Transactional email APIs · Comparison
Amazon SES vs Mailgun vs Postmark
3 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 | Postmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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. | Saves engineering timeInbound email processing and up to 365 days of message history from $16.50 a month, so you do not build mail parsing or log storage yourself. |
| Overall score | 7.8Best | 7.5 | 5.8 |
| Free option | Free trial | Free plan | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | No card needed |
| Getting access | Approval wait | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $0.10/1k emails | $15/mo | $15/mo |
| Pricing model | Usage-based | Tiered | Usage-based |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Free plan | No; AWS Free Tier credits for new accounts | 100 a day, 1 user | 100/mo (testing) |
| Price for 50,000 emails/mo | $5 à la carte ($8 on Essentials), plus attachment data | $35 (Foundation) | $66–$87 at listed overage rates |
| Retention on the entry paid plan | 30 days of message search in VDM (Essentials) | 1 day of logs (Basic) | 45 days (up to 365 on Pro) |
| SOC 2 report | AWS SOC 2, from AWS Artifact | Type II, plus ISO 27001 | Data center's, under NDA |
| EU option | Seven European AWS regions; data stays in the chosen region | US or EU sending region | No; US hosting |
| SSO | IAM Identity Center, no extra charge | SAML on Scale ($90) | Not listed |
| HIPAA BAA | Yes, accepted in AWS Artifact | Not mentioned | 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. | From its public pages, Postmark is the pick when inbound email and long message history matter more than price at volume. Check whether your security reviews accept a data-center SOC report. |
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; Postmark: 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.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our Mailgun review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Mailgun when
- You need a SOC 2 report of the vendor’s own, EU sending or SSO.
- Pick Postmark when
- You need inbound processing and message history up to 365 days.
From our Postmark review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Postmark when
- You send around 10,000 a month and want inbound processing and long history at $16.50.
- Pick Mailgun when
- You need an EU sending region, ISO 27001 or SAML SSO.
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
- MailgunBasic$15/mo10,000 emails/mo, then $1.80 per 1,000
- No daily limit
- 1 custom domain
- 1-day log retention
- PostmarkBasic$15/mo10,000 emails/mo, then $1.80 per 1,000
- 45-day retention
- 5 custom domains
- Up to 4 users
- Unlimited emails per day
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Amazon SES 2026-10-15, Mailgun 2026-10-15, Postmark 2026-10-15.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- MailgunSelf-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (7.5/10).
- If you want to try it without entering a card
- PostmarkFree plan, no card needed; scored 5.8/10.
- 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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