Configuration Compare

Compare SSL/TLS configurations between two domains

Domain A

Domain B

Port

Results

About

The SSL Configuration Comparison Tool lets you compare TLS configurations between two servers or the same server at different points in time. It analyzes cipher suites, protocol versions, certificate chains, and security headers side-by-side, highlighting differences in supported algorithms, encryption strengths, and security features. This is invaluable when migrating servers, validating configuration changes, or ensuring consistency across your infrastructure.

The tool generates a detailed diff showing exactly which ciphers were added, removed, or changed, along with the security implications of each difference. It also compares HSTS settings, OCSP stapling status, and other TLS-related headers that affect the overall security posture of your web servers.

How to Use

1Enter the first domain name and port (the baseline configuration to compare against)
2Enter the second domain name and port (the configuration to compare)
3Click "Compare Configurations" to analyze both servers
4Review the side-by-side comparison showing differences in ciphers, protocols, and security settings

Use Cases

•Server Migration Validation: Compare old and new server TLS configurations to ensure no security features are lost during migration
•Configuration Drift Detection: Identify unexpected differences between servers in a load-balanced cluster that should have identical TLS settings
•Security Audit Evidence: Generate comparison reports showing TLS configuration improvements after hardening efforts
•CDN vs Origin Comparison: Verify that your CDN is forwarding TLS connections with the same security level as your origin server
•Compliance Baseline: Compare your configuration against a known-secure reference configuration to identify gaps

Tips & Best Practices

•Use this tool after any TLS configuration change to verify only intended differences were applied
•Compare production servers against a hardened reference configuration regularly
•When comparing servers behind a load balancer, test each backend individually to detect configuration drift
•Save comparison results for audit trail documentation

Technical Details

●Cipher Analysis: Compares full cipher suite lists including key exchange algorithms, authentication methods, bulk encryption, and MAC algorithms

●Protocol Comparison: Identifies differences in supported TLS versions (1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3) and SSL versions

●Security Headers: Compares HSTS, CSP, X-Frame-Options, and other security-related HTTP headers

●Certificate Comparison: Shows differences in certificate issuer, key type, key size, and SAN entries

Frequently Asked Questions

Critical differences include protocol version downgrades (e.g., one server supports TLS 1.0 while another requires TLS 1.2+), weak cipher suites present on one server but not the other, and missing security headers like HSTS. Moderate differences include cipher ordering and key exchange algorithm choices that affect performance but not security.

Yes, the tool connects to each server independently from our infrastructure. However, if firewall rules block our analysis server, the comparison may fail for that endpoint. Ensure ports 443 (or your custom port) are accessible from external IPs for accurate results.

The comparison report includes specific configuration snippets for Nginx, Apache, and HAProxy to align the configurations. For cipher suite differences, update your SSLCipherSuite directive. For protocol differences, modify your SSLProtocol directive. Always test configuration changes in staging before applying to production.