startssl covers the cost of their labor, not the cost of a &#x27;license&#x27; to use the certificate. Their cost is validating your identity, which is a one time thing. They call you, ask a few questions and that&#x27;s it. 10 minutes of their and your time. After that you are entitled to create as many certificates as you want. There&#x27;s one caveat: the validation is only for one year, you have to renew it when your certificates are about to expire. Even if you have just one domain, it&#x27;s cheaper than the alternatives. If you have multiple domains, startssl is <i>much</i> cheaper.