4SecureMail vs Riseup Email

4SecureMail provides secure email accounts and managed email hosting for businesses and consumers. Accounts support POP, IMAP, and SMTP with SSL/TLS and work with standard clients such as Outlook and Thunderbird. SecureVault encrypts sensitive outgoing email for outside recipients, who read and reply through a secure web link. Spam protection includes SpamAssassin and a challenge/response whitelist; a server-based ICSA-certified virus scanner is also included. The FAQ says SSL/TLS sessions begin before login credentials are exchanged, and that TLS 1.2 and Perfect Forward Secrecy are supported. The company describes support for HIPAA, GLB, and SOX, can provide or review a Business Associate Agreement, and offers off-site legal archiving at additional cost. IMAP IDLE notifications and simultaneous connections from multiple devices are supported. Outgoing attachments can total up to 5 GB across all recipients. Plans range from one mailbox with 500 MB of storage and no custom domain to options with multiple mailboxes, more storage, and custom domains. The service has no free plan but offers a free trial; listed pricing starts at $8.24/mo. It is available worldwide to holders of major credit cards and supports U.S. currency.

Riseup Email is a free email account available through webmail or a mail client. Riseup describes the service as part of movement-run communications infrastructure for activists and allies. New accounts require an invite code from someone who trusts the applicant, and each account has 1 GB of storage. Riseup recommends Thunderbird and lists mail-client options for Linux, Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS. Clients connect using IMAP or POP, with SMTP for outgoing mail. Riseup says messages are individually encrypted on its servers and can be unlocked with the account password, but the service is not end-to-end or client encrypted unless users add Mailvelope or another OpenPGP solution. It says it does not log users’ internet addresses or include the sender’s IP address in outgoing email. Riseup services have Tor onion services, and email to certain activist providers is delivered over them. Trash messages are deleted after 21 days and Spam after 7 days. Riseup does not back up all old messages, so users are responsible for keeping their own copies. The service is funded entirely by small user donations.