Amazon SES review
by Amazon Web ServicesTransactional email APIs
Pay-per-email sending from AWS at $0.10 per 1,000, in the AWS region you choose, with SOC, ISO 27001 and HIPAA-eligible coverage.
- Free trial
- Approval wait
- Usage-based
- Public prices
What you're paying for
- Worth the price (main value)
- Compliance included
Email 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.
SES is the per-email option: 50,000 emails cost $5 à la carte, and volume rates fall to $0.11 per 1,000 on Essentials above 100 million. It inherits AWS’s compliance programs, so the SOC reports and the HIPAA BAA come from AWS Artifact without a sales call, and mail data stays in the AWS region you send from, including seven in Europe.
- $0.10 per 1,000 emailsÀ la carte sending has no monthly minimum; 50,000 emails come to $5 plus attachment data at $0.12 per GB.Evidence: Pricing page (2026-10-15)
- SOC, ISO 27001 and HIPAA eligibleSES is listed in scope of AWS’s SOC reports and ISO/IEC 27001 certification and on the HIPAA Eligible Services list; the BAA is accepted in AWS Artifact.Evidence: AWS compliance pages (2026-10-15)
- Data stays in your regionSES runs in seven European regions among others, and AWS says it does not move content out of the region you choose without your agreement.Evidence: SES endpoints and AWS data privacy FAQ (2026-10-15)
- Inbound and archiving in one serviceMail Manager receives and routes inbound mail, and the Archiving add-on keeps sent and received mail for three months up to ten years or permanently.Evidence: Pricing page and developer guide (2026-10-15)
- Best for
- Teams on AWS that send in volume and want the lowest per-email price with compliance documents from AWS Artifact.
- Good to know
- New accounts start in a sandbox (verified recipients, 200 messages a day) until AWS approves a production-access request.
How Amazon SES compares
Against 3 other products we reviewed in Transactional email APIs: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Amazon SES | Resend | Mailgun | SendGrid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 includedA SOC 2 Type II report and a pre-signed GDPR DPA on every plan, with 3,000 free emails a month and 50,000 for $20. | Compliance includedSOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 for Mailgun itself, US or EU sending from one account, and SAML SSO included at $90. | Compliance includedSAML SSO, a dedicated IP and EU data residency together on one self-serve plan at $89.95, with SOC 2 Type 2 across every plan. |
| Overall score | 7.8 | 8.2Best | 7.5 | 6.0 |
| Free option | Free trial | Free plan | Free plan | 60-day free trial |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured | No card needed |
| Getting access | Approval wait | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $0.10/1k emails | $20/mo | $15/mo | $19.95/mo |
| Pricing model | Usage-based | Tiered | Tiered | Tiered |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Free plan | No; AWS Free Tier credits for new accounts | 3,000/mo, 100 a day | 100 a day, 1 user | No; 60-day trial, 100 a day |
| Price for 50,000 emails/mo | $5 à la carte ($8 on Essentials), plus attachment data | $20 (Pro) | $35 (Foundation) | $19.95 (Essentials) |
| Retention on the entry paid plan | 30 days of message search in VDM (Essentials) | 30 days | 1 day of logs (Basic) | 3 days of email activity (Essentials) |
| SOC 2 report | AWS SOC 2, from AWS Artifact | Type II, self-serve download | Type II, plus ISO 27001 | Type 2 (Twilio, all services), on request |
| EU option | Seven European AWS regions; data stays in the chosen region | EU sending region; data stored in the US | US or EU sending region | EU data residency on Pro, via EU subusers |
| SSO | IAM Identity Center, no extra charge | $150/mo add-on on Scale | SAML on Scale ($90) | SAML on Pro ($89.95) |
| HIPAA BAA | Yes, accepted in AWS Artifact | No | Not mentioned | No; not on Twilio's HIPAA-eligible list |
| 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, Resend is the cheapest way here to send 50,000 emails a month and the easiest to clear a security review with. Check the data-residency and HIPAA limits first. | 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, SendGrid fits teams that want EU data residency, SSO and a dedicated IP on one self-serve plan. Check the 3-day history on Essentials and ask for the overage rate first. |
Evidence: Amazon SES: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Resend: 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; SendGrid: 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.
Score
- Pricing clarity
- 10.0 / 10, Excellent
- every self-serve tier priced; overage published
- Free tier
- 0.0 / 10, Fair
- no free plan
- Price at 50,000 emails
- 10.0 / 10, Excellent
- $5/mo
- Compliance documents
- 10.0 / 10, Excellent
- own SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, self-serve DPA, EU data storage, HIPAA BAA
- Team access controls
- 7.0 / 10, Good
- SSO on a self-serve plan; user limits not stated; 2FA stated
- Message history
- 10.0 / 10, Excellent
- 30 days on the entry plan, up to 3,650 days on higher plans
Review
Review from public pages
Written from Amazon SES's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 15, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
What the public pages show
We read the Amazon SES pricing page, FAQ and developer guide, and AWS's compliance, HIPAA, GDPR and data privacy pages, on Oct 15, 2026; we did not sign up for this review. SES changed its pricing this year: next to à la carte pricing at $0.10 per 1,000, it now sells Essentials, Pro ($105 a month) and Enterprise ($500 a month) plans per account and region. New SES accounts and regions with no SES activity since June 1, 2025 start on Essentials from July 21, 2026; switching to à la carte is a choice in the console.
