Our certificate service helps education, public sector and not-for-profit organisations keep web and email services secure, so confidential data can be sent safely via the internet.

Whether you are looking to take control of your budgets, save money or make managing your certificates easier by having them all in one place, we’re here to help.

Putting you in control

The self-service approach lets you view and manage your account whenever and wherever you need to via a secure online portal. This means you can:

  • Make certificate management easy with a central location - you can easily look up certificates that aren't covered by the service using the discovery function
  • Gain control and flexibility – with control of domain validation and finer-grained management within your organisation
  • Save time through automation – reduce the admin burden on staff and save time by using ACME to automatically issue organisation validated (OV) and extended validation (EV) certificates
  • Manage your budgets better – as well as several pricing bands, the subscription model allows you to auto-renew, so you can relax and forget about having to buy or top up credits

Budget better and even save money

Jisc is all about delivering value for money - in 2019/20 alone, we saved the UK research and education sector over £7 million through the certificate service based on the average certificate price from the commercial market.

Using the revised subscription model, one certificate is tallied against your usage class, regardless of the certificate type or how many SANs you may use, meaning you may well save money through our service. Typically, customers find our certificates cost 30-60% less than those offered by commercial providers, depending on the number and certificate types required through the year.

Just select the pricing band that meets your current needs – and change bands later if you need to.

Service pricing structure
Usage classNumber of certificatesPrice for Jisc members*Price for non-Jisc members
Extra small0-3Free£250 + VAT
Small4-39£500 + VAT£750 + VAT
Medium40-149£2,000 + VAT£2,250 + VAT
Large150-499£5,000 + VAT£5,250 + VAT
Ultra500+£10,000 + VAT£10,250 + VAT

*The price for Jisc members is available to any organisation that pays a Jisc subscription or has a Janet Network connection.

Certificate types

We offer five types of certificates.

Extended validation (EV): high assurance

  • Displays certificate owners’ legal name to visitors
  • EV certificates provide single domain and multi-domain SSL encryption.
  • Offers support for RSA and ECC encryption for flexibility and future proofing
  • Compliant with EV guidelines
  • Certificate duration of one year

Organisation validated (OV): medium assurance

  • Displays the certificate owners' legal name to visitors
  • Can be used in Microsoft's unified communications environments, including Exchange
  • Certificate duration of one year
  • Offers support for RSA and ECC encryption for flexibility and future proofing

Wildcard (OV type): medium assurance

  • Secures one wildcard domain
  • Can secure domains at top level (not recommended) and the sub-domain level
  • Certificate duration for one year
  • Offers support for RSA and ECC encryption for flexibility and future proofing

S/MIME email certificate: high assurance

  • Digitally sign emails, which:
    • Assert sender identity
    • Ensure message integrity
    • Stop spoofing
  • Digitally sign Microsoft Office documents
  • Certificate duration of one or two years

Other certificates

We also provide code-signing certificates through the Sectigo Certificate Manager, and several other types of certificates can be purchased through us too.

Who is the certificate service for?

Jisc's certificate service is available to any research or education organisation in the UK, as well as other public sector and not-for-profit organisations. The service is already used by:

  • Universities, colleges and skills providers
  • NHS and social care
  • Local authorities
  • Housing associations

crown commercial service logo

Jisc is a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s G-Cloud framework. Purchasing services through the framework can offer significant savings.

A service you can rely on

Provided through Sectigo, a leading provider of SSL/TLS certificates; we’ve procured the service through the GÉANT framework, allowing us to unlock significant savings and a best-in-class service.

GÉANT manages the pan-European data network for research and education.

Getting started

If you’re ready to take control of your certificate management and secure your web and email services, you can place an order for the Jisc certificate service.

If you would like to find out more about the service or have any other queries, please get in touch at certificates@jisc.ac.uk.

ISO certification

This service is included within the scope of our ISO9001 and ISO27001 certificates.

Read more about International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standards and view Jisc certificates.

ISO 9001-2015 UKAS logo

ISO 27001 logo