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.
Security
Usability
Rank 2 of 68 in the register
Sweden · Commercial VPN
Exits in 50 countries
Security
Usability
Rank 7 of 68 in the register
United States · Censorship tool
Exits in 4 countries
1 documented demand, none of which produced data
1 documented demand, 1 of which produced data
Recent changes
No change logged on this record
Notes
On the record as a whole.
The April 2023 search warrant is the strongest single item in this record: police attended the office and left with nothing, which is practice evidence rather than paper and ages far more slowly than an audit. Pricing is a flat 5 EUR/month on every term; U04_price_monthly carries 5.80 (the USD equivalent Mullvad states on its own page); U04b_price_yearly is 69.60, the full year at that rate.
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.
Open questions
Still open on this record.
The audit cadence. Mullvad publishes an audit index in the app repository and it is honest about cadence: the index states outright that the main app audits happen every two years, with extras in between, which is why regularity is recorded as repeated at no fixed interval rather than as an annual series — no annual cadence is claimed by anyone.
Two reports, one date. Two separate engagements share 2026-02-17 and the record names both: Assured's code review of GotaTun, the userspace WireGuard implementation (no critical, high or medium issues; two low and nine notes), and Leviathan's Mobile App Profile assessment of the Android app, whose compliance report gives February 17, 2026 as its date of evaluation and AL2 as its assurance level. One date, two reports, no contradiction.
Why the count reads eight. The audit count is eight because the GotaTun review sits outside the app repository's own list. Before them, a 30 person-day X41 D-Sec review across all five platforms found six vulnerabilities — three high, two medium, one low, none critical.
What no engagement covers. What none of these engagements covers is the server fleet: every one of them examines the app or the tunnel protocol, which is why fleet coverage is recorded as not applicable rather than as a sample. The no-logs claim on the infrastructure side therefore rests on the April 2023 search warrant — Swedish police came for customer data and left without it — and not on any audit.
Reproducible builds, Android only. Reproducible builds are Android-only, from version 2025.2 onward, so the field stays partial; the desktop and iOS builds are not verifiable bit-for-bit. Turkey is the one mandate country on the offered list and the hosting behind it is not established.
Nothing published about demands. Nothing on record rests on anything the provider publishes about demands it receives: there is no transparency report and no warrant canary, so the April 2023 seizure carries that ground alone. Kill-switch coverage and P2P policy are unestablished; the latest audit is a protocol code review, not a no-logs engagement, so V11 is silent and retention leans on the declaration.
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.
25 Sep 20261 changes
Monthly price USD, month-to-month plan, as chargedU04_price_monthly
5.8 changed to 5.69
12 Sep 20264 changes
Security scoresecurity.score
65 changed to 64
Security scoresecurity.score
64 changed to 60
Works under active censorshipU06_censorship_circumvention
none changed to claimed
Usability scoreusability.score
55 changed to 64
Mullvad VPN and RiseupVPN were assessed by the HushFleet team: Mullvad VPN scores 60/100 for security, in the Acceptable band, and RiseupVPN 25/100, in the Insufficient band. They share an independent audit, independent ownership and sign-up without an account. The 35-point gap opens widest on Retention — “Does a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked?” — taking 22% from Mullvad VPN and 50% from RiseupVPN.
By circumstance
| Mullvad VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Torrenting | — not established | — not established |
| Streaming | — not established | — not established |
| Devices at once | 5 | — not established |
| Under censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
| Exits in mandate countries | 1 Turkey | None |
| Hosting in those countries | — not established | — 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 |
| ChannelPressure taken from what was left | Mullvad VPNDominant 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? | 0.218 | 0.497 |
| JurisdictionCan someone compel what exists, without the provider getting a say? | 0.050 | 0.200 |
| IntegrityHas it been caught saying one thing and doing another? | 0.000 | 0.200 |
| IgnoranceHow much of this did nobody establish? | 0.103 | 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? | 0.050 | 0.070 |
| ArchitectureWho operates the exit, and what does it do to the traffic? | 0.050 | 0.000 |
| SilenceTen years, millions of users and nothing on record? | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| What is left of 100The channels multiply: each one takes a share of what the one before it left standing | 60 | 25 |
| Mullvad VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Security | 60 acceptable · rank 2 of 68 | 25 insufficient · rank 7 of 68 |
| Usability | 64 out of 100 | 65 out of 100 |
| Record completeness | 87% usability 75% | 88% usability 64% |
| Mullvad VPN | 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_declaredBmullvad.net · | — not establishedno source published |
| IP allocation model | Exit address shared between users sharedBmullvad.net · | — 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 | Cash · Cryptocurrency paid directly · Prepaid voucher or gift cardBmullvad.net · | The service takes no payment at allBriseup.net · |
| Own DNS inside the tunnel | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredBmullvad.net · | — 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 | Owned and rented both mixedBmullvad.net · | — not establishedno source published |
| Offered countries that sit under a logging mandate | 1 TurkeyBmullvad.net · | NoneBapi.black.riseup.net:443 · |
