About Commonside

Commonside is an early-stage, volunteer-run project building free, privacy-focused communication services. Our current public service is email.

What is available

Approved accounts receive an @commonside.org mailbox with a 512MB quota. Use Roundcube webmail, a standard IMAP/SMTP client, or the account panel for account settings. Your account credentials also work in webmail.

Joining

Request an account with your desired username, a reachable contact email, a reason and a human-check answer. Commonside volunteers review requests. Save your Request ID and keep its receipt link private. Check your contact inbox and spam folder daily. If approved, you receive a one-time registration link valid for 5 days.

Save your recovery code during registration, confirm it and complete the required password change. Review time varies; approval is not guaranteed.

Our approach

We use open mail protocols and open-source software. We do not sell advertising or personal data. Operating email still requires processing messages, delivery information, account records and security logs. Our privacy policy explains these limits.

Normal email is not end-to-end encrypted. Transport encryption and server-side mailbox encryption do not prevent authorized server operators from accessing data. Use end-to-end encryption in a compatible client when you need it.

Early-stage service

There is no uptime or permanent-availability guarantee. Keep independent copies of important mail. Files, chat, DNS, VPN, mirrors and Tor access are not currently offered as public Commonside services.

Core mail is free. No donation payment method is currently published. We describe Commonside as a volunteer project, not as a certified privacy service or a registered charity.