Kolab Now

Privates E-Mail · Schweiz

Gegründet 2013 · kolabnow.com

Swiss open-source Kolab groupware SaaS (Apheleia IT AG, Bern; Kolab Systems since 2010, Kolab Now since 2013), board incl. FSF Europe founder Georg Greve.

Kolab Now ist ein EU-eigener Dienst mit Hosting in der Schweiz und ohne erkennbares CLOUD-Act-Risiko. Gelistet unter Privates E-Mail.

Bewertungsnotizen

Kolab Now is operated by Apheleia IT AG in Bern, Switzerland (formerly Kolab Systems, founded 2010 in Zürich; Kolab Now launched as public beta in January 2013 and as a paid GA service on 1 August 2013), built on the fully open-source Kolab groupware that Apheleia maintains, with a board of directors that includes Georg Greve (founding president of Free Software Foundation Europe), Michael Moser (co-founder of Adfinis, Switzerland''s leading open-source integrator) and Philipp Koch (co-founder of Swiss hosting company Nine.ch); exceptionally strong open-source-Swiss governance and pedigree, Swiss data centres, no US ties, no CLOUD Act exposure. Gap: Kolab Now does not publish a publicly accessible DPA (customers are directed to a DPO contact rather than a self-serve document); no public sub-processors list and no formal ISO 27001 attestation surfaced at audit.

Befund

CLOUD Act
Eigentümer
Unterauftragsverarbeiter: — nicht offengelegt

Geprüfte Signale

Jurisdiktion

EU-/Angemessenheits-Hosting: Ja
EU-/Angemessenheits-Betreiber: Ja
Keine US-CLOUD-Act-Exposition: Ja

Datenschutz

Ende-zu-Ende-Verschlüsselung: Nein

Transparenz

Öffentlicher AVV: Nein
Unterauftragsverarbeiter offengelegt: Nein
Open-Source-Clients: Ja
Zertifizierung durch Dritte: Nein

Website besuchen

Verifiziert

Letzte Prüfung: 2026-08-26
Nächste Prüfung: 2026-11-26
Methodik: v2026.05

Springen zu

Über Kolab Now

Kolab Now is operated by Apheleia IT AG, a Swiss software-freedom company headquartered in Bern. The legal entity was originally founded as Kolab Systems in Zürich in 2010 and was later renamed Apheleia IT AG. The Kolab Now consumer/SMB SaaS launched as a public beta in January 2013 and became a paid generally-available service on 1 August 2013. The product is a managed hosting of the fully open-source Kolab groupware platform that the same company develops and maintains, covering email, calendars, contacts, tasks, files, and notes via standard open protocols (IMAP, SMTP, CalDAV, CardDAV) so that any standard mail/calendar client can connect.

The governance and pedigree are unusually strong for the privacy-email category. The Apheleia IT AG board includes Georg Greve (CEO; founding president of the Free Software Foundation Europe), CTO Jeroen van Meeuwen, Michael Moser (CCO; co-founder of Adfinis, Switzerland's leading open-source integrator), and Philipp Koch (co-founder of Swiss hosting company Nine.ch). That combination (a free-software figurehead plus a Swiss open-source integrator plus a Swiss hosting operator on the same board) is uncommon and translates into a structurally transparent posture: the product is open-source software run by people whose careers are documented free-software / open-infrastructure work.

For an EU-sovereignty audit Kolab Now is a clean Swiss pick. The legal entity is Swiss-incorporated, the data is hosted in Switzerland, Switzerland holds an EU adequacy decision under Art. 45 GDPR (so EU↔CH transfers need no SCCs), and there is no US parent and no US-VC participation. The only documentation gaps are: no public DPA or sub-processors URLs and no formal ISO 27001 attestation were surfaced at audit, a documentation gap rather than a structural concern.

Pricing is quoted in CHF, and the live price table is rendered client-side, so it could not be read at the last verification. The vendor knowledge base and the earlier site and blog copy disagree with each other on the two hosted individual tiers, and the knowledge-base page is itself stamped January 2020, so the live pricing page is the only figure a buyer should budget against. The on-site (self-host) Apheleia "Kolab on-site Email & Groupware" subscription starts at CHF 2.25 per user/month for fewer than 50 users. Best fit: privacy-conscious EU users who want Swiss-jurisdiction email/groupware on top of a transparent, fully-open-source software stack, and any procurement-grade buyer who specifically values FSF-Europe / Adfinis / Nine.ch governance over a brand-name marketing pitch.

Unterauftragsverarbeiter-Karte · nicht offengelegt

Anbieter veröffentlicht keine Liste der Unterauftragsverarbeiter. Schrems-II-Konformität und CLOUD-Act-Risiko lassen sich ohne sie nicht unabhängig prüfen.

Rahmenwerke & Zertifizierungen · keine gelistet

Wir haben die Website des Anbieters und die Register der Zertifizierungsstellen geprüft. Keine aktiven Zertifizierungen gefunden zum Zeitpunkt der letzten Prüfung (2026-08-26).

Funktionsmatrix

Tabelle 1Funktionen von Kolab Now

Verschlüsselung TLS

Postfachspeicher 5 GB

Eigene Domain

IMAP / SMTP

Kalender

Kontakte

Integration & Zugriff

REST API

SSO (SAML / OIDC)

Compliance & Governance

Audit log

Self-host / on-prem option

Preise & Tarife

ab 5 €/Monat

Kostenpflichtig

Preisseite ansehen

Öffentliche Dokumente

Anbieter veröffentlicht keinen öffentlichen AVV. Ohne öffentlich zugänglichen Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag können kleine EU-Kunden den Verarbeitervertrag nicht selbst abschließen. Dies wird als fehlender öffentlicher AVV vermerkt (siehe So prüfen wir).