Transactional email APIs · Comparison
Amazon SES vs Mailgun
2 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Amazon SES | Mailgun |
|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceEmail at $0.10 per 1,000 with no monthly fee, inside AWS’s SOC, ISO 27001 and HIPAA-eligible scope, in the region you choose. | Compliance includedSOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 for Mailgun itself, US or EU sending from one account, and SAML SSO included at $90. |
| Overall score | 7.8Best | 7.5 |
| Free option | Free trial | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Approval wait | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $0.10/1k emails | $15/mo |
| Pricing model | Usage-based | Tiered |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices |
| Free plan | No; AWS Free Tier credits for new accounts | 100 a day, 1 user |
| Price for 50,000 emails/mo | $5 à la carte ($8 on Essentials), plus attachment data | $35 (Foundation) |
| Retention on the entry paid plan | 30 days of message search in VDM (Essentials) | 1 day of logs (Basic) |
| SOC 2 report | AWS SOC 2, from AWS Artifact | Type II, plus ISO 27001 |
| EU option | Seven European AWS regions; data stays in the chosen region | US or EU sending region |
| SSO | IAM Identity Center, no extra charge | SAML on Scale ($90) |
| HIPAA BAA | Yes, accepted in AWS Artifact | Not mentioned |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, SES is the least expensive way here to send at volume and carries AWS’s compliance scope, including a HIPAA BAA. Plan for the sandbox review and for setting up each region you use. | From its public pages, Mailgun is the most complete compliance package of the three, with an EU sending region and SSO on its $90 plan. On smaller plans, plan around short log retention. |
Evidence: Amazon SES: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Mailgun: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- Amazon SESPro$105/moPer account and region, plus $0.22 per 1,000 emails (first 10M)
- Managed dedicated IP (1 domain, 1 IP)
- Email Validation (2,500 API validations)
- Global deliverability insights
- Trend Micro scanning add-on included
- MailgunLowest priceBasic$15/mo10,000 emails/mo, then $1.80 per 1,000
- No daily limit
- 1 custom domain
- 1-day log retention
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Amazon SES 2026-10-15, Mailgun 2026-10-15.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- MailgunSelf-serve sign-up; the only one here you can use right after signing up.
- Lowest starter price
- Mailgun$15/mo for the Basic plan.
- Highest overall score
- Amazon SES7.8/10 (Good). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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