Posteo vs Riseup (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Riseup grades higher than Posteo: 2.4 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Posteo grades higher on value for money. Riseup grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
Pick Posteo if
- Fits if you want an ad-free mailbox that you pay €1 a month for directly
- Works for people who'd rather sign up without a name, address or phone number
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want email at your own domain, because custom domains are not supported
- Not for you if you like to try before you pay, as there's no free plan and no trial account
- Too light for anyone who wants cloud storage with their mailbox, since Posteo offers none
- Watch out: you prepay in euros with a €12 minimum top-up, and extra storage is €0.25 per GB a month
- Tight if you want an app of its own: there's no phone or desktop app, so you set up IMAP yourself
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
| 2.0GPAPosteoFair | 2.4GPARiseupFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | A€1 a month, prepaid, for 4 GB of storage, 3 aliases, 3 calendars, an address book and notes, where this category's middle is $8 and its cheapest quarter starts at $4. Extra storage is €0.25 per GB a month, and the minimum top-up is €12, about a year's fees. | 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 | FNothing is free. There's no free plan and no trial account, so you pay before you see the inbox. Credit is refunded in full if you cancel within the first month, but a refund isn't a trial. | BA free account with 1 GB of storage that one person can live on, though you need an invite code to get one. |
| Features | CThe private basics: everything you store can be encrypted, PGP and S/MIME work in webmail through plug-ins, calendars and contacts sync over CalDAV and CardDAV, and login takes passkeys. The gaps are its own, though: no custom domains at all, no cloud storage, and 4 GB to start. | 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. One account at one price means nothing to choose and no name or address to hand over, but PGP in webmail means installing the Mailvelope plug-in, and using your own mail app means setting up IMAP yourself. | CNo store rating on record. You need an invite code to sign up and you set up your own mail client. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWebmail and a web app, and no phone or desktop app of its own on record. It does open in Thunderbird or Outlook over IMAP and POP3, with CalDAV and CardDAV for calendars and contacts and notes that sync with Apple Notes. | CA web service with IMAP and POP, plus Thunderbird, Mailvelope and Tor. No apps of its own. |
| Best for | a private mailbox for €1 a month | 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: Posteo and Riseup. How we grade
Price against what you get
Posteo starts at about $1.12 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Riseup has no paid plan and scores 2.0.
They score the same, and Riseup starts $1.12 a month lower. Of the other email apps on the chart, 17 score higher than Posteo 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
- Posteo is open source and end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Posteo also covers notes and calendar.
- Riseup also covers vPN.
In commonWebEmail client
At a glance
| Posteo | Riseup | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| Starts at | €1 per month, prepaid (minimum top-up €12) | 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 | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Posteo e.K. | Riseup |
| Price read from | posteo.de | riseup.net |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Posteo
- Custom domains are not supported; addresses use Posteo's own domains such as posteo.de, posteo.net or posteo.com.
- There is no free plan and no trial account, though credit is refunded in full if you cancel within the first month.
- Payment is prepaid in euros, with a minimum top-up of €12, which is about one year's fees.
- It is used through webmail and a web app or through other mail apps over IMAP or POP3, and it offers no cloud storage.
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
Posteo
- One flat-priced account
- €1 a month covers email with 4 GB of storage, 3 aliases, 3 calendars, an address book and notes. Storage can grow to 75 GB and aliases to 25 for small monthly add-on fees.
- Encryption of stored data
- Crypto mail storage encrypts saved email, attachments, metadata and notes, and the address book and calendar can each be encrypted with your own password at the press of a button.
- End-to-end encryption in webmail
- PGP through the Mailvelope plug-in and S/MIME through Posteo's own plug-in work inside the webmail interface, and incoming mail can be encrypted with either.
- Sign-up without personal details
- Registration asks for no name or address, payment data is kept separate from email accounts, and credit can be added by bank transfer, PayPal, credit card or cash.
- Calendar, contacts and notes
- Calendars sync over CalDAV and can be shared read-only by ICS link, contacts sync over CardDAV, and notes can be synchronized with Apple Notes.
- Passkeys and login protection
- Login supports two-factor authentication (TOTP), up to 5 passkeys and up to 5 app passwords. An extra protection mode blocks access from external programs over IMAP.
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
Posteo
Email account€1
per month, prepaid from account credit
4 GB of storage, 3 aliases, 3 calendars, address book and notes. Extra storage costs €0.25 per GB a month and extra aliases or calendars €0.10 each.
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.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Posteo or Riseup?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Riseup is cheaper to start with: it is free, against about $1.12 a month for Posteo. Posteo starts at €1 per month, prepaid (minimum top-up €12), and Riseup is free.
Which has a free plan, Posteo or Riseup?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Riseup has a free plan. Posteo does not.
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.