What’s the difference between TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3?

TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 are two versions of the protocol that encrypts the connection between a browser and your website; 1.3 is the newer, faster and more secure one. Two-thirds of Australian small business sites do not yet support TLS 1.3 - only 34% do^*:

• TLS 1.3 is faster - it sets up the secure connection in fewer round trips, so pages start loading sooner, which matters most on mobile.
• TLS 1.3 is cleaner - it drops the old, weak encryption options that 1.2 still carries, leaving fewer ways to get the configuration wrong.
• Both are fine to run together - supporting 1.3 does not mean dropping 1.2; modern browsers pick the best version each side supports.

Supporting TLS 1.3 is usually a setting your host can enable - ask them to turn it on if it is not already.