How it works
SES (Simple Email Service) is part of AWS. You verify a domain, send through its API or SMTP interface, and receive feedback through other AWS services: bounces, complaints and deliveries arrive as events through SNS or EventBridge. SES keeps a suppression list of addresses that bounced or complained, and offers templates, dedicated IPs, a deliverability dashboard (Virtual Deliverability Manager) and inbound email through Mail Manager.
New accounts start in a sandbox that can only send to verified addresses, up to 200 emails a day, until AWS approves a request for production access, which asks how you collect addresses and handle bounces. Since July 2026 new accounts begin on a bundled Essentials plan; the older pay-per-use à la carte pricing is still available and is cheaper for plain sending.
Amazon SES pros and cons
Pros
- Very low cost per email at any volume
- Scales to huge volumes on AWS infrastructure
- Fits neatly into apps already running on AWS
Cons
- Sandbox approval before you can email real users
- Alerts and analytics need wiring through other AWS services
- The AWS console and permissions (IAM) take time to learn
When to use Amazon SES
Pick it when
- High-volume sending where cost per email matters
- Your backend already runs on AWS
Skip it when
- A small team that wants templates, logs and support ready to use
Amazon SES pricing
Pay as you go
About $0.10 per 1,000 emails on à la carte pricing, or $0.16 on the Essentials plan new accounts start on, plus $0.12 per GB of attachments. No SES free tier for new customers; new AWS accounts get credits.
Amazon SES pricing page (opens in a new tab)Approximate, checked September 2026.What the other tools cost