Head to head
The gap
The security score is not a total of good things. It starts at 100 and eight channels each take a share of what is left, so one channel can settle a record on its own. Both records are drawn here on the same scale — the model’s own cap of 0.9 — rather than on a scale fitted to this pair, which would make every comparison look equally dramatic.
Line by line
Every field the contract publishes about a provider, in the contract’s own groups, including the rows where the two agree — a table that printed only differences would invent a disagreement, and one that printed only the interesting rows would be us choosing what is interesting. Open a group to read its rows; each one says how many it holds and how many of them the two records answer differently.
A green cell means the methodology itself prices that value below the other one, not that we prefer it. Rows the model does not price carry no mark at all: price is never marked, because nothing in the model says cheaper is safer, and neither is coverage, platform count or devices. Where a value was never established the cell says so instead of showing a zero.
What actually happened
Other pairs
Pairs within the top ten get a page — 80 comparisons in all. Records below that are not paired here: a comparison earns a page where the choice between the two is a real one, and that choice is made near the top of the register.
1 documented demand, none of which produced data
1 documented demand, 1 of which produced data
Recent changes
No change logged on this record
Open questions
Still open on this record.
Retention, unchecked by anyone. No independent audit has ever been commissioned (V01=no, based on consensus among reviewers and the absence of any AirVPN announcement of one, rather than a primary AirVPN denial) — retention (C01) rests entirely on the provider's own privacy notice, never checked by an outside party.
No transparency report, no canary. No transparency report of government/legal requests and no warrant canary could be found on airvpn.org (P05, P07 unknown) — the site does publish periodic 'mission' reports, but those cover donations to NGOs, not law-enforcement requests, so they do not establish P05.
What the forum threads show. Forum threads show users repeatedly asking AirVPN for a warrant canary with no confirmation from staff that one exists, which is suggestive but not a primary denial, so P07 stays unknown rather than 'none'.
Counts nobody publishes. Request/data-handover counts are consequently also unknown (P08, P09), and total subscriber count is never disclosed (M08 unknown) — AirVPN publishes only a live concurrently-connected-users counter, not a registered-user or subscriber total, so silence/ignorance carry real weight here.
Builds and pentests. Reproducible builds are not documented on AirVPN's own build-from-source page (eddie.website/support/build/), and no dedicated client/infrastructure pentest could be found (V13, V14 unknown). Kill switch scope and split-tunneling behaviour are sourced to a third-party review rather than AirVPN's own documentation (U08, U09 at confidence C) because the relevant FAQ pages could not be reached directly through the site's routing (they render via JavaScript and returned only a loading shell to a plain fetch).
Coverage outside the affiliates. Press coverage is not affiliate-only: BleepingComputer, a mainstream outlet outside the affiliate-aggregator list, has published an independent review carrying its own affiliate-disclosure notice rather than being confined to affiliate directories (X08=no). Its same review also found AirVPN failed every streaming service it tried — Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, ABC, NBC, CBS — which is why U12b_streaming_works now reads no rather than the addictivetips.com-sourced partial it carried before that host was ruled forbidden.
The yearly price. U04b_price_yearly=4.08 is the EUR effective-monthly rate of the one-year plan (49 EUR/year) on airvpn.org/buy/, flat on renewal like every AirVPN term.
The wordmark. AirVPN serves its wordmark only as PNG (/static/img/logo/web_header.png, logo_horiz.png) and has no press or brand page, so logos/airvpn.svg is left absent per AUDITOR.md §1 rather than tracing a raster.
Still open on this record.
Hardware ownership is not stated. Riseup's own government FAQ describes physical control of its core Seattle infrastructure ('not hosted in the cloud'), but says nothing about the VPN gateway machines in Montreal, Paris and Amsterdam, which sit on IP ranges typical of commercial hosts. C08_servers_ownership stays unknown rather than assumed from the Seattle statement.
The bare-minimum VPN log is described only by exclusion. The security page lists everything the 5-day rotating log does not contain (no IP, no fingerprint, no DNS requests, no metadata) but never states what it does contain. C01 is filled none_linkable on that exclusion list, but a reader who wants to know what the bytes actually are will not find it here.
Several usability fields have no documentation to read at all. Split tunneling, simultaneous device limits, P2P policy and streaming access are not addressed on any RiseupVPN page found this session, and the kill switch is confirmed only for the desktop tray client, not for Android.
