What Autistici / Inventati does

Autistici/Inventati (A/I) is an Italian non-profit collective, legally constituted as A/I-ODV and headquartered in San Giuliano Terme, that has provided free, privacy-focused communication services to activist and grassroots communities since March 2001. The platform comprises email, static website hosting, blogs (Noblogs), mailing lists and newsletters, IRC chat, Jabber/XMPP instant messaging, Jitsi Meet-based videoconferencing, live streaming, anonymous remailer and nym-server pseudonymous identity services, plus a privacy-preserving web analytics module and a long-term website archive. The underlying architecture is built on self-hosted dedicated servers located exclusively within the EU or GDPR-abiding jurisdictions, using open-source software (Prosody, Jitsi Meet, standard mail stacks) and an "R* Plan" encrypted-by-design infrastructure that strips identifying data before processing, enforces user-only key encryption on message contents, retains no logs beyond a 15-day window, and renders compelled disclosure structurally impossible.

The organization's business model is the inversion of a conventional SaaS operation: all services are provided free of charge, conditional on applicants accepting A/I's manifesto (anticapitalism, antiracism, antifascism, antisexism, antimilitarism, refusal of authoritarianism) and being individually vetted through a manual, dialogical review process. There is no paid tier, no advertising, and no commercial use of user data. Financial inflows consist exclusively of voluntary donations (via PayPal, Liberapay, and Banca Etica transfers) and are used to cover approximately €20,300 in annual infrastructure costs - connectivity, maintenance, legal/fiscal, administration, and banking - with all engineering, moderation, and governance work performed by unpaid volunteers organized through collective mailing-list decision-making and no coordinator or spokesperson. Reported scale includes roughly 12,000 active mailboxes, 1,000+ static websites, 3,000 blogs, and 3,000 mailing lists, and the organization has a documented track record of surviving legal pressure from Italian authorities, the Vatican, and a 2010 three-country server seizure without producing user data.

Name

Autistici / Inventati

Legal name

A/I-ODV

Website

https://autistici.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Autistici/Inventati is an Italian volunteer-run non-profit collective that has provided free, encrypted communication services - including email, website hosting, blogs, mailing lists, XMPP messaging, and videoconferencing - to activist and grassroots communities since 2001, funded exclusively by voluntary donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Privacy-focused communication platform

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Cloud Identity & Access Management Infrastructure (IAM/IdP/MFA) (HDABAHAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Identity & Access Security Services (IAM, PAM, Zero Trust) (BPAKAHAI)

Keywords

• Encrypted email hosting
• Privacy-focused hosting
• Activist communication tools
• Anonymous remailer services
• Federated instant messaging

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Voluntary Donations: Financial strategy relies exclusively on voluntary donations from users and supporters. Donations are unconditional and do not correspond to payment for services. The collective explicitly states they don't receive any form of compensation for their work. Infrastructure costs approximately 20,300 euros per year.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Autistici/Inventati (A/I) is a volunteer-run, non-profit collective that provides a suite of free, privacy-focused communication and hosting tools — including encrypted email, static website hosting, blogs (Noblogs), mailing lists/newsletters, IRC and XMPP/Jabber chat, Jitsi Meet video conferencing, live streaming, and anonymity services such as an anonymous remailer and nym server. All services are built on open-source software, hosted on dedicated self-managed servers (no public cloud providers), and designed with encryption-by-default and minimal data collection. The collective serves individuals and grassroots groups aligned with its principles of anticapitalism, antiracism, antifascism, antisexism, antimilitarism, and refusal of authoritarianism.

Product overview

Autistici/Inventati (A/I) is a non-profit collective offering a suite of free, privacy-focused communication tools for activists. The platform operates as a unified service ecosystem comprising email, static website hosting, blogs (Noblogs), mailing lists/newsletters, IRC and Jabber/XMPP instant messaging, video conferencing (Jitsi Meet-based), live streaming, and anonymity services (anonymous remailer and nym server). All services prioritize privacy through minimal data collection, encryption by design, automatic anonymization, and no logging policies. The platform is funded exclusively through voluntary donations and serves users who share the collective's principles of anti-fascism, anti-racism, and social activism.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Email Service Free email mailbox service with SSL/TLS encryption, automatic anonymization, and privacy-focused policies, hosted on self-managed servers with no personal data required for registration. Currently hosts approximately 12,000 active mailboxes.
• Website Hosting Free static website hosting with WebDAV upload access, custom domain support, and automated archival of abandoned sites after 5+ years of inactivity. Hosts over 1,000 websites on autistici.org and inventati.org domains.
• Mailing Lists and Newsletters Email distribution list service for group communication and newsletter delivery to subscribers. Manages around 3,000 mailing lists and newsletters.
• Blogs (Noblogs) Free blog hosting platform accessible via noblogs.org subdomain with integrated privacy-preserving traffic analytics. Hosts around 3,000 blogs.
• IRC Chat (mufhd0 Network)

Quantifiable outcome

• Successfully resisted data requests from Italian authorities, Vatican, and multi-country server seizures since 2003
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature9 records

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• Colnodo: Colnodo is a Colombian non-profit that provides free internet, email, and digital-skills services to civil-society organizations in Latin America. Comparable to A/I as a donor-funded, mission-driven communication provider for non-commercial social projects, though focused on the Latin American region.

Direct peers

• Disroot: Disroot is a small Dutch collective offering free, privacy-respecting email, cloud storage, chat, and collaboration tools to activists and non-commercial users. It mirrors A/I's volunteer-run, donation-funded, encryption-first approach with a comparable suite of federated services.
• Framasoft: Framasoft is a French popular-education non-profit that develops and hosts a suite of free, privacy-respecting, decentralized web tools (Frama suite). It is mission-aligned with A/I in promoting emancipatory digital infrastructure outside commercial platforms.
• indivia: indivia is a Canadian privacy-focused hosting collective offering email and web services to activists. It is a direct operational partner with A/I and ECN in jointly administering the mufhd0 IRC federation.
• ECN (European Civic Network / Electronic Civil Networks): ECN is an Italian non-profit providing free email, mailing lists, and internet services to NGOs, associations, and civic groups. It is an actual operational partner of A/I on the mufhd0 IRC network and serves a closely overlapping Italian civil-society segment.
• RiseUp: RiseUp is a Seattle-based volunteer collective providing privacy-focused email, mailing lists, VPN, and hosting for activists and social movements. It is the closest peer to A/I in mission, governance model, and product offering, with both prioritizing radical political users and operating on donations.
• Systemli: Systemli is a German non-profit that provides secure email, chat, VPN, and cloud services for activists and left-leaning social movements. It overlaps directly with A/I's product suite (email, XMPP, VPN) and target audience, with a similar non-commercial ethos.
• May First / People Link: May First / People Link is a US-based membership organization providing email, hosting, and collaboration services to progressive activists and social movements. It shares A/I's focus on serving movement-driven organizations with non-commercial infrastructure.

Broad incumbents

• Proton (Proton Mail / Proton AG): Proton is a major commercial encrypted email, VPN, and storage provider headquartered in Switzerland. It serves the same privacy-conscious end-user segment as A/I but with a paid freemium model, mobile apps, and a much broader feature set, making it the dominant incumbent in the adjacent commercial market.

Others

• Jitsi (project / 8x8): Jitsi is the open-source video-conferencing project on which A/I's vc.autistici.org service is built. It is an enabling technology peer — A/I deploys Jitsi Meet as part of its stack rather than competing with it.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgit.autistici.org/public
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Autistici / Inventati