Mailfence vs Riseup Mail
It is a trade-off. Mailfence has the higher Safety grade (6.5 against 6.0), while Riseup Mail has the higher Privacy grade (7.2 against 5.9).
Mailfence
Belgian OpenPGP email suite with a free tier and Bitcoin or Litecoin payment
Privacy
5.9/ 10
Fair
Safety
6.5/ 10
Fair
No ID mentioned KYC 1 Docs reviewed Full review →
Riseup Mail
Donation-funded activist email collective; accounts by invite code
Privacy
7.2/ 10
Strong
Safety
6.0/ 10
Fair
No ID mentioned KYC 1 Docs reviewed Full review →
Side by side
| Mailfence | Riseup Mail | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | ||
| KYC policy | No ID mentioned | No ID mentioned |
| Custody | N/A | N/A |
| Sign-up | Email required | No account needed |
| Open source | No | No |
| Tor onion address | No | Yes |
| Coins | BTC, LTC | Not published |
| Pay with | Card, Crypto, PayPal, Bank transfer | Not published |
| Fees | Free plan available; paid plans billed in advance (monthly, quarterly or yearly). Subscriptions are not refunded. | Free; donation-funded |
| Limits | Free accounts are suspended after 7 months of inactivity and deleted 5 months later. | Invite code required; 1 GB of mail storage |
| Founded | 1999 | 1999 |
| Jurisdiction | Belgium | United States |
| Incidents on record | 0 | 0 |
| Published tests (180 days) | 0 | 0 |
Only Mailfence
Legal entity disclosedRequires email
Both
5+ years operatingNo phone needed
Only Riseup Mail
No email neededTor onion serviceNo-logs policy
Where they sit among email
Questions
Is Mailfence or Riseup Mail safer?
Mailfence has the higher Safety grade: Mailfence 6.5, Riseup Mail 6.0, out of 10.
Does Mailfence or Riseup Mail require KYC?
Mailfence is KYC level 1 (no ID mentioned). Riseup Mail is KYC level 1 (no ID mentioned).
Which has more incidents on record?
Mailfence has 0 and Riseup Mail has 0 documented incidents in the registry.