Amazon SES
Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) is the Amazon Web Services email service for sending through an HTTPS API or an SMTP interface and for receiving email on your own domains. Sending is billed per recipient in USD, either à la carte or on Essentials, Pro and Enterprise plans, and no always-free email quota is published.
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Strengths, weaknesses and fit
Strengths
- Cheaper than most peers for Transactional email ($1.00 vs median $15.00 for 10,000 emails / month)
- Official MCP server
- Official agent skills published
- Restricted API keys with scoped permissions
- Test mode or test credentials documented
- Official SDKs in 12 languages
Weaknesses
- No permanent free tier
- Signed webhooks without replay protection
- OAuth 2.0 only for its MCP server, not for the API
- Trustpilot rating 1.3/5 from 427 reviews
Not a fit if…
- you need to run in production without paying
- you need replay-safe webhook verification out of the box
- you build a multi-tenant app that acts on customers' own accounts
- customer reviews weigh heavily in your choice
Generated from threshold rules over the dated facts below, not written by hand. Rules with unverified inputs are skipped.
Transactional email: Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES)
checked| Country | Availability | Sender types | Restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | YesOfficial docsAmazon Simple Email Service endpoints and quotasAWS Customer Agreement | verified domain identity, verified email address identity, shared IP pool (default), dedicated IPs: standard, managed or BYOIPOfficial docsRequest production access (moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox)Dedicated IP addresses for Amazon SES | New accounts start in the sandbox in each Region: mail only to verified addresses or the mailbox simulator, at most 200 messages per 24 hours and 1 per second. Production access is requested per Region (AWS gives an initial response within 24 hours). A bounce rate of 5% or a complaint rate of 0.1% puts the account under review; at 10% bounces or 0.5% complaints AWS may pause sending.Official docsRequest production access (moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox)Amazon Simple Email Service endpoints and quotas |
| Brazil | YesOfficial docsAmazon Simple Email Service endpoints and quotasAWS Customer Agreement | verified domain identity, verified email address identity, shared IP pool (default), dedicated IPs: standard, managed or BYOIPOfficial docsRequest production access (moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox)Dedicated IP addresses for Amazon SES | New accounts start in the sandbox in each Region: mail only to verified addresses or the mailbox simulator, at most 200 messages per 24 hours and 1 per second. Production access is requested per Region (AWS gives an initial response within 24 hours). A bounce rate of 5% or a complaint rate of 0.1% puts the account under review; at 10% bounces or 0.5% complaints AWS may pause sending.Official docsRequest production access (moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox)Amazon Simple Email Service endpoints and quotas |
| Mexico | YesOfficial docsAmazon Simple Email Service endpoints and quotasAWS Price List API — AmazonSES region index | verified domain identity, verified email address identity, shared IP pool (default), dedicated IPs: standard, managed or BYOIPOfficial docsRequest production access (moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox)Dedicated IP addresses for Amazon SES | New accounts start in the sandbox in each Region: mail only to verified addresses or the mailbox simulator, at most 200 messages per 24 hours and 1 per second. Production access is requested per Region (AWS gives an initial response within 24 hours). A bounce rate of 5% or a complaint rate of 0.1% puts the account under review; at 10% bounces or 0.5% complaints AWS may pause sending.Official docsRequest production access (moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox)Amazon Simple Email Service endpoints and quotas |
Amazon SES pricing
checkedPrices as printed on the vendor's pages, in the vendor's currency. Scenario totals are computed from the listed components; carrier and Meta pass-through fees are shown separately and are not in the totals.
Transactional email
Same prices in United States, Brazil and Mexico.