Every new account starts in the SES sandbox, separately in each region: mail only to verified addresses, at most 200 messages in 24 hours and one per second. Sending to anyone requires a production-access request (mail type, website URL and an acknowledgement about bounces and complaints) that AWS reviews. Sending domains or addresses must be verified either way.
The free allowance is where the pages differ: the pricing page offers new AWS customers up to $200 in Free Tier credits, while one FAQ answer still describes 3,000 free messages a month for the first 12 months, next to the credits paragraph.
Strengths
- Lowest price at 50,000 emails here
À la carte sending is $0.10 per 1,000 with no monthly fee: $5 for 50,000 emails, plus attachment data.
vs SendGrid: Resend’s Pro is $20 for 50,000, SendGrid’s Essentials $19.95 and Mailgun’s Foundation $35.
- Compliance scope from AWS
SES is in scope of AWS’s SOC reports and ISO/IEC 27001 certification and is HIPAA eligible; reports and the BAA are in AWS Artifact.
vs SendGrid: Resend says it cannot sign a BAA, and SendGrid is not on Twilio’s HIPAA-eligible list.
- Data stays in the chosen region
SES has API endpoints in seven European regions, and AWS says it does not move content out of the chosen region without agreement.
vs Resend: Resend stores data in the US even with an EU sending region.
- Long archive available
The Archiving add-on keeps sent and received mail for a period you choose, from three months to ten years or permanently.
Compared: Postmark keeps message history up to 365 days on its Pro and Platform plans.
Things to know
- Sandbox until AWS approves
New accounts can send only to verified addresses, 200 messages a day, until a production-access request is reviewed, and the sandbox applies per region.
- No ongoing free allowance
The pricing page offers AWS Free Tier credits to new AWS customers rather than a monthly free email allowance; an FAQ answer still describes 3,000 free messages a month for 12 months.
- Plans apply per account and region
Pro and Enterprise fees are charged per account per region, and new accounts default to Essentials at $0.16 per 1,000 unless you switch.
Workaround: The plan docs say the first switch from a defaulted Essentials plan to à la carte takes effect immediately.
- Support is a separate AWS plan
Technical support cases need an AWS Support plan, from $29 a month; without one, the FAQ points to the SES forum.
Pricing reality
SES bills per email. À la carte: $0.10 per 1,000 sent, $0.12 per GB of attachments, with VDM, dedicated IPs ($24.95 per IP a month, or managed from $15 plus per-email fees) and email validation as add-ons. Plans bundle features at higher per-email rates for the first 10 million: Essentials $0.16 per 1,000, Pro $0.22 plus $105 a month, Enterprise $0.23 plus $500 a month, each per account and region.
At 50,000 emails a month that is $5.00 à la carte or $8.00 on Essentials, plus about $0.19 of attachment data at the 32 KB message size AWS uses in its examples. Other AWS services used with SES, such as SNS, S3 and CloudWatch, bill separately, and technical support starts at $29 a month.
Exit path
SES keeps little data that would tie you in: the docs describe exporting archived mail to an S3 bucket, and sending events can be published to CloudWatch, Firehose or SNS in your own account.
Compared with
- Pick Amazon SES when
- You send in volume and want $0.10 per 1,000 with no monthly fee, a HIPAA BAA, or data kept in an EU region.
- Pick Resend when
- You want an ongoing free plan of 3,000 emails a month and to send after verifying a domain, without a production-access review.
- Pick Amazon SES when
- You want the lower bill at 50,000 emails ($5 against $19.95), ISO 27001 or a HIPAA BAA.
- Pick SendGrid when
- You want fixed monthly plans with published volume steps and to start sending without a production-access review.
Choose it if
- You already run on AWS and want email billed with the rest of it.
- You send in volume and want the lowest per-email price.
- You need a HIPAA BAA or ISO 27001 from your email provider.
- Mail data must stay in a region you choose, including the EU.
Look elsewhere if
- You want to send to any recipient on day one without a review.
- You want a free monthly allowance that does not expire.
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.
Plan limits at a glance
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| Free plan | No; AWS Free Tier credits for new accounts |
| Price for 50,000 emails/mo | $5 à la carte ($8 on Essentials), plus attachment data |
| Retention on the entry paid plan | 30 days of message search in VDM (Essentials) |
| SOC 2 report | AWS SOC 2, from AWS Artifact |
| EU option | Seven European AWS regions; data stays in the chosen region |
| SSO | IAM Identity Center, no extra charge |
| HIPAA BAA | Yes, accepted in AWS Artifact |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 15, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Amazon SES yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 15, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Amazon SES yet; access was not open to our agent.
Amazon SES lists 4 plans. The cheapest paid plan, À la carte, costs $0.10/1k emails.
- Amazon SESÀ la carte$0.10/1k emailsNo monthly fee; $0.12 per GB of attachments
- Inbound email $0.10 per 1,000
- VDM from $0.07 per 1,000 (add-on)
- Dedicated IPs $24.95 per IP per month
- Archiving $2 per GB ingested
- Amazon SESEssentials$0.16/1k emailsFirst 10M a month; $0.14 to 100M, $0.11 above; no monthly fee
- Virtual Deliverability Manager (SES deliverability)
- Mail Manager email processing
- Default plan for new SES accounts and regions since July 21, 2026
- Amazon SESLowest pricePro$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
- Amazon SESEnterprise$500/moPer account and region, plus $0.23 per 1,000 emails (first 10M)
- Global Endpoints and tenants
- 12 managed dedicated IPs
- 5,000 API validations
- Open ingress endpoint included
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-15.
Source: aws.amazon.com pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.