What Is Self-Signed Certificate?

Why It Matters

Self-signed certificates provide encryption but not trust. The encryption is technically the same as a certificate from a certificate authority, but browsers have no way to verify who issued it. Result: a full-page security warning that blocks the visitor.

For domain forwarding, this means a self-signed certificate is worse than no certificate at all — visitors see a scary warning page instead of being smoothly redirected.

Self-Signed vs CA-Signed

Aspect	Self-Signed	CA-Signed (Let’s Encrypt)
Cost	Free	Free (Let’s Encrypt)
Browser trust	No — security warning	Yes — lock icon
Encryption	Same strength	Same strength
Forwarding	Broken (warning page)	Works perfectly
Use case	Development only	Production

Why Not to Use Self-Signed for Forwarding

Visitor → https://forwarded-domain.com
         ↓
Browser: "Your connection is not private" 
         "NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID"
         ↓
Visitor leaves (never sees redirect)

There’s no legitimate reason to use self-signed certificates for domain forwarding when Let’s Encrypt provides free, browser-trusted certificates. Domain Forward uses Let’s Encrypt exclusively.