How to Add Free SSL to Your Website Using Certbot

Let's face it - in 2025, if your website doesn't have that little green padlock in the browser's address bar, you might as well be running your site on a potato. But fear not! I'm here to show you how to get that SSL certificate for free using Certbot. And the best part? It's easier than explaining to your non-tech friends what you do for a living!

What we'll need

Before we dive in, make sure you have:

• A website running on Nginx (Apache works too, but we'll focus on Nginx here)
• SSH access to your server (AWS EC2, DigitalOcean, or any VM)
• Basic command line knowledge (you know, the black screen with the blinking cursor)
• A domain name pointing to your server
• 10 minutes of your time (maybe 20 if you're easily distracted like me)

Step 1: Install Certbot

First, let's get Certbot installed on your server. SSH into your server and run these commands:

# For Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt update
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Step 2: Configure Nginx

Make sure your Nginx configuration includes your domain name. Open your Nginx config file:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your-domain.conf

Your configuration should look something like this:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;

    root /var/www/yourdomain;
    index index.html;

    # Other configuration settings...
}

Step 3: Run Certbot

Now for the magic part! Run Certbot with the Nginx plugin:

sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

Certbot will ask you a few questions:

1. Enter your email address (for renewal notifications)
2. Agree to the terms of service
3. Choose whether to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS (hint: yes, you want this)

And boom! 💥 Your site is now secured with SSL. Certbot will automatically modify your Nginx configuration to handle SSL certificates.

Step 4: Verify Auto-Renewal

Certbot certificates expire every 90 days (because security), but don't worry - Certbot sets up automatic renewal. Let's verify it's working:

sudo certbot renew --dry-run

If everything's good, you'll see a success message. The actual renewal will happen automatically via a cron job.

Common issues and (possible) solutions

"Connection refused" errors

Make sure ports 80 and 443 are open in your security group/firewall:

# Check if ports are open
sudo netstat -tulpn | grep -E ':80|:443'

# For AWS EC2, check your security group rules
# For UFW firewall
sudo ufw allow 80
sudo ufw allow 443

Domain validation fails

• Double-check your DNS settings
• Make sure your domain is pointing to your server's IP
• Wait a few minutes for DNS to work their magic

Nginx won't restart

Check your Nginx configuration for errors:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl status nginx

Pro Tips

1. Multiple domains: You can secure multiple domains in one go:

sudo certbot --nginx -d domain1.com -d domain2.com -d domain3.com

2. Backup your certificates: They're usually in /etc/letsencrypt/live/. Back them up, but keep them secure - they're like your server's passport.

Conclusion

And there you have it! Your website is now running on HTTPS, your visitors' data is secure, and Search Engines won't give you the side-eye for not having SSL.

P.S. If you found this helpful, feel free to share it with your fellow developers. And if you run into any issues, just remember: it's not a bug, it's an unexpected feature!