| Plan | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| À la carte (pay per use, no plan) | $0.0001 / email | Official docs
checked |
| Essentials plan | $0.0002 / email | Official docs checked |
| Pro plan | $0.0002 / email $105.00 / month | Official docs checked |
| Enterprise plan | $0.0002 / email $500.00 / month | Official docs checked |
- 10,000 emails / month: $1.00 on À la carte (pay per use, no plan)
- 100,000 emails / month: $10.00 on À la carte (pay per use, no plan)
Transactional email: free access
Free forever: NoneOfficial docsAmazon SES pricingAmazon SES FAQs
Trial: —
Developer & AI readiness
checkedWebhook signatures
Signed
Official docs
Agent skills
OfficialOfficial docsWorks with AI app builders
Server code needed on every builder: YesOfficial docsTypes of Amazon SES credentialsVerifying the signatures of Amazon SNS messages
| Platform | Native integration | Official guide | Secrets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | YesOfficial docsPlugins for the Agent Toolkit for AWSaws/agent-toolkit-for-aws | docs.aws.amazon.com/agent-toolkit/latest/userg…Official docsPlugins for the Agent Toolkit for AWS | Local AWS credentials (AWS CLI profile) used by the MCP Proxy for AWS, or OAuth sign-in to the AWS MCP Server; application code keeps IAM access keys or SMTP credentials server-sideOfficial docsSetting up the AWS MCP ServerTypes of Amazon SES credentials |
| Cursor | YesOfficial docsaws/agent-toolkit-for-aws | github.com/aws/agent-toolkit-for-awsOfficial docsaws/agent-toolkit-for-aws | — |
| Replit | NoOfficial, otherReplit Agent integrations | — | — |
| Lovable | NoOfficial, otherLovable integrations | — | — |
| Bolt | NoOfficial, otherBolt integrations overview | — | — |
| v0 | NoOfficial, otherAWS on the Vercel Marketplace | — | — |
Paying and getting support locally
How customers pay the provider itself — separate from payment scenarios for your buyers.
United States
| Billing methods | credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express USD only, Discover, Diners Club, JCB and others), China UnionPay credit cards, ACH direct debit (qualifying customers)Official docsWhat payment methods does AWS accept? |
|---|---|
| Local payment methods | ACH direct debitOfficial docsWhat payment methods does AWS accept? |
| Billing currencies | USDOfficial docsWhat currencies does AWS currently support?Customizing your AWS payment preferences |
| Local entity / tax invoice | YesOfficial docsAWS Customer AgreementFinding the seller of record |
| Interface languages | en-US, en-GB, id, de, es, fr, ja, it, pt, ko, zh-CN, zh-TW, trOfficial docsChanging the language of the AWS Management Console |
| Docs languages | en, pt-BR, esOfficial docsAmazon SES Developer Guide llms.txtAmazon SES Developer Guide (Portuguese) |
| Support languages | en, zh, ja, koOfficial docsAWS Support FAQsAmazon SES FAQs |
| Support phone | NoneOfficial docsAWS Support FAQs |
| Local office | YesOfficial docsAWS Customer Agreement |
Brazil
| Billing methods | credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Elo), PIX (only after a failed card payment)Official docsWhat payment methods does AWS accept?Making payments using PIX (Brazil) |
|---|---|
| Local payment methods | PIXOfficial docsMaking payments using PIX (Brazil) |
| Billing currencies | BRL, USDOfficial docsMaking payments using PIX (Brazil)What currencies does AWS currently support? |
| Local entity / tax invoice | YesOfficial docsAWS Customer AgreementFinding the seller of record |
| Interface languages | en-US, en-GB, id, de, es, fr, ja, it, pt, ko, zh-CN, zh-TW, trOfficial docsChanging the language of the AWS Management Console |
| Docs languages | en, pt-BR, esOfficial docsAmazon SES Developer Guide llms.txtAmazon SES Developer Guide (Portuguese) |
| Support languages | en, zh, ja, koOfficial docsAWS Support FAQs |
| Support phone | NoneOfficial docsAWS Support FAQs |
Mexico
| Billing methods | credit card, pay by invoiceOfficial docsAWS Tax Help — Mexico |
|---|---|
| Interface languages | en-US, en-GB, id, de, es, fr, ja, it, pt, ko, zh-CN, zh-TW, trOfficial docsChanging the language of the AWS Management Console |
| Docs languages | en, pt-BR, esOfficial docsAmazon SES Developer Guide llms.txtAmazon SES Developer Guide (Portuguese) |
| Support languages | en, zh, ja, koOfficial docsAWS Support FAQs |
| Support phone | NoneOfficial docsAWS Support FAQs |
Compliance & data protection
checkedWhat the vendor documents publicly. This is not a legal assessment and not a certification.
