Let’s Encrypt is a free, automated SSL cer­ti­fic­a­tion authority. Using Let’s Encrypt is a quick and free way to get an SSL cer­ti­fic­ate for your website. With Plesk, you can create and deploy a Let’s Encrypt SSL cer­ti­fic­ate in just a few clicks.

Pre­requis­ites

  • A cloud server with Plesk Onyx (any operating system): This tutorial uses the Power User view. You can change the Plesk view by clicking on ‘Change View’ at the bottom of the left column.
  • Firewall access: If you have a firewall, you need to allow access on port 443 to enable secure HTTPS traffic to and from your server.
Note

For all cloud servers with Plesk, ad­min­is­trat­ive functions such as adding an SSL cer­ti­fic­ate should always be performed through the Plesk interface.

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How to create and install a Let’s Encrypt SSL cer­ti­fic­ate

Go to the Domains tab in your Plesk interface.

Image: Domains on Plesk
Navigate to the ‘Domains’ interface in Plesk.

Select your domain and click on the Dashboard tab. Here you can now choose the ‘SSL/TLS Cer­ti­fic­ates’ option.

Image: Go to the SSL/TLS options
In the next step, go to the SSL/TLS options for your domain.

Click on Let’s Encrypt for the website you want to secure.

Image: Select Let’s Encrypt
Choose ‘Let's Encrypt’ in the cer­ti­fic­ate options.
Image: ION_UK_DG-TVC_MyWebsite_960x320.png
Image: ION_UK_DG-TVC_MyWebsite_1200x1200.png

Enter your email address and select the options for www and webmail (if ap­plic­able). Then, click on ‘Get it free’.

Image: Let’s Encrypt options
Select the ap­pro­pri­ate ad­di­tion­al options from Let's Encrypt and click ‘Get it free’ to confirm.

After the in­stall­a­tion process is completed, you can access an SSL-secured version of your website at https://domainname.com.

Note

Let’s Encrypt cer­ti­fic­ates are only valid for 90 days. Plesk auto­mat­ic­ally renews the cer­ti­fic­ate every month.

Reviewer

  • Julia Hertler

    Julia Hertler

    With over 18 years of ex­per­i­ence in content marketing, Julia Hertler has deep expertise in digital com­mu­nic­a­tions. For the past 10 years, she has spe­cial­ised in the areas of domains and hosting at the IONOS Digital Guide, making complex technical topics easy to un­der­stand.

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