Calyx VPN vs Riseup VPN: which wins in 2026?
Head-to-head on the facts that decide the purchase: real prices in the provider's own unit, minimum, KYC, proof, payment and terms - every number sourced in the linked reviews.
CalyxVPN is one of the very few genuinely free, genuinely anonymous VPNs - no account, no email, open-source client and server, run by a respected New York privacy nonprofit founded by the man who challenged the FBI's NSL gag order. But it is a small ideological service, not a product: one OpenVPN provider with no published gateway list, mediocre speeds, no streaming, no iOS, and - critically - a shaky uptime record. Users reported outages in late 2023, a certificate-breaking update in Dec 2024, an 'irreversible server outage' in mid-2025, continued connection failures in Aug 2025, and as of 2026-11-03 its Bitmask provider API returns 404 while the operator's homepage still advertises a free VPN; a third-party comparison claims the service went dark around January 2026. Treat it as a privacy community tool that may or may not be up when you need it, and verify connectivity before relying on it.
The most trustworthy free VPN on structural grounds: an anarchist Seattle collective that has run since 1999, funds itself by donations, asks no account registration and states plainly that it does not log IP addresses, with a quarterly PGP-signed warrant canary and honest documentation of its own VPN limitations and the 2016 canary incident. But it is still US jurisdiction, there is no independent audit, servers are few, and the client is Bitmask-based with basic features - activists' pick, not a streaming tool.
Short answer: Riseup VPN wins overall (4.5/10 vs 3.6/10). Calyx VPN is the better pick if you care most about censorship resistance. Facts checked 2026-11-08.
The facts
| Calyx VPN |  Riseup VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score (0-10) | 3.6 | 4.5 |
| Privacy & proof | ||
| Logging claim | We do not monitor your Internet usage or communications. | 'Unlike most other VPN providers, Riseup does not log your IP address' |
| Logging evidence | promise only (no proof) | promise only (no proof) |
| Audits | unknown | unknown |
| Jurisdiction | United States - The Calyx Institute, a New York 501(c)(3) no… moreUnited States - The Calyx Institute, a New York 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded 2010, HQ 254 36th Street Suite C660, Brooklyn, NY 11232 (privacy policy fetched 2026-11-03); a Five Eyes jurisdiction; the VPN is one program of the institute alongside CalyxOS and Tor activities | United States |
| Owner | unknown | Riseup Collective (volunteer collective, Seattle) |
| Money | ||
| Intro price | $0 /mo | unknown |
| Renewal price | not published | not published |
| Anonymous payment | bitcoin · fiat | bitcoin |
| Account | ||
| Personal info | none - the VPN requires no account, no email and no payment;… morenone - the VPN requires no account, no email and no payment; Calyx memberships (which are donations to the nonprofit, not VPN access) can be paid by cash or Bitcoin with only a membership identifier retained | none |
| Kind | Free VPNs | Free VPNs |
| Facts checked | 2026-11-03 | 2026-09-29 |
Score breakdown
Calyx VPN leads on security (+2.5), censorship resistance (+4.5) · Riseup VPN leads on ownership & track record (+3.5), honest value (+5).
Calyx VPN at a glance
++ What holds up
- Completely free with no accounts, no email and no data caps - one of the few free VPNs with no commercial catch
- Both client and server are 100% free and open source (GPL-3.0 Bitmask client; LEAP provider config public on GitHub/0xacab)
- Strong anonymity design: anonymous IP hosted by Calyx, anonymous DNS handling, cash/Bitcoin payment path for optional donations, operator retains no personal info for such payments
- Censorship circumvention via Bridges/pluggable transports (Internews-funded work with LEAP announced 2019)
- Operator credibility: 501(c)(3) with a unique legal pedigree - founder Nicholas Merrill was the first to constitutionally challenge an NSL; co-founded EFF's Canary Watch
- Kill switch (Android Always-On), split tunneling ('Exclude apps') and DNS/IPv6-leak protections are built into the client
-- What to watch
- Chronic reliability problems: outage reports Oct 2023 (r/Calyx), cert-update breakage Dec 2024 (r/CalyxOS), 'it never worked all that well' (r/CalyxOS 2025), and the provider API 404s as of 2026-11-03
- No public server list or location choice - third-party reviews describe a handful of gateways (New York only in 2021 testing); no country switching
- OpenVPN only - no WireGuard; TechRadar measured 5-10 Mbps from the UK in 2021 and PrivacyProof reports a small ~15-gateway network in 2026
- No iOS app and no Google Play listing anymore (Play URL 404s) - F-Droid/APK side-loading only
- US Five Eyes jurisdiction and no independent audit of the no-logging claim; warrant canary era ended with Canary Watch winding down in 2016
- Cannot unblock streaming (failed Netflix/Prime in TechRadar testing) and the whole service depends on donations to a small nonprofit
Riseup VPN at a glance
++ What holds up
- Completely free, donation-funded, no account registration (VPN page re-checked 2026-09-28)
- 'Riseup does not log your IP address' - explicit operator statement
- Quarterly PGP-signed warrant canary (re-checked 2026-09-28)
- Unusually honest docs: a dedicated 'security issues / limitations of VPN' page that explains what a VPN cannot do
- Open-source Bitmask client; same stack as CalyxVPN
- Fifteen-year paper trail of collective operation (FBI server seizure 2012, canary episode 2016) handled candidly
-- What to watch
- US jurisdiction and US-based infrastructure
- No independent audit of the no-logs claim
- Small free network; speeds and server choice are basic
- Client setup is less polished than commercial apps (users report uninstall troubles and occasional site-blocking quirks)
FAQ
Which is cheaper, Calyx VPN or Riseup VPN?
Calyx VPN publishes a price ($0 /mo); Riseup VPN is free (no comparable price exists) - compare what each one takes instead of money.
Which has better logging evidence, Calyx VPN or Riseup VPN?
Tie - both are at the same evidence level (policy-only).
Which renewal price is honest, Calyx VPN or Riseup VPN?
Calyx VPN is free - there is no renewal price to hide; the honest question is what the "free" is funded with. See the linked reviews.
Which needs less KYC, Calyx VPN or Riseup VPN?
At least one provider does not document its KYC policy - treat it as unknown, not as "no KYC".
Which has the longer track record?
Riseup VPN has the longer track record (since 1999).
Scores and facts: meta-reviews with dated sources - Calyx VPN · Riseup VPN. Method: how we verify. More: all providers compared · all head-to-heads.