How to Get SSL Certificate for Web Applications That Runs on Localhost?

Question:

I am in need of SSL certificate for the applications that run on localhost to test the application. How can I get my SSL certificate signed by a CA for web application that runs on localhost

Answer:

As asked by many customers, how to get SSL for localhost. There is no SSL for localhost or private domain names like testdomain.local. As per CA/Browser forum guideline, CAs doesn’t provide any kind of SSL certificate for localhost, NetBIOS name, and private domain names.

Uhh, what is the workaround?

Let’s say your public domain name is www.example.com and this website is hosted on ISP and SSL certificate secured. We recommend you create test sub-domain in local hosts like test.example.com for testing and development purpose. Get a new SSL certificate from any CA for this sub-domain.  The main advantage of a third party (CA) verified SSL certificate is that all browser and servers trust their SSL certificate.

Don’t want to pay for SSL?

You can create a self-signed SSL certificate from a web server and configure on localhost. But this self-signed SSL won’t be trusted by any web browser, all time you will see untrusted SSL certificate error. This option is not recommended but developers use for internal network use for the testing purpose.

Certificate Authorities performs multiple verifications to assure that applicant reserves the rights to acquire SSL certificate for the domain he applied. CA will provide you SSL certificate only if you successfully fulfill the verification requirements.