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Proton Bridge vs Rspamd

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Proton Bridge and Rspamd — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Proton Bridge vs Rspamd: at a glance

FeatureProton BridgeRspamd
SectorCommsComms
Velocity score2.55.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesemail, imap, privacy, maintenancespam filtering, input hardening, fuzzy matching, pdf extraction
Last editorial update16h ago2d ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Proton Bridge?

Proton Bridge spends its first release in ten weeks on crashes, memory bounds and dead code

v3.26.0 is a maintenance cut. The user-visible items are a macOS 27 crash fix, bounded CPU and memory in the Gluon RFC parser, deletion of orphaned unencrypted vaults once keychain access returns, and a meta+W shortcut. The rest is internal: two unused subsystems removed from go-proton-api, two Go toolchain bumps, gomock swapped for uber-go/mock, and June and July vulnerability patches folded in.

Read the full Proton Bridge trajectory →

What is Rspamd?

Rspamd closed a file-read hole any TCP client could reach, and taught the PDF parser to read fonts.

Rspamd's 4.1.x line is running two tracks at once: extending the neural and fuzzy subsystems it rebuilt earlier in the cycle, and auditing its own attack surface. 4.1.5 continues both — fuzzy storages now receive sender authentication facts over encrypted rules, the PDF parser decodes text through font encodings and ToUnicode CMaps, and the protocol gates File, Path and Shm message sources that any TCP client could previously use to have arbitrary files parsed. That gate ships as an opt-out now and an opt-in later.

Read the full Rspamd trajectory →

Proton Bridge vs Rspamd: editorial side-by-side

P2.5

Proton Bridge spends its first release in ten weeks on crashes, memory bounds and dead code

◆ Current state

v3.26.0 is a maintenance cut. The user-visible items are a macOS 27 crash fix, bounded CPU and memory in the Gluon RFC parser, deletion of orphaned unencrypted vaults once keychain access returns, and a meta+W shortcut. The rest is internal: two unused subsystems removed from go-proton-api, two Go toolchain bumps, gomock swapped for uber-go/mock, and June and July vulnerability patches folded in.

◆ Where it's heading

Releases arrive in long gaps — ten weeks since v3.25.0 — and each one bundles a quarter of dependency hygiene with a handful of IMAP correctness fixes. The recurring theme is RFC 3501 conformance and resource bounds in the mail parser rather than new capability, which is what a local IMAP shim for an encrypted mailbox is supposed to look like.

◆ Prediction

Given the pattern of shipping OS-compatibility fixes shortly after a macOS release, the next cut is likely another maintenance bundle timed to whatever the current macOS version breaks.

R
Rspamd
COMMS
5.0

Rspamd closed a file-read hole any TCP client could reach, and taught the PDF parser to read fonts.

◆ Current state

Rspamd's 4.1.x line is running two tracks at once: extending the neural and fuzzy subsystems it rebuilt earlier in the cycle, and auditing its own attack surface. 4.1.5 continues both — fuzzy storages now receive sender authentication facts over encrypted rules, the PDF parser decodes text through font encodings and ToUnicode CMaps, and the protocol gates File, Path and Shm message sources that any TCP client could previously use to have arbitrary files parsed. That gate ships as an opt-out now and an opt-in later.

◆ Where it's heading

Every release in this window has carried at least one security fix in the same class: a controller accepting any password on a malformed hash, a DKIM out-of-bounds read, MIME recursion depth, and now unauthenticated file reads. The project is systematically walking its own input paths rather than reacting to individual reports. Alongside it, the fuzzy subsystem keeps gaining structure — diagnostics, persisted shingle sets, and now shared sender reputation signals — turning what was a hash-match check into a scored, introspectable component.

◆ Prediction

The stated plan to flip allow_file_and_shm_inputs to false in the next major release makes that the visible breaking change to prepare for. Expect the fuzzy work to keep consolidating, since sharing SPF, DKIM and DMARC state with storages sets up cross-sender scoring that the current per-hash matching cannot express.

Alternatives to Proton Bridge and Rspamd

Other Comms products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Proton Bridge or Rspamd.

See all Proton Bridge alternatives → · See all Rspamd alternatives →

Recent activity from Proton Bridge and Rspamd

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 1d agoProton BridgeBridge 3.26.0: macOS 27 crash fix and bounded RFC parser resources
  2. 4d agoRspamdCloses an arbitrary file read reachable by any TCP client
  3. 21d agoRspamdController accepted any password on a malformed hash
  4. 24d agoRspamdFuzzy diagnostics API, and jQuery dropped from the WebUI
  5. 28d agoRspamdStatic embedding neural provider and composite Lua conditions
  6. 2mo agoRspamdPluggable neural feature and architecture registries
  7. 2mo agoRspamdLoad-aware upstream selection and chain-aware URL resolution
  8. 2mo agoProton BridgeBridge 3.25.0: IMAP and sync fixes bundled with dependency updates
  9. 3mo agoProton BridgeBridge 3.24.2 patch with a single-line note
  10. 4mo agoProton BridgeBridge 3.24.1 patch with a single-line note
  11. 4mo agoProton BridgeBridge 3.24.0 Nescio feature cut
  12. 4mo agoProton BridgeBridge 3.23.1 patch on the Margit line

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Proton Bridge and Rspamd?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Rspamd is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Proton Bridge better than Rspamd?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Rspamd is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Comms products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Proton Bridge?

Top Proton Bridge alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Proton Bridge alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/proton-bridge for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Rspamd?

Top Rspamd alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Rspamd alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rspamd for the full list with editorial commentary on each.