Cock.li vs Riseup Email

Cock.li is a public email host from Cock.li, founded in 2013, offering email accounts and webmail through the web, Android, and iOS. Its services are free, with the Free plan listed at free. Mail access includes IMAP and POP at mail.cock.li, while XMPP is listed at xmpp.cock.li. Registration does not require personally identifiable information. New accounts cannot send mail until the user completes a browser proof-of-work challenge that uses a few minutes of CPU time. Cock-mail is described as an open-source, client-side webmail client connecting directly to the IMAP server over websockets, but its 0.0.1 alpha release lacks major features including SMTP. The privacy policy says registration details, stored mail, XMPP data, and 48–72 hours of IMAP and SMTP logs may be retained. Email is automatically scanned for spam. Account information is encrypted server-side, but mail may travel without encryption when TLS is unavailable or not attempted.

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.