| Data processing agreement | YesOfficial docsAWS Data Processing Addendum |
|---|---|
| Subprocessor list | YesOfficial docsAWS sub-processorsAWS Data Processing Addendum |
| Data residency options | YesOfficial docsAWS Data Processing AddendumAWS Data Privacy FAQ |
| Residency regions | SES API: 29 Regions (27 commercial + 2 AWS GovCloud), including sa-east-1 (São Paulo), us-east-1, eu-central-1 (Frankfurt) and eu-west-1 (Ireland), Email receiving: 22 Regions, including sa-east-1 and us-east-1, No Mexico Region (mx-central-1 absent)Official docsAmazon Simple Email Service endpoints and quotasAWS Price List API — AmazonSES region index |
| Transfer mechanisms | EU Standard Contractual Clauses (controller-to-processor and processor-to-processor)Official docsAWS Data Processing Addendum |
| Security documentation | SOC, PCI, FedRAMP, HIPAAOfficial docsCompliance validation for Amazon Simple Email Service |
| Use of customer data for AI training | YesOfficial docsAWS Data Privacy FAQAWS sub-processors |
| Local law page (BR) | YesOfficial docsAWS Brazil data privacy (LGPD) |
How the rating is built
| Criterion | Weight | Result | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing & Free Tier (25) | 60.0 / 100coverage 100 % | ||
| Free access (transactional-email) | 12.50 | 20 % | no free-forever tier; trial or creditssrcsrcsrc |
| Scenario price (transactional-email) | 10.00 | 100 % | 10,000 emails / month: USD 1.00 vs peer median USD 15.00 (13 providers); 100,000 emails / month: USD 10.00 vs peer median USD 74.85 (13 providers)srcsrcsrc |
| Pricing transparency (transactional-email) | 2.50 | 100 % | public self servesrcsrcsrc |
| Developer & AI Readiness (28) | 79.9 / 100coverage 93 % | ||
| MCP | 7.70 | 100 % | official (remote)srcsrcsrc |
| Agent skills | 2.10 | 100 % | officialsrcsrcsrc |
| Llms.txt | 0.70 | 100 % | publishedsrcsrc |
| OpenAPI | 0.70 | 0 % | none foundsrc |
| AI docs | 0.70 | 100 % | publishedsrcsrc |
| Scoped keys | 1.40 | 100 % | yessrc |
| OAuth | 4.48 | 50 % | partialsrcsrcsrc |
| Webhook signing | 1.96 | 70 % | signedsrcsrcsrc |
| SDKs | 2.24 | 100 % | 12 official SDK languagessrc |
| Test mode | 2.24 | 100 % | yessrcsrc |
| Idempotency | 1.68 | 0 % | nosrcsrcsrc |
| Reputation & Reviews (25) | 57.7 / 100coverage 100 % | ||
| Review platforms | 25.00 | 58 % | global data: capterra 4.7/5 (123), g2 4.3/5 (203), trustpilot 1.3/5 (427) |
| Channel Coverage (10) | 100.0 / 100coverage 100 % | ||
| Channel groups | 10.00 | 100 % | 7 channel groups (native = 1, partner = 0.5)srcsrcsrc |
| Category Functionality (8) | 71.0 / 100coverage 100 % | ||
| SMTP relay (transactional-email) | 0.96 | 100 % | yessrcsrcsrc |
| Inbound parsing (transactional-email) | 0.80 | 50 % | partialsrcsrcsrc |
| Templates (transactional-email) | 0.80 | 100 % | yessrcsrcsrc |
| Event webhooks (transactional-email) | 1.12 | 100 % | yessrcsrcsrc |
| Suppression mgmt (transactional-email) | 0.80 | 100 % | yessrcsrcsrc |
| Dedicated IP (transactional-email) | 0.64 | 100 % | yessrcsrc |
| Log retention (transactional-email) | 0.64 | 100 % | yessrcsrcsrc |
| Scheduling (transactional-email) | 0.48 | 0 % | nosrc |
| Attachments (transactional-email) | 0.32 | 100 % | yessrcsrcsrc |
| Payment notifications (transactional-email) | 0.64 | 0 % | nosrcsrc |
| Native payment-provider integration (transactional-email) | 0.80 | 0 % | nosrcsrc |
| Localization & Regional Support (2) | 100.0 / 100coverage 100 % | ||
| Languages | 2.00 | 100 % | 3 of 3 target languages (en, pt, es)srcsrcsrc |
Weights and rules: rating methodology.
