I am an individual developers, where can I get a cheap code signing certificate?

I've found several places (Verisign, Thwate, Comodo) that sell
expensive ($99-$700) code signing certificates meant for big
companies.

I'm looking for a code signing certificate that is designed for
individual developers rather than companies. I'd imagine this
certificate would only verify, say, my email address or control of a
domain. Hopefully it will cost less than $50.

I've seen references to these inexpensive certificates for individual
developers, but can't find a place that actually issues them.

Note that I'm talking about a certificate issued by a root trust
authority, not a self-signed certificate that anyone can make for
free. It is importnat that the certificate come from a CA that is
trusted by the major browsers.

Thanks!

I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing (as I needed a
certificate for my ecommerce site), but I got a TurboSSL Certificate
from GoDaddy:

https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/ssl/ssl.asp?se=%2B&ci=418

You can see it in action here:

http://artistorm.com/account/

I didn't have any real problems with it, minus the fact that I was
learning as I went.

GoDaddy's certs are awesome, but alas they do not offer code signing
certs, only SSL certs. Thanks.

Thawte provides free individual digital certificates.
http://www.thawte.com/secure-email/personal-email-certificates/index.html

Is your goal security or just "having signed" binaries?
You might check the discussion here
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/09/code_signing.html

>Thawte provides free individual digital certificates.
>http://www.thawte.com/secure-email/personal-email-certificates/index.html

Unfortunately these can only be used for signing email, not code.

The cheapest Thawte cert I can find that can be used for code signing
costs $199 per year.

>Is your goal security or just "having signed" binaries?
>You might check the discussion here

I agree that code signing is not particularly useful for security, but
unfortunately if you want your code to work seemlessly on many of
today's platforms, you need to sign it or the user will be blocked
from running it.

Thanks,
josh

You may want to check out the following folks:
http://www.instantssl.com/code-signing/ Theirs runs $99 a year.

You may also consider the following source for free certs:
http://www.ascertia.com/OnlineCA/issuer/default.aspx

Although it will not look as nice, you can use the Thawte certificate
kindageeky-ga suggested in an application, refer to the link below:
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:IguXU6DqlsYJ:www.dallaway.com/acad/webstart/+%2Bcode+%2Bsigning+%2Bcertificate+%2Bfree&hl=en&client=firefox-a

Perfect answer!

I just went to the Comodo InstantSSL URL, filled out the online cert
request, emailed them a scan of my driver's licence, downloaded the
cert, and signed my MSI file. The *whole* prcess took about 15 minutes
and only cost $99. That is just amazing.

I also ordered a Thwate code signing cert earlier today (before
reading this comment) for $199 and still have not heard back from
them. When I try to go to the "order status" page, I get a 404 error
and when I try to do "Realtime 24x5 chat with support", I get "No one
available, try later". Hmmm...

Thanks joseg-ga for the great info!

-josh

Got a call from Thwate today saying that they were canceling my order
becuase they can not issue code signing certificates to individuals.
Hmmmm..

I think for individuals who need a code signing cert, Comodo is the
only real choice. $99, quick, easy, and works for Micrisoft
authenticode. No brainer.