I launched a site on Web Hosting Plus with AutoSSL. Here’s how it actually went.

Posted bypettnerdaros

Quick outline

  • What I set up and why
  • The setup flow that worked (and what didn’t)
  • AutoSSL in real life
  • Speed and day-to-day use
  • Support, snags, and small wins
  • Pros, cons, and my bottom line

Why I tried it

I run small sites for family and a few clients. Not big, but they get traffic. My old shared plan started to choke when I ran a sale. Pages crawled. I felt stuck.

So I tried Web Hosting Plus with AutoSSL. If you’re curious, I grabbed the plan straight from Webspacehost, attracted by its promise of an upgrade without the usual complexity. I wanted faster load times and no hassle with certificates. I set up two real sites:

  • A WordPress site for my aunt’s bakery (menus, order form, lots of photos).
  • A tiny course site for a fitness client (videos and a simple checkout).

Different needs, same goal: fast, safe, simple.

If you’d like the blow-by-blow narrative of every click and caffeine break, I’ve archived it as a standalone recap: I launched a site on Web Hosting Plus with AutoSSL—here’s how it actually went.

The setup flow that actually worked

I’ll keep it plain. This is the path that worked for me, step by step.

  1. I pointed the domains to the new host. I waited for DNS to settle. Coffee helped.
  2. I opened cPanel and used the WordPress installer. Nothing fancy.
  3. I checked cPanel > SSL/TLS Status. AutoSSL started by itself.
  4. I gave it time. About 15 minutes later, I saw green locks for the main domain and the www name.
  5. I forced HTTPS. For WordPress, I used the Really Simple SSL plugin. On one site, I added a tiny .htaccess rule.
  6. I fixed “mixed content” (those sneaky http image links) with Better Search Replace. It took 3 minutes.

That’s it. No files to upload for the certificate. No renew dates to watch. It felt… calm.

If you haven’t bumped into it before, AutoSSL in cPanel works like a built-in robot that fetches and renews free Domain Validated certificates for every domain on the account. It’s the reason I never had to touch a CSR or worry about a 90-day expiry reminder.

AutoSSL in real life (not the brochure)

  • Timing: For me, the first certificate showed up in 10–20 minutes after DNS settled. One subdomain (cdn.something) took an hour.
  • Coverage: It handled the root and the www name fine. Wildcards? No. I had to create a separate subdomain and let AutoSSL run again.
  • Renewals: I didn’t touch a thing. It renewed by itself before the 90-day mark. I peeked at the log in cPanel just to be sure. Looked clean.
  • When it failed: On the course site, I forgot to point the A record for a subdomain. AutoSSL threw a red X. I fixed DNS. I hit “Run AutoSSL.” Green check came back in 5 minutes.

Admins on WHM servers can fine-tune the same process through the Manage AutoSSL interface, but on this plan the defaults were good enough for me.

Curious how AutoSSL behaves when you spring for a dedicated IP instead of the shared one? I ran that experiment too and unpacked the pros and cons in my hands-on dedicated IP web hosting review.

You know what? I like boring SSL. Boring means it’s working.

Speed and the small numbers that made me smile

I’m not a lab. I’m one person with a laptop. But I do check load time.

  • Bakery site before: ~3.2 seconds on my phone, home Wi-Fi. After: ~1.2–1.5 seconds.
  • Course site video page: ~2.8 seconds down to ~1.4 seconds.
  • Checkout page: snappier. Not instant, but enough that no one bailed during a flash sale.

For context, the same bakery site averaged about 2.7 seconds when I tested it on Nexus hosting—a comparison I break down in my hands-on Nexus Web Hosting review. So the Plus plan really did shave off precious seconds.

Traffic spike? During a cookie pre-order, the bakery site hit around 120 people at once. It held steady. No scary timeouts. That used to be a problem on my old plan.

Daily life on the host

  • cPanel is standard. I didn’t have to relearn anything.
  • I set a cron job for a simple site report. It ran on time.
  • Email routing was normal. SPF and DKIM records were easy.
  • Backups: I used UpdraftPlus to a cloud drive. I like having my own copy, even if the host has theirs.

I noticed that same cPanel comfort factor when I helped a friend spin up an account overseas—full story in my Web Hosting Hrvatska first-hand take.

One small thing: there’s no one-click staging baked in. I used a subdomain (staging.mydomain) and cloned the site with a plugin. Not hard, just one more step.

If your project leans heavily on visual media—say a private gallery where users drop spontaneous selfies or clips—speed and SSL go from “nice” to “non-negotiable.” A good real-world example is outlined in this in-depth Snap amateur case study: Snap amateur which walks through image handling, discreet payment add-ons, and privacy tweaks that keep such a photo-centric site both fast and secure.

Another real-world scenario is a localized classified-ads board. Even a Backpage-style directory for a single city benefits from rock-solid SSL to protect user logins and private messages. Take a quick look at Backpage Shelby to see how a live listings site structures ads, handles contact forms, and underscores user discretion—handy inspiration if you’re mapping out something similar on your own host.

Support, snags, and small wins

  • Chat wait: 18 minutes on a Friday night. Not awful.
  • The tech knew AutoSSL logs and pointed me to the domain control check (HTTP validation). Clear answer, no script-speak.
  • A snag with a redirect loop came from an old rule forcing www and HTTPS in the wrong order. I cleaned up .htaccess. Loop gone.

That echoed what I saw when I tried a data center on the opposite side of the globe; my Brisbane hosting experiment had nearly identical AutoSSL behavior.

Random note: I tried this on hotel Wi-Fi. AutoSSL still ran fine once DNS was right. That gave me peace of mind during a client trip.

What I loved

  • AutoSSL just worked. No manual keys, no renew stress.
  • Load time gains felt real, not fluff.
  • cPanel path was familiar.
  • Good for small bursts of traffic.

What bugged me

  • AutoSSL throws errors if DNS isn’t pointed yet. The message is a bit scary, even though the fix is simple.
  • No built-in staging.
  • Chat wait can run long during busy hours.

Who should use this

  • Small shops that need speed and a lock icon without fuss.
  • Freelancers who manage a handful of WordPress sites.
  • Anyone who breaks into a sweat when a certificate is due.

If you need root access or fancy server tweaks, this isn’t that. But for my bakery and course sites, it hit the sweet spot.

The bottom line (my take)

I’d give Web Hosting Plus with AutoSSL a solid 8.5/10. It made my sites faster and safer with very little work from me. The tiny pain points—DNS timing, no one-click staging—didn’t ruin the story.

It also stacked up well against the plan I use for a couple of personal projects in the Rockies—my Denver hosting story is here.

Would I use it again for a new client? Yes. I already did, actually—set up a small photography portfolio last week. AutoSSL went green before I finished my tea. That’s the kind of quiet win I like.

— Kayla Sox