Certificate providers compared
Price, revoke replacement, and refund terms for paid iPhone signing certificate providers, taken from each vendor's own site.
A paid certificate provider registers one iPhone on an Apple developer account and supplies a signing certificate and provisioning profile for it. Providers differ mainly in price, in how long a revoked certificate is replaced for, and in what a refund covers.
Price and terms
Every price is for one device. Every certificate listed, from any provider, is valid for up to one year: Apple can revoke one earlier. Where a vendor sells several plans, the range runs from its cheapest to its most expensive. All are single payments except Signulous, which renews yearly.
| Provider | Price | Replaced if revoked |
|---|---|---|
| cert.fish | £6.75 (about $9.40) | One, within 90 days |
| FlareStore | $3 to $15 | Not offered |
| RustSign | £3.99 to £12.99 | 300 days on higher plans |
| SwiftSign | $9.99 to $29.99 | Within 30 to 355 days by plan |
| AppleP12 | $9.88 to $26 | Within 30 to 330 days by plan |
| UDID Registrations | From $8.99 | Not stated on the linked page |
| Signulous | $19.99 a year | At no extra cost, no limit stated |
Refunds: cert.fish, FlareStore, and AppleP12 state that there is no refund once the device is registered. SwiftSign refunds only if nothing is delivered within 24 hours. The pages linked for RustSign, UDID Registrations, and Signulous do not state a policy.
These are vendor statements. This guide has not bought from or tested the other providers, and a stated replacement window says nothing about how quickly a replacement arrives.
What the plans change
- Replacement window. The number of days after purchase during which a revoked certificate is replaced. This is the largest difference between plans. SwiftSign's top plan covers two replacements; its others cover one. AppleP12 states that a replacement usually takes 3 to 7 days.
- JIT. FlareStore, RustSign, and SwiftSign sell a development certificate for JIT on some plans only. Check the plan, not the vendor.
- PPQ. FlareStore, RustSign, and SwiftSign price plans by whether the profile is subject to PPQ checks. This guide has not verified those labels.
- File download. cert.fish and AppleP12 state that the P12 and provisioning profile are downloadable. Signulous states that advanced users can download them. Confirm this before paying if you intend to use your own signer.
Where cert.fish sits
cert.fish sells one plan. It is not the cheapest entry on this page, and its 90-day replacement window is shorter than the higher plans at RustSign, SwiftSign, and AppleP12. The order includes the P12 and profile as a download and a preloaded Feather build. See what it supplies.
Before paying any provider
- Read the replacement terms on the vendor's own site, not in a forum post.
- Assume there is no refund once your UDID is registered. Every vendor here that states a refund policy ends it at that point.
- Check whether the certificate files are yours to download and back up.
- Read how to protect your signing files and what a signer can and cannot fix.
Sources
Each row links to the page the figures were read from: FlareStore, RustSign, SwiftSign, AppleP12, UDID Registrations, and Signulous. cert.fish terms are on the buy page and in the terms.