or in cases where http:// doesn’t redirect to https://
It can’t be easier to use this plugin all you have to do after installing the plugin is click on the ‘activate SSL’ button.
After you click that button your website will move to SSL properly.
If you wish you deactivate and delete the plugin you can easily do that and plugin will leave some rules in your .htaccess file to make sure your website will continue to the server on SSL certificate even after you deactivate the plugin.
2 SSL Insecure Content Fixer
As the name suggest SSL Insecure Content Fixer will help you fix the insecure content on your WordPress site and alerts for mixed content.
After, Installing the SSL unsecured Content Fixer plugin will solve most of the uncertain Content alerts with little or no effort.
The basic settings will be enabled and the Simple fix level automatically allows you to make some basic changes to your website.
You can select more complete levels of patches according to your needs. Wordpress Multisite receives a web configuration page. It can be used to set the default settings for all sites within a network, so network administrators only have to set up on sites that have different requirements than network defaults.
3 Cloudflare Flexible SSL
If you use Cloudflare you most likely know what is flexible SSL. What Cloudflare flexible SSL does is make sure that Cloudflare’s flexible SSL certificate works properly and without any hitch.
This plugin forms an essential part of enabling Flexible SSL on WordPress and prevents infinite redirect loops when loading WordPress sites under Cloudflare’s Flexible SSL system.
4 Easy HTTPS Redirection
Easy HTTPS Redirection will help you automatically setup redirection to the https version of an URL when anyone tries to access the non-https version. As long as you already have an SSL certificate installed.
Not only that plugin also force static files such as images, CSS, js to load from https protocol and it even works if you manually embed a not http file on the page.
5 WordPress HTTPS (SSL)
WordPress HTTPS is an all-in-one solution to using SSL on WordPress sites. Developers of this plugin particularly focus on performance and speed of the website when it comes to SSL.
It’s not very simple plugin like some other Wordpress SSL plugins I mentioned above. Wordpress HTTPS plugin lets you do domain mapping and filter URLs where you would like to or not enable SSL for any reason.
If for some reason you don’t want the whole website to switch over to SSL you can do it per page or post and only enable encryption on Important pages for example checkout page.
6 WP Force SSL
WP force SSL plugin is simple and intuitive. The instructions to set up the plugin are clear that even a 6-year-old kid can use this plugin. It basically helps you redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS without the need of touching any code.
Small, reliable, straightforward! This Plugin does exactly what I need: Redirect all HTTP Requests to HTTPS.
7 One Click SSL
One Click SSL is a simple and easy to use WordPress SSL plugin which will redirect all non-https pages to https and ensure that all resources on your SSL pages are loaded over SSL as well.
It includes a user-friendly setup wizard upon activation to check if SSL is supported on the hosting/server before it allows the SSL to be enabled and that ensures that the website doesn’t become inaccessible if SSL is not supported.
8 JSM’s Force SSL
JSM Force SSL is also a very simple, fast and effective way to make sure that all your HTTP URLs get rewritten and redirected to SSL / HTTPS.
Simply activate the plugin and you’re done:
There are no plugin settings to adjust, and no changes are made to your WordPress configuration — simply activate or deactivate the plugin to enable / disable the filters and dynamic redirects.
Significantly different than most other plugins of this type (in a good way):
Other plugins use PHP’s output buffer to search and replace URLs within the webpage document. Using PHP’s output filter is error-prone and much slower than hooking native WordPress filters in combination with permanent 301 redirects (which are considered best for SEO when moving from HTTP to HTTPS).
9 SSL Zen
Need a new certificate? SSL Zen WordPress plugin will generate and set up an SSL certificate on your website and not only that it will auto-renew the SSL certificates as well.
What I have found that SSL Zen only works on hosting with Cpanel, which most shared hosting providers are.
10 WP Encrypt
Unfortunately, This plugin is no longer maintained by developer though it still works.
Why WP Encrypt is amazing is because it does not just redirect your website to https but also issue a new and free Let’s encrypt certificate. The certificates are free but there is one caveat that let’s encrypt certificates are only valid for 90 days, Good thing is this plugin will take care of updating let’s encrypt plugins.
Normally hosting service is which suppose to let you install an SSL certificate and some shared hosting services doesn’t let you install free let’s encrypt certificate or you have purchased one. Which is not always possible for small bloggers to afford.
Conclusion
If you are wondering which WordPress SSL plugin you should use… well, it all depends on your needs. If you already have an SSL certificate installed on your server and only needs to make sure that non-https:// URLs redirect to https:// that go with our Top pick “Really Simple SSL”.
In case you don’t already have an SSL and need a new certificate as well in that case Cloudflare flexible SSL or SSL Zen would be a better option for you.
You seem to have missed “WP Encryption” plugin which I found recently but very useful
Thanks for your suggestion, Michael. I’ll test and probably update the article in a week.