mailbox vs Riseup (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, mailbox grades higher than Riseup: 2.6 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
mailbox grades higher on value for money and features. Riseup grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
mailbox
Paid, ad-free email with cloud storage and office tools from Germany
Which one is for you
Pick mailbox if
- Fits if you want paid, ad-free email with servers in Germany
- Works for families, as up to 10 mailboxes can share calendars, contacts and Drive storage
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free mailbox, because all you get free is a 30-day trial
- Tight if you pick Light, with 2 GB of mail storage, no Drive storage and support for contract questions only
- Not for you if you want the provider's own phone app, as mail runs in the browser or in other mail apps
- Watch out: Light must be paid a year in advance, and prices are in euros
- Pricey if you're a business, as the calculator adds a service package from €25 a month on top of each user
Pick Riseup if
- Fits if you do organising work and want an account that doesn't log your IP
- Works for people who already have an invite and want to skip ads and scanning
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to sign up without an invite, as you can't
- Tight if you hold lots of mail, with 1 GB, Trash emptied after 21 days and Spam after 7
- Not for you if you need end-to-end encryption by default, as you must add Mailvelope or OpenPGP
- Watch out: lose your password and your recovery code and the mail can't come back
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAmailboxGood | 2.4GPARiseupFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | ALight is €1 a month, paid as €12 a year, and Standard with 20 GB, custom domains, Drive storage and the office suite is €3 a month paid annually. Against an $8 middle for this category, that's under almost everything here. Prices are in euros, and Light is 2 GB with support for contract questions only. | BAccounts are free and the donate page asks $5 to $15 a month from those who can afford it. A donation isn't required. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, since the service carries no advertising. Any plan can be tried free for 30 days, and nothing on record says whether the trial asks for payment details. | BA free account with 1 GB of storage that one person can live on, though you need an invite code to get one. |
| Features | BWebmail over IMAP, POP3 and SMTP, PGP and S/MIME handled inside the webmail, aliases, and calendar, contacts and tasks on every plan, with Drive storage, a browser office suite and video meetings on the higher ones. The mail job is covered. | CWebmail, IMAP and POP, mailing lists, a VPN and Tor services. No custom domains or calendars in the listing, and 1 GB is small. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Webmail opens in any browser, but there's no app to install, so using your own mail app means setting up IMAP yourself, and on Light support only answers contract, credit balance and password questions. | CNo store rating on record. You need an invite code to sign up and you set up your own mail client. |
| Platforms and integrations | CThe browser is the only place mailbox has an app of its own. It speaks IMAP, POP3, SMTP, CalDAV and CardDAV, so other mail apps can connect, but the integrations on record are just Mailvelope and OX Drive, which is what phones use for files. | CA web service with IMAP and POP, plus Thunderbird, Mailvelope and Tor. No apps of its own. |
| Best for | paid, ad-free email hosted in Germany | free email for activists and organisers |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: mailbox and Riseup. How we grade
Price against what you get
mailbox starts at about $1.12 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Riseup has no paid plan and scores 2.0.
mailbox scores higher, and starts $1.12 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other email apps on the chart, 6 score higher than mailbox for less, and none scores higher than Riseup for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- mailbox is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- mailbox also covers tasks, calendar, documents, video calls and file sync.
- Riseup also covers vPN.
At a glance
| mailbox | Riseup | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free |
| Starts at | €1 per month, annual payment only (€12 a year, Light) | Free |
| Free plan | None | Accounts are free; Riseup asks for voluntary donations and suggests $5 to $15 a month for people who can afford it. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial of any plan | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Heinlein Hosting GmbH | Riseup |
| Price read from | mailbox.org | riseup.net |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
mailbox
- There is no free plan; any plan can be tried free for 30 days.
- The €1 Light plan is paid a year in advance and has 2 GB of mail storage, no Drive storage and support limited to contract questions.
- There are no mailbox apps of its own for mail: it runs in the browser or in other mail apps, and file sync on phones uses the separate OX Drive app.