The only independent audit is a client/infrastructure pentest, not a logging audit. The 2025 SRLabs report examined Bitmask and the Menshen bridge registrar for intercept and DPI risks; it never asked what the VPN servers retain, so V11_audit_findings is not_stated and the retention claim in C01 rests on Riseup's own word alone.
The 2012 seizure often cited against Riseup did not touch Riseup's own data. U.S. federal agents took a server from a colocation facility Riseup shared with May First/People Link, but the machine and its data belonged to a third tenant (European Counter Network); no Riseup account or user data was on it, which is why P01_seizure_event reads none_known rather than crediting an event that was never Riseup's to resist.
Notes
On the record as a whole.
AirVPN is a sole proprietorship ("AirVPN di Paolo Brini") registered in Perugia, Italy, and explicitly refuses service to residents of Italy (stated on every page footer and in the Terms of Service §1) — the practical effect is that its own home jurisdiction cannot compel it to log its own resident customers, though this is not evidence of a broader logging-mandate exemption.
AirVPN prices only in EUR (airvpn.org/buy/): 7.00 EUR/month, 49 EUR/year (4.08 EUR/month), flat on renewal. U04_price_monthly (8.11) is 7.00 EUR/month and U04b_price_yearly (56.74) is the 49 EUR/year total, both converted to USD at 1.158 EUR/USD — the rate Mullvad publishes on its own pricing page for the same date, where 5 EUR is shown as 5.79 USD — hence confidence C and a second source for the rate. Multi-year plans drop as low as 2.75 EUR/month.
A notable practice data point: public US federal court transcripts in United States v. Klyushin (D. Mass., docket 61629108, documents #183 and #217, found via CourtListener/RECAP) show a law-enforcement pen register was placed directly at the hosting company (DediPath), not at AirVPN, to monitor an AirVPN server's IP from Jan–Feb 2020; AirVPN's own staff, replying on their forum, confirmed the company had no knowledge of or involvement in the tap and that the device had to be installed outside AirVPN's own systems.
This is recorded in P12_case_history as a court_order/nothing_produced event, sourced to AirVPN's own forum confirmation (not to the PACER PDFs themselves, which returned 403 to automated fetches and were read only via a secondary summary).
On the record as a whole.
RiseupVPN is a free client of Riseup Networks, a US 501(c)(4) non-profit collective (riseup.net) operating since 1999; the VPN carries no price of its own and is sustained entirely by donations, which is why U04/U04b are not_applicable. RiseupVPN is a rebrand of the older Bitmask/Riseup-Black client built on the LEAP platform; its four gateways (Seattle, Montreal, Paris, Amsterdam) all sit in countries carrying a logging mandate per countries.csv, and hosting there is physical rather than virtual.
AirVPN and RiseupVPN were assessed by the HushFleet team: AirVPN scores 37/100 for security, in the Weak band, and RiseupVPN 25/100, in the Insufficient band. They share independent ownership and sign-up without an account. The 12-point gap opens widest on Silence — “Ten years, millions of users and nothing on record?” — taking 24% from AirVPN and 0% from RiseupVPN.
