Hosting Glossary
Let's Encrypt
Let's Encrypt in plain English — the definition, the analogy, and why it matters to anyone who runs a website.
The short answer
Let's Encrypt is the free, automated certificate authority that made HTTPS universal — issuing short-lived certificates renewed entirely by machinery.
Below: the fuller explanation, an analogy that makes it stick, why it matters in practice, and where you'll actually meet it.
100+
Terms in this glossary
2 min
Average read
Plain
English, promised
24/7
Humans if you're stuck
Its ACME protocol lets servers prove domain control and receive certificates without humans — the automation that collapsed SSL's cost to zero and its admin to none. Ninety-day lifetimes force the automation to stay healthy.
It's the engine behind most hosts' 'free SSL' (ours included) — browser-trusted certificates indistinguishable in security from paid DV.
A picture that makes Let's Encrypt stick
A robotic passport office issuing free, short-validity credentials to anyone who can prove their identity on the spot — no queues, no fees, renewals handled by the applicants' own machinery.
Hold onto that picture and most of the documentation you'll ever read about it becomes considerably less mysterious.
The practical stakes
It's why SSL stopped being a purchasing decision — encryption became infrastructure hygiene, and any host still charging for basic certificates is billing for a solved problem.
You don't need to operate this layer daily — you need to recognise it when it's the explanation for something, which is exactly when this page pays for itself.
Let's Encrypt in the wild
A new domain pointed at our hosting has a trusted certificate within minutes — issued, installed and scheduled for mechanical renewal without anyone clicking anything.
Multiply that example across every site on the internet and you have the concept's entire job description.
Where you'll meet it on our platform
You'll meet it in the control panel and occasionally in a support conversation — usually already configured the right way. If this term made sense, the natural next reads are SSL Certificate, HTTPS, TLS and Wildcard SSL.
Every plan includes free SSL that renews itself, so the padlock is never your job.
Jargon is a service failure
Every confusing term in hosting eventually becomes a support ticket — so we defined the hundred most common ones properly, once, in the plain English we'd use on the phone.
Renewal prices match signup prices, so the year-two invoice is the most boring email you'll get from us.
- 100+ terms, plain English
- Analogies and real examples
- Cross-linked related concepts
- Written by the support desk
Why HostingAlly
What you get with every plan
The practical stakes named
Not just what it is — when it's the answer to a problem you're having.
Linked, not siloed
Related terms cross-reference, so one lookup becomes a working understanding.
Honest about what you can skip
Most terms are recognise-level, not operate-level — the glossary says which is which.
Plain English first
Every term defined for site owners, not for other sysadmins — jargon translated, not restated.
Analogies that stick
Each concept gets a picture you'll remember at the moment you actually need it.
Grounded in a real platform
Examples reference the hosting you'd actually use, not abstract diagrams.
Getting Started
How to get going
- 1
Spot it in your own setup
Open your control panel and find where this concept lives — seeing it attached to your own site is what converts definition into understanding.
- 2
Check the defaults
Our platform ships sane defaults for this — verify rather than assume, and you'll know your setup instead of hoping about it.
- 3
Follow the related terms
Concepts travel in packs — SSL Certificate, HTTPS and TLS complete this one's picture, and each is a two-minute read away.
Included
What's covered on our plans
- Per-site PHP version selection
- One-click installer for WordPress and 400+ apps
- Free SSL certificate on every plan, renewed automatically
- DDoS protection at the network level
- Free website migration handled by our team
- Daily automatic backups with self-service restores
- No setup fees, ever
- 24/7 support from real people
- Email accounts on your own domain
- cPanel — the industry-standard control panel
FAQ
Your questions, answered
Is a free Let's Encrypt certificate weaker than a paid one?
Cryptographically identical — same encryption, same browser trust. Paid certificates differ in validation depth (OV/EV), warranties and wildcard logistics — procurement features, not stronger padlocks.
Why do the certificates expire every 90 days?
Deliberate design — short lifetimes limit stolen-certificate damage and force renewal automation to exist and stay tested. On managed hosting the cycle is invisible; that invisibility is the system working.
Do prices go up at renewal?
No — the price you sign up at is the price you renew at. We don't run teaser-rate economics, so there's no year-two ambush to plan around, and your bookkeeping can rely on the number staying put.
Where is your company based?
HostingAlly is a trading name of Bohzo Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales — a real, verifiable business with published terms under English law, which is worth checking about any host before you hand them your domain.
Is SSL really included at no cost?
On every plan, with no exceptions — certificates are issued automatically when your domain points to us and renew themselves before expiry. The encryption is identical to paid DV certificates; paid tiers exist only for wildcard convenience or organisation-level validation.
Can I host more than one website on a plan?
On the Pro tier and above, yes — multiple sites with their own domains, email and SSL under one account. If the extra sites belong to clients rather than you, reseller hosting gives each one proper isolation instead.
Which control panel do you provide?
cPanel — the industry standard, which means every tutorial on the internet matches your screen, your backups restore anywhere cPanel runs, and skills learned here transfer for life. Plesk and DirectAdmin options exist on specific plans for those who prefer them.
Keep exploring
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