Amazon Simple Email Service
Amazon Simple Email Service
Amazon SES (Simple Email Service) API programmatically sends emails (transactional, marketing, bulk) — pay per send.
Cheapest pricing ($0.10 per thousand)
New account sandbox mode only sends to verified emails — must apply for production access
Verify sending domain (SPF/DKIM) in AWS Console. SendEmail API to submit. New accounts default to sandbox (200/day limit) — apply for production access to lift.
Uptime · 30-day window
GitHub activity
About this API
SES is AWS's email sending service — the cheapest reliable email API on the market. Advantages over SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark: 1/3 to 1/10 the price, deep AWS ecosystem integration (one-click Lambda integration, CloudWatch monitoring, S3 template storage). Disadvantages: bare-bones management UI (not the flashy dashboards and template editors of SendGrid), requires understanding email-sending details (warm-up, reputation, bounce handling). SES is better suited for "engineering-savvy teams + high volume + cost-conscious". For small projects, SendGrid offers a better developer experience. New SES accounts start in sandbox mode to prevent abuse — must submit production access application and pass review.
What you can build
- 1Transactional emails (order confirmation, password reset, OTP)
- 2Newsletter bulk sending
- 3System alert emails
- 4Lambda integration for event-driven email
Strengths & limitations
Strengths
- Cheapest pricing ($0.10 per thousand)
- Deep integration with other AWS services
- Dedicated IP pools for reputation isolation
- High deliverability (professional anti-spam systems)
Limitations
- New account sandbox mode only sends to verified emails — must apply for production access
- SDK less feature-rich than SendGrid (no list management, template versioning, etc.)
Getting started
Verify sending domain (SPF/DKIM) in AWS Console. SendEmail API to submit. New accounts default to sandbox (200/day limit) — apply for production access to lift.
FAQ
SES vs. SendGrid?+
High volume (>100k/month) with engineering capacity: SES (cheap). Low volume + want rich DX: SendGrid.
How do I exit sandbox?+
Submit a production-access application explaining your use case. Typically reviewed in 1-3 business days.
Technical details
- Auth type
- unknown
- Pricing
- unknown
- Protocols
- REST, SMTP
- SDKs
- python, javascript, go, java, csharp, php, ruby
- Response time
- 44 ms
- Last health check
- 6/26/2026, 6:22:16 AM
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