| Hosting in the mandate countries it offers | — not establishedno source published | — the question does not ariseBapi.black.riseup.net:443 · |
| 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 · |
| Mullvad VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| At least one independent audit | Yes, and the report was read yes_verified | Yes, and the report was read yes_verified |
| How the report is published | The full report is published full_pdf | The full report is published full_pdf |
| Subject of the audit | The protocol · The app's securityAassured.se · 2 sources · | The infrastructure · The protocol · The app's securityAopentech.fund · |
| Server fleet coverage | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
| Auditor name | Assured Security Consultants (GotaTun code review) and Leviathan Security Group (Android Mobile App Profile assessment) — two engagements, both reports dated 2026-02-17Aassured.se |
| Mullvad VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Server seizure by law enforcement | Seized, and nothing usable was on it seizure_no_dataBmullvad.net · | No seizure on record none_knownBhelp.riseup.net · |
| Actual disclosure history | No disclosure on record none_knownBmullvad.net · | Account data was handed over account_data_disclosedBriseup.net · |
| Court record of compelled production | No court record none_known |
| Mullvad VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Documented gap between claim and behaviour | No documented lie none | No documented lie none |
| Marketing against audit findings | No gap on record none | No gap on record none |
| 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_onlyBmullvad.net · | A free tier funded by the paid one freemium_fundedBriseup.net · 2 sources · |
| Claims of 100% anonymity or military-grade crypto | — not established |
| Mullvad VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Mullvad VPN AB, Box 53049, 400 14 Gothenburg, SwedenBmullvad.net · | Riseup NetworksBriseup.net · 2 sources · |
| Where the company sits | Sweden SEBmullvad.net · | United States USBriseup.net · |
| Year the service launched | 2009Bmullvad.net · | 1999Briseup.net · |
| Mullvad VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms with a client | 5 Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, WindowsBmullvad.net · | 4 Linux, macOS, Windows, AndroidBriseup.net · |
| Countries with an exit | 50 countriesBmullvad.net · | 4 countriesBapi.black.riseup.net:443 · |
| Paying monthly | $5.69 per monthBmullvad.net · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
| Paying yearly | $69.60 a year at renewal, billed once |
| Security Research Labs (SRLabs)Aopentech.fund · |
| Auditor category | A security specialist security_specialist | A security specialist security_specialist |
|---|
| Assurance standard | Another standard otherBgithub.com · | No standard stated noneAopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Date of latest report | 2026-02-17Aassured.se · 2 sources · | 2025-05-16Aopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Audit cadence | Repeated, at no fixed interval repeated_irregularBgithub.com · | One-off one_offBopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Total published audits | 8Bgithub.com · 2 sources · | 1Bopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Retention as the report states it | The report does not address retention not_stated | The report does not address retention not_stated |
|---|
| Client source code published | Every client all | Every client all |
|---|
| Reproducible builds | On some platforms partialBmullvad.net · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Separate pentest | Yes, and the report was read yes_verified | Yes, and the report was read yes_verified |
|---|
| Strength of the assurance opinion | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
|---|
Produced account data produced_account_dataBriseup.net · |
| Response to a national logging mandate | Was never present in that country no_presenceBmullvad.net · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| 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_onlyBmullvad.net · | National security letters or their equivalent nsl_equivalentBriseup.net · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Chronology of documented enforcement events | 1 documented demandBmullvad.net · | 1 documented demandBriseup.net · |
|---|
Makes no such claim noBriseup.net · |
| 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 | Disclosed by the provider, promptly self_disclosed_promptBmullvad.net · | Disclosed by someone else third_party_disclosedAopentech.fund · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Affiliate programme and payout tier | No affiliate programme none | No affiliate programme none |
|---|
| 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) | Mid: a million users or more midBmullvad.net · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Ultimate beneficial owner as written | Amagicom AB, 100% owned by founders Fredrik Stromberg and Daniel BerntssonBmullvad.net · | 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 | SEBmullvad.net · | 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 noneBmullvad.net · | A free tier with no data cap unlimited_freeBriseup.net · |
|---|
| Works under active censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
|---|
| Protocols offered | 1 WireGuardBmullvad.net · 2 sources · | 2 OpenVPN, An obfuscated protocolBapi.black.riseup.net:443 · |
|---|
| Kill switch coverage | — not establishedno source published | On desktop only desktop_onlyBriseup.net · |
|---|
| Split tunneling available | Available yesBmullvad.net · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Simultaneous connections | 5Bmullvad.net · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Friction to start using it | No account needed no_account | No account needed no_account |
|---|
| P2P allowed | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Major streaming services reachable | — not established | — not established |
|---|
