Namecheap Is Switching Its SSL Provider From Sectigo to SSL.com: What Changes

If you buy SSL certificates through Namecheap, the company behind those certificates is about to change. From July 11, 2026, Namecheap is switching its SSL certificate provider — the Certificate Authority (CA) that actually issues the certs — from Sectigo to SSL.com. For most site owners the change is close to invisible, but there are a few specifics worth knowing, especially if you have unused certificates sitting in your account or you resell certificates through the API.

What's actually changing

A Certificate Authority is the trusted entity that validates your domain and signs your SSL/TLS certificate so browsers display the padlock. Namecheap doesn't issue certificates itself; it resells them from a CA. Until now that CA has been Sectigo (formerly Comodo CA); from July 11, 2026 it will be SSL.com.

According to Namecheap's own knowledge base, the transition works like this:

• Existing certificates keep working. Any certificate already issued continues to function normally, with no action required, until it expires.
• Only newly activated certificates will be issued by SSL.com.
• New orders and renewals after July 11 automatically receive the equivalent SSL.com product at the same price. You don't pay more for the switch.
• If a replacement product happens to cost less, the difference is automatically credited to your account funds.

The product names are being rebranded

Because the underlying CA changes, several familiar certificate names are being renamed to SSL.com equivalents. The certificate type and validation level stay the same — only the label changes.

If you've been buying "PositiveSSL" for years, you'll simply find "Standard SSL" in its place after the cutover — same domain-validated certificate, new name and new issuer.

Who needs to actually do something

For the large majority of users running domain-validated (DV) certificates that auto-renew, this is a non-event. Two groups should pay attention:

• Anyone holding unused certificates. If you specifically want a Sectigo-issued certificate — say, for consistency with an existing setup — Namecheap advises you to activate any unused certificates before July 11, 2026. After that date, activation goes to SSL.com.
• OV and EV certificate holders. For organization-validated and extended-validation certificates, validation-related emails may now come from different email addresses. If you filter or whitelist validation mail, update your rules so you don't miss a verification step.
• Resellers and API users. In the Activate method, the AdminEmailAddress parameter becomes optional, and response formats will change. If you've automated certificate provisioning, test your integration against the new responses before the cutover.

Should you care which CA issues your cert?

For everyday HTTPS, not much. Any publicly trusted CA — Sectigo, SSL.com, DigiCert, or the free Let's Encrypt — produces certificates that browsers trust equally; the padlock looks identical. What differs between CAs is things like issuance speed, warranty levels, the validation process for OV/EV, and support. SSL.com is an established, publicly trusted CA, so a DV certificate from it is functionally equivalent to the Sectigo one it replaces. The practical takeaways are administrative — the rename, the validation-email change, and the API tweaks — rather than any drop in trust or security.

Bottom line

Namecheap moving from Sectigo to SSL.com on July 11, 2026 is mostly a behind-the-scenes swap: existing certificates are untouched, pricing stays the same, and renewals roll over to the equivalent SSL.com product automatically. Do something only if you want a last Sectigo-issued cert (activate before July 11), you rely on OV/EV validation emails (expect new sender addresses), or you provision certificates via the API (test the updated responses). Otherwise, the next time you buy an SSL certificate at Namecheap, the only difference you'll notice is the name.

FAQ

Do I need to replace my existing Namecheap SSL certificate?

No. Certificates already issued by Sectigo keep working normally until they expire — only newly activated certificates are issued by SSL.com.

Will the SSL provider change cost me more?

No. New orders and renewals after July 11, 2026 receive the equivalent SSL.com product at the same price, and if a replacement costs less, the difference is credited to your account funds.

My "PositiveSSL" is gone — what happened to it?

It was renamed. PositiveSSL/EssentialSSL became "Standard SSL" under SSL.com. It's the same domain-validated certificate with a new name and issuer.

Is an SSL.com certificate as trusted as a Sectigo one?

Yes. SSL.com is a publicly trusted Certificate Authority, so browsers trust its certificates the same way they trusted the Sectigo ones; the security and padlock are unchanged.

Sources and further reading

Browse Namecheap SSL