Security
Usability
Rank 4 of 68 in the register
Italy · Commercial VPN
Exits in 23 countries
| ChannelPressure taken from what was left | AirVPNDominant channel: Retention0 to 0.9, longer is worse | RiseupVPNDominant channel: Retention0 to 0.9, longer is worse |
|---|---|---|
| RetentionDoes a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked? | 0.349 | 0.497 |
| SilenceTen years, millions of users and nothing on record? | 0.240 | 0.000 |
| JurisdictionCan someone compel what exists, without the provider getting a say? | 0.000 | 0.200 |
| IntegrityHas it been caught saying one thing and doing another? | 0.000 | 0.200 |
| IgnoranceHow much of this did nobody establish? | 0.162 | 0.097 |
| DisclosureHas it already handed something over? | 0.000 | 0.087 |
| HygieneWhat identifying material is collected in passing, and can the client be checked at all? | 0.066 | 0.070 |
| ArchitectureWho operates the exit, and what does it do to the traffic? | 0.050 | 0.000 |
| What is left of 100The channels multiply: each one takes a share of what the one before it left standing | 37 | 25 |
Security
Usability
Rank 7 of 68 in the register
United States · Censorship tool
Exits in 4 countries
By circumstance
| AirVPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Torrenting | Allowed yes | — not established |
| Streaming | Not reachable no | — not established |
| Devices at once | 5 | — not established |
| Under censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
| Exits in mandate countries | None | None |
| Hosting in those countries | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
| Company under a mandate | No such mandate no | No such mandate no |
| Secret orders | Orders go through a judge judicial_only | National security letters or their equivalent nsl_equivalent |
| AirVPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Security | 37 weak · rank 4 of 68 | 25 insufficient · rank 7 of 68 |
| Usability | 57 out of 100 | 65 out of 100 |
| Record completeness | 82% usability 100% | 88% usability 64% |
| AirVPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Who operates the exit | Run by the provider itself provider_operated | Run by the provider itself provider_operated |
| Retention as declared | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkable | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkable |
| RAM-only diskless servers | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredBairvpn.org · | — not establishedno source published |
| IP allocation model | Exit address shared between users sharedCairvpn.org · | — not establishedno source published |
| Signup without email | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declared | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declared |
| Anonymous payment options | Cryptocurrency paid directlyBairvpn.org · | The service takes no payment at allBriseup.net · |
| Own DNS inside the tunnel | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredBairvpn.org · | — not establishedno source published |
| Worst third-party SDK category in the app | No third-party SDK none | No third-party SDK none |
| Worst third-party tracker category on the site | No third-party tracker none | No third-party tracker none |
| Who owns the hardware | Rented from third parties rentedCairvpn.org · | — not establishedno source published |
| Offered countries that sit under a logging mandate | None | None |
| Hosting in the mandate countries it offers | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
| Incorporation country mandates retention | No such mandate no | No such mandate no |
| Beneficial owner sits under a retention regime | No such regime no | No such regime no |
| Persistent device identifier | None held none | None held none |
| Weakest protocol still offered | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
| What the exit does to passing traffic | — not establishedno source published | Traffic passes through unaltered noneBriseup.net · |
| AirVPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| At least one independent audit | No independent audit noCbleepingcomputer.com · | Yes, and the report was read yes_verifiedAopentech.fund · 2 sources · |
| How the report is published | — the question does not ariseno source published | The full report is published full_pdfAopentech.fund · |
| Subject of the audit | — the question does not ariseno source published | The infrastructure · The protocol · The app's securityAopentech.fund · |
| AirVPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Server seizure by law enforcement | No seizure on record none_known | No seizure on record none_known |
| Actual disclosure history | No disclosure on record none_knownno source published · | Account data was handed over account_data_disclosedBriseup.net · |
| Court record of compelled production | No court record none_knownno source published · | Produced account data produced_account_dataBriseup.net · |
| Response to a national logging mandate | Was never present in that country no_presenceno source published · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
| AirVPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Documented gap between claim and behaviour | No documented lie none | No documented lie none |
| Marketing against audit findings | — the question does not ariseno source published | No gap on record noneAopentech.fund · |
| Ownership structure transparency | Ownership is stated and checkable clear | Ownership is stated and checkable clear |
| Adverse events on the owner group record | Nothing adverse on record clean | Nothing adverse on record clean |
| How the service is paid for | Paid subscriptions only paid_onlyBairvpn.org · | A free tier funded by the paid one freemium_fundedB |
| AirVPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | AirVPN di Paolo Brini — Via Sagittario 4, Perugia (PG), Italy. VAT ID IT03297800546, REA PG-279011 (individual/sole-proprietor enterprise)Bairvpn.org · | Riseup NetworksBriseup.net · 2 sources · |
| Where the company sits | Italy ITBairvpn.org · | United States USBriseup.net · |
| Year the service launched | 2010Bairvpn.org · | 1999Briseup.net · |
| AirVPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms with a client | 8 Android, Android TV, Fire TV, iOS, Linux, macOS, Routers, WindowsBairvpn.org · | 4 Linux, macOS, Windows, AndroidBriseup.net · |
| Countries with an exit | 23 countriesBairvpn.org · | 4 countriesBapi.black.riseup.net:443 · |
| Paying monthly | $8.11 per monthCairvpn.org · 2 sources · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
| Paying yearly | $56.74 |
| Server fleet coverage |
|---|
| — the question does not arise |
| — the question does not arise |
| Auditor name | — the question does not ariseno source published | Security Research Labs (SRLabs)Aopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Auditor category | — the question does not ariseno source published | A security specialist security_specialistAopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Assurance standard | — the question does not ariseno source published | No standard stated noneAopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Date of latest report | — the question does not ariseno source published | 2025-05-16Aopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Audit cadence | — the question does not ariseno source published | One-off one_offBopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Total published audits | 0Cbleepingcomputer.com · | 1Bopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Retention as the report states it | — the question does not ariseno source published | The report does not address retention not_statedAopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Client source code published | Every client all | Every client all |
|---|
| Reproducible builds | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Separate pentest | — not establishedno source published | Yes, and the report was read yes_verifiedAopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Strength of the assurance opinion | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
|---|
| Transparency report | — not establishedno source published | No report noneBriseup.net · |
|---|
| Reported numbers plausible for this scale | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
|---|
| Warrant canary discipline | — not establishedno source published | Kept current maintainedBriseup.net · |
|---|
| Requests received | — not establishedno source published | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| Requests that produced data | — not establishedno source published | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| Secret-order regime | Orders go through a judge judicial_onlyCairvpn.org · | National security letters or their equivalent nsl_equivalentBriseup.net · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Chronology of documented enforcement events | 1 documented demandBairvpn.org · | 1 documented demandBriseup.net · |
|---|
| Claims of 100% anonymity or military-grade crypto | Makes no such claim no | Makes no such claim no |
|---|
| Aggressive lifetime subscriptions | Does not no | Does not no |
|---|
| Coverage exists only on affiliate sites | Covered outside affiliate sites too no | Covered outside affiliate sites too no |
|---|
| Security incident and how it was disclosed | No incident on record none_knownno source published · | Disclosed by someone else third_party_disclosedAopentech.fund · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Affiliate programme and payout tier | A standard payout standardBairvpn.org · | No affiliate programme noneBriseup.net · |
|---|
| Owner-run review media discloses the tie | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
|---|
| App store declaration | The store form matches the published policy matches_policy | The store form matches the published policy matches_policy |
|---|
| User base scale (mass >=10M, mid >=1M, niche <1M) | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Ultimate beneficial owner as written | Paolo Brini, sole owner/operator trading as 'AirVPN di Paolo Brini'. The service began in 2010 as a project of a small group of Rome-based activists/hacktivists (initially operated by a company called Iridium), and was formalized under a dedicated company with Brini as owner in November 2012.Bairvpn.org · 2 sources · | Riseup Collective (self-governed autonomous collective; no external owner)Briseup.net · |
|---|
| Other businesses of the owner group | None disclosed | None disclosed |
|---|
| Country of the ultimate beneficial owner | ITBairvpn.org · | USBriseup.net · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Owner group | independent | independent |
|---|
| Date the current owner took control | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
|---|
| Role of this brand inside the group | The group's principal brand principal | The group's principal brand principal |
|---|
| Infrastructure shared with cluster siblings | Separate infrastructure separate | Separate infrastructure separate |
|---|
| — the question does not ariseno source published |
| Usable free tier | No free tier noneBairvpn.org · | A free tier with no data cap unlimited_freeBriseup.net · |
|---|
| Works under active censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
|---|
| Protocols offered | 3 WireGuard, OpenVPN, An obfuscated protocolBairvpn.org · | 2 OpenVPN, An obfuscated protocolBapi.black.riseup.net:443 · |
|---|
| Kill switch coverage | On some platforms partialCeddie.website · 2 sources · | On desktop only desktop_onlyBriseup.net · |
|---|
| Split tunneling available | Not available noCbleepingcomputer.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Simultaneous connections | 5Bairvpn.org · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Friction to start using it | No account needed no_account | No account needed no_account |
|---|
| P2P allowed | Allowed yesBairvpn.org · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Major streaming services reachable | Not reachable noCbleepingcomputer.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
12 Sep 20265 changes
Major streaming services reachableU12b_streaming_works
partial changed to no
Usability scoreusability.score
60 changed to 57
Security scoresecurity.score
40 changed to 37
Monthly price USD, month-to-month plan, as chargedU04_price_monthly
8.11 changed to 8.12
Yearly plan price USD, first term as chargedU04b_price_yearly
56.74 changed to 56.84