- Prices are in euros. Private prices include VAT, business prices are net, and the business calculator adds a service package from €25 a month.
Riseup
- Accounts need an invite code, so you cannot simply sign up.
- Email storage is capped at 1 GB, and Trash and Spam folders are emptied after 21 and 7 days.
- Mail is not end-to-end encrypted unless you add Mailvelope or your own OpenPGP; a stolen password exposes all mail.
- A lost password with no recovery code means the account and its mail cannot be recovered.
Key features
mailbox
- Webmail with IMAP, POP3 and SMTP
- Mail is read in the browser or in any mail app over IMAP, POP3 and SMTP. Standard and Premium add a tabbed inbox, email statistics and collection from external POP3 accounts.
- PGP and S/MIME encryption
- The Guard feature handles PGP and S/MIME inside webmail, and incoming mail can be kept in a PGP-encrypted inbox. Mailvelope and mailbox's own PGP key server are supported on every plan.
- Aliases and custom domains
- Light includes 3 @mailbox.org aliases, Standard and Premium 25. The two higher plans add custom domains with 50 or 250 aliases and 25 or 50 disposable addresses.
- Drive cloud storage
- 10 GB on Standard and 100 GB on Premium, expandable for a fee, with password-protected download links that expire, WebDAV access and optional encryption with your own PGP key.
- Office, calendar and contacts
- Text documents, spreadsheets and presentations are edited in the browser on Standard and Premium. Calendar, contacts and tasks are on every plan and sync over CalDAV and CardDAV.
- Meet video conferencing
- Browser-based video meetings with breakout rooms, screen sharing, chat and surveys. Guests join from an invitation link without an account or an install.
Riseup
- Individually encrypted mail storage
- Stored messages are encrypted and can only be unlocked with the user's password, so Riseup says it cannot read them.
- Hidden user ID and no IP logging
- The sender's account ID is hidden in outgoing mail, IP addresses are not put in headers, and the service says it does not log them.
- Webmail, IMAP and POP
- Read mail at mail.riseup.net or in a client such as Thunderbird over IMAP; POP lets you download and delete messages from the server.
- Tor onion services
- Every service has a Tor onion address, and mail to other activist providers can be delivered over Tor.
- Account tools
- Email aliases, filters, per-service passwords, a quota setting and a one-click data purge in the account system.
- Mailing lists and VPN
- The same group runs mailing lists, a VPN, a pad, file sharing and group wikis.
Plans
mailbox
Light€1
per month, annual payment only (€12 a year)
2 GB of mail storage, 3 @mailbox.org aliases, calendar and address book. Support covers contract, credit balance and password reset questions only.
Standard€3
per month, paid annually (€36); €4 paid monthly
20 GB of mail and 10 GB of Drive storage, 25 aliases, custom domains with 50 aliases, online document editing and family accounts.
Premium€9
per month, paid annually (€108); €12 paid monthly
50 GB of mail and 100 GB of Drive storage, custom domains with 250 aliases, replies within 24 hours on business days and a phone callback service.
Business€1 to €12
per user / month, net, plus a service package
Business Light, Standard and Premium accounts at €1, €4 and €12 a user, with a service package: Silver €25, Gold €75 or Platinum €250 a month.
EnterpriseCustom
For large companies with advanced requirements, quoted on request.
Riseup
Riseup account$0
Free email with 1 GB of storage, funded by donations; the donate page suggests $5 to $15 a month for individuals who can.
Ways to pay less
mailbox
- Annual discount
Save 25% when paying annually
Standard costs €3 a month when paid annually (€36) against €4 paid monthly, and Premium €9 a month (€108) against €12. The prices page labels both as a 25% saving.
Riseup
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, mailbox or Riseup?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Riseup is cheaper to start with: it is free, against about $1.12 a month for mailbox. mailbox starts at €1 per month, annual payment only (€12 a year, Light), and Riseup is free.
Which has a free plan, mailbox or Riseup?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Riseup has a free plan. mailbox does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.