The big names in order by price are verisign, thawte, and geotrust.

http://www.verisign.com
http://www.thawte.com
http://www.geotrust.com

They offer certificates with 100% browser recognition (this is what matters), wild cards, extended organization validation, warranty, and "green" bar. They are very expensive but very well regarded and don't use an intermediary certificate like the small players.

With that said I buy my certificates (around 15 so far) from godaddy. The basic certificates are cheap enough that I don't sweat having to buy a new one if I move servers or something. You can also pay more and start getting additional features.

https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/ssl/ssl.asp

The basic godaddy certs are just validation certificates and an intermediate certificate that verify you are who you say you are and give you a trusted name for a single domain (and subdomain) -- Godaddy has 99% browser recognition so you won't get a unknown certificate signer warning.

These is the key for most certificates. ANYONE (including you) can create a self signed certificate, but the browser won't trust you as an authority and a user will be given additional steps before accepting the certificate.

http://www.akadia.com/services/ssh_test_certificate.html

The is one major problem with godaddy certificates: GoDaddy itself. I've had quite a few clients blow off the idea because of godaddy's ... site and behavior. Its sort of embarrassing to take a prospective client team to their site and have multiple pictures of nascar and bikini models all over the place. Not to mention the mailer's they send you.
Source(s):
http://www.verisign.com
http://www.thawte.com
http://www.geotrust.com
http://www.akadia.com/services/ssh_test_certificate.html
http://www.sslshopper.com/godaddy-certificate-authority-reviews.html


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