Amazon SES

Overview

Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) is a cloud-based email infrastructure platform that allows developers to send transactional, marketing, and newsletter emails at extremely low costs. Amazon SES is a cost-effective, flexible, and scalable email service that allows developers to send email from within any application . Launched 14 years ago in 2011, Amazon SES provides highly scalable email sending without requiring businesses to manage underlying infrastructure and operational complexities .

You can use Amazon SES to send marketing emails such as special offers, transactional emails such as order confirmations, and other types of correspondence such as newsletters and system notifications . The service operates as raw infrastructure rather than a managed platform, requiring technical implementation through APIs or SMTP. For newsletter creators, this means Amazon SES can power email delivery at a fraction of the cost charged by managed services, though it requires development resources or integration with platforms like EmailOctopus that build on top of SES infrastructure.

What distinguishes Amazon SES from managed email marketing platforms is its infrastructure positioning and pricing model. You're responsible for managing sender reputation, handling bounces and complaints, and building or integrating the email sending interface. In exchange, you get enterprise-grade email infrastructure at costs that can be 90% lower than traditional email service providers, making SES attractive for technically capable creators or those with high sending volumes.

Best For

Amazon SES works best for technically skilled newsletter creators, developers building custom publishing platforms, and high-volume senders who want minimal email costs and don't need visual campaign builders. This includes creators with development resources who can implement API integrations, publishers sending hundreds of thousands of emails monthly where cost savings matter significantly, and businesses using platforms like EmailOctopus that leverage SES as their infrastructure layer. The service is not suitable for non-technical creators who need managed platforms with visual editors and customer support.

Key Features

• Extreme Cost Efficiency: Amazon SES pricing is significantly lower than managed email platforms, making it economical for high-volume sending. The pay-as-you-go model means you only pay for emails actually sent without monthly minimums or subscriber-based fees. For newsletter creators sending large volumes, SES infrastructure costs can represent 5-10% of what traditional platforms charge.

• Scalable Infrastructure: The service handles sending from small volumes to hundreds of millions of emails without configuration changes or capacity planning. Newsletter creators can scale from hundreds to millions of subscribers without worrying about infrastructure limitations or negotiating enterprise contracts. Amazon's infrastructure ensures reliable delivery at any scale.

• API and SMTP Access: SES allows developers to send email from within any application , providing both API and SMTP relay options. Newsletter creators building custom platforms or integrating with existing systems can implement SES as the email delivery layer programmatically, maintaining complete control over sending logic while leveraging Amazon's infrastructure.

• Deliverability Monitoring: SES includes tools for monitoring sender reputation, bounce rates, and complaint rates. The service provides feedback loops and reputation dashboards that help maintain good standing with email providers. For newsletter creators, this visibility enables proactive management of deliverability issues before they impact inbox placement.

• Email Receiving Capabilities: SES handles underlying mail-receiving operations including communicating with other mail servers, scanning for spam and viruses, and accepting mail for recipients in your domain . Newsletter creators can build reply-handling systems or automated email processing workflows using SES's receiving functionality.

Pricing

Amazon SES offers a free tier providing up to 3,000 message charges free each month for the first 12 months after starting to use the service . Starting July 15, 2025, new AWS customers receive up to $200 in AWS Free Tier credits applicable toward eligible services including Amazon SES . After the free tier, SES uses pay-as-you-go pricing based on email volume with no subscriptions, no contract negotiations, and no minimum charges . Specific per-email costs are typically fractions of a cent, making SES dramatically cheaper than managed platforms for high-volume sending. However, creators must factor in the cost of development time to implement SES or the subscription fees for platforms built on SES infrastructure like EmailOctopus, which handle the technical complexity while maintaining much of the cost advantage.