Sources
- Amazon SES pricing — pricing, checked 24 September 2026
- AWS Price List API — AmazonSES offer, us-east-1 — pricing, checked 23 September 2026
- AWS Price List API — AmazonSES offer, sa-east-1 (São Paulo) — pricing, checked 23 September 2026
- AWS Price List API — AmazonSES region index — pricing, checked 24 September 2026
- Amazon SES FAQs — other, checked 24 September 2026
- AWS Free Tier FAQs — other, checked 23 September 2026
- Explore AWS services with AWS Free Tier — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- What is Amazon SES? — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Amazon SES Developer Guide llms.txt — docs, checked 24 September 2026
- Regions and Amazon SES — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Amazon Simple Email Service endpoints and quotas — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Service quotas in Amazon SES — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Types of Amazon SES credentials — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Request production access (moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox) — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Using the Amazon SES SMTP interface to send email — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Connecting to an Amazon SES SMTP endpoint — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Using templates to send personalized email with the Amazon SES API — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Advanced email personalization (Handlebars) — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Managing email templates — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Working with email attachments in SES — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Email receiving with Amazon SES — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Amazon SES email receiving concepts and use cases — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Contents of notifications for Amazon SES email receiving — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Monitor email sending using Amazon SES event publishing — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Set up an Amazon SNS event destination — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Monitoring SES events using Amazon EventBridge — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Amazon SES global suppression list — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Using the Amazon SES account-level suppression list — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Configuration set-level suppression — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Tenant-level suppression lists — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Dedicated IP addresses for Amazon SES — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Virtual Deliverability Manager dashboard — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Email archiving (Mail Manager) — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Sending test emails in Amazon SES with the simulator — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Reputation metrics messages (bounce and complaint thresholds) — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Pricing plans — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Data protection in Amazon Simple Email Service — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Deleting personal data from Amazon SES — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Compliance validation for Amazon Simple Email Service — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Identity and access management in Amazon SES — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Using Amazon SES with an AWS SDK — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Amazon SES Developer Guide (Portuguese) — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Amazon SES Developer Guide (Spanish) — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- SendEmail (Amazon SES API v2 reference) — docs, checked 24 September 2026
- SendBulkEmail (SES API v2 reference) — docs, checked 24 September 2026
- Amazon SES API v2 reference llms.txt — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- aws/api-models-aws — sesv2 Smithy model — repo, checked 23 September 2026
- aws/api-models-aws — mailmanager Smithy model — repo, checked 23 September 2026
- Introducing the Amazon Simple Email Service (AWS News Blog) — blog, checked 23 September 2026
- AWS Customer Agreement — legal, checked 23 September 2026
- AWS Data Processing Addendum — legal, checked 23 September 2026
- AWS sub-processors — legal, checked 23 September 2026
- AWS Data Privacy FAQ — legal, checked 23 September 2026
- AWS Brazil data privacy (LGPD) — legal, checked 23 September 2026
- About AWS — other, checked 23 September 2026
- Amazon.com, Inc. Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 — regulator, checked 23 September 2026
- AWS Tax Help — Mexico — other, checked 23 September 2026
- Finding the seller of record — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Customizing your AWS payment preferences — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Making payments using PIX (Brazil) — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- What payment methods does AWS accept? — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- What currencies does AWS currently support? — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Changing the language of the AWS Management Console — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- AWS Support FAQs — other, checked 23 September 2026
- AWS Signature Version 4 for API requests — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Create a signed AWS API request — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Update access keys — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Verifying the signatures of Amazon SNS messages — docs, checked 24 September 2026
- Verifying the signature of an Amazon SNS message — docs, checked 24 September 2026
- Amazon SNS HTTP/HTTPS headers — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- What is the Agent Toolkit for AWS? — docs, checked 24 September 2026
- Setting up the AWS MCP Server — docs, checked 24 September 2026
- Understanding the MCP Server tools — docs, checked 24 September 2026
- Plugins for the Agent Toolkit for AWS — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws — repo, checked 23 September 2026
- amazon-ses skill (Agent Toolkit for AWS) — repo, checked 23 September 2026
- aws-messaging-and-streaming skill in the aws-core plugin — repo, checked 23 September 2026
- aws-samples/sample-for-amazon-ses-mcp — repo, checked 23 September 2026
- awslabs/mcp (open source MCP servers for AWS) — repo, checked 23 September 2026
- Official MCP Registry search for "io.github.aws/" — registry, checked 24 September 2026
- What is AWS End User Messaging SMS? — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- AWS End User Messaging pricing — pricing, checked 23 September 2026
- Set up your channels (Amazon Connect Customer) — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Add a chat user interface to your website hosted by Connect Customer — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- What is Amazon Lex V2? — docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Replit Agent integrations — platform-docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Lovable integrations — platform-docs, checked 23 September 2026
- Bolt integrations overview — platform-docs, checked 23 September 2026
- AWS on the Vercel Marketplace — marketplace, checked 23 September 2026