What Happens When Your SSL Certificate Expires?
The moment your SSL certificate expires, every visitor to your website sees a bright red warning page: "Your connection is not private." Most visitors immediately leave. Search engines may drop your rankings. Your site effectively goes offline without any server outage. Check your certificate now: SSL Certificate Checker →
How to Check Your SSL Certificate
Method 1: Browser Padlock
Click the padlock icon in your browser address bar → "Certificate is valid" → shows expiry date and issuer. Quick but only works in browser.
Method 2: Our Online Tool
Visit our SSL Certificate Checker, enter your domain, and instantly see: expiry date, days remaining, issuer, subject CN, SAN domains, and whether the certificate validates correctly.
Method 3: OpenSSL Command Line
openssl s_client -connect yourdomain.com:443 2>/dev/null | openssl x509 -noout -datesSSL Certificate Types Explained
| Type | Covers | Cost | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| DV (Domain Validated) | Single domain | Free–£10/yr | Blogs, personal sites |
| OV (Organisation Validated) | Single domain | £50–200/yr | Business sites |
| EV (Extended Validation) | Single domain | £100–300/yr | E-commerce, banks |
| Wildcard | *.domain.com | £70–400/yr | Sites with subdomains |
| SAN/Multi-domain | Multiple domains | £100–500/yr | Multiple sites |
Free SSL with Let's Encrypt
Let's Encrypt provides free DV certificates that auto-renew every 90 days. Most hosting providers (Cloudflare, Nginx, Apache with Certbot) support automatic renewal. Set it up once and forget it.
Setting Up SSL Monitoring
Never let an SSL expire accidentally. Set up monitoring that alerts you 30 days before expiry:
- UptimeRobot — Free SSL monitoring with 30-day expiry alerts
- Freshping — Free tier includes SSL monitoring
- Cron + OpenSSL — Script that emails you when expiry is within 30 days
- Calendar reminder — Simple but effective — set a reminder 30 days before expiry
Common SSL Errors and Fixes
- ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID — Certificate expired. Renew immediately.
- ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID — Certificate doesn't match the domain. Reissue for the correct domain.
- ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID — Certificate not trusted. Use a trusted CA or install intermediate certificates.
- Mixed content warnings — Page loads over HTTPS but references HTTP resources. Update all resource URLs to HTTPS.
Related Tools
- SSL Certificate Checker — Check any domain SSL instantly
- WHOIS Lookup — Check domain expiry alongside SSL
- HTTP Headers Checker — Verify HSTS and security headers
