Riseup review (2026): is it any good?
Donation-funded email and VPN for activists and organizers
Riseup report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026
Best for free email for activists and organisers
Riseup gives free, donation-funded email with 1 GB of storage, aimed at activists and organisers. You need an invite code, mail isn't end-to-end encrypted unless you add it, and a lost password can't be recovered.
Who Riseup is for
- 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
Who Riseup is not for
- 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
Why Riseup gets a 2.4
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- BValue for moneyAccounts are free and the donate page asks $5 to $15 a month from those who can afford it. A donation isn't required.
- BFree plan and trialA free account with 1 GB of storage that one person can live on, though you need an invite code to get one.
- CFeaturesWebmail, IMAP and POP, mailing lists, a VPN and Tor services. No custom domains or calendars in the listing, and 1 GB is small.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. You need an invite code to sign up and you set up your own mail client.
- CPlatforms and integrationsA web service with IMAP and POP, plus Thunderbird, Mailvelope and Tor. No apps of its own.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Riseup's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Riseup? Put this grade on your site
Paste this where you want the badge. It links here and follows the grade if it changes. About badges
<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/riseup#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/riseup.svg" alt="Riseup: 2.4 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Riseup stands among email apps
Riseup's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 54 of the 122 other email apps we grade, and level with 19.
It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 69 of 122) and worst on features (C, above 1).
Riseup has no paid plan.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.0 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 123 email apps we grade, cut by the letter each got. Riseup’s own letter is outlined.
- BValue for moneyAbove 67 of 122, level with 20
- BFree plan and trialAbove 69 of 122, level with 27
- CFeaturesAbove 1 of 122, level with 77
- CEase of useAbove 20 of 122, level with 73
- CPlatforms and integrationsAbove 10 of 122, level with 46
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 107 email apps. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
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
Keep Riseup, or make your own?
Keep it
Riseup is free, so making your own would save you nothing.
And it is not the kind of software a weekend replaces.
What you could not
- An email client: sending, receiving, threading and searching years of mail.
- Servers in dozens of countries, kept fast and private.
- Sharing with other people, which means accounts and invitations.
What this rests on. Riseup’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Riseup?
Riseup provides free email, mailing lists and a VPN for people and groups working on social change. Mail is stored encrypted under the user's password, accounts are opened with invite codes instead of phone numbers, and the service says it does not log IP addresses. It is funded by donations, not by ads.
Worth knowing
- 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
- 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.
Riseup pricing
As of Nov 13, 2026, Riseup is free to use.
- Starts at
- Free
- Free plan
- 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
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| 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. |
Read from riseup.net on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Riseup before you buy.
Works with
- Thunderbird
- Mailvelope
- Tor
Riseup alternatives
- Riseup vs Posteo
From €1/mo
- Riseup vs mailbox
Free trial · from €1/mo
- Riseup vs Proton Mail
Free plan · from $3.99/mo
- Riseup vs Tuta Mail
Free plan · from €3/mo
- Riseup vs Mailfence
Free plan · from €2.50/mo
Common questions
Does Riseup have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Riseup is listed for Web.
Does Riseup have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Riseup is listed for Web.
Is Riseup open source?
Riseup is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 13, 2026.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026.