Best Amazon SES alternatives for developers and email teams

Looking for the best Amazon SES alternative? You’re not alone. Amazon SES is powerful, scalable, and inexpensive – but it’s also known for its steep learning curve, limited analytics, and ticket-only support. That’s why many developers, DevOps teams, and product leaders look for an AWS SES alternative that offers better visibility, more reliable onboarding, and hands-on support without the operational overhead. 

Whether you need deeper deliverability insights, predictable pricing, or a cleaner developer experience, this guide breaks down the top Amazon SES competitors with real-world testing, pricing clarity, and pros and cons for each platform. 

We evaluated each provider using developer accounts, live API integrations, and inbox placement tests to ensure this guide reflects actual performance, not marketing claims. 

To identify the best alternatives to Amazon SES, we evaluated each platform using a structured, developer-focused review process. A human reviewer created accounts, onboarded via API, sent real test emails, and validated deliverability and analytics performance. 

Evaluation criteria included: 

• API onboarding experience: How fast can a developer authenticate, send a test message, and deploy to staging? Platforms with confusing IAM layers or unclear key permissions ranked lower. 
• Documentation quality: We evaluated clarity, language consistency, SDK coverage, and step-by-step examples. 
• Ease of integration: SMTP setup, API token management, testing environments, and webhook configuration. 
• Deliverability performance: Inbox placement, spam filtering, IP reputation behavior, and dedicated IP options. 
• Pricing clarity: Transparent volume tiers, predictable billing, and availability of free plans. 
• Support responsiveness: Human support availability, channel options (chat, email, phone), and SLA-level guarantees. 
• Compliance & reliability: GDPR, SOC2, HIPAA readiness, uptime history, and infrastructure resilience. 

Our goal was to simulate what real engineering teams experience when they attempt to replace SES – without having to maintain the operational burden of a cloud-scale email system. 

Below are the top Amazon SES alternatives, ranked by a combination of developer experience, deliverability performance, support, and pricing transparency. 

G2: 4.2 ⭐ | Capterra: 4.3 ⭐ 

Mailgun is a developer-first email platform that delivers reliable transactional emails with clear APIs, advanced analytics, and human support. Unlike Amazon SES, Mailgun offers transparent pricing, real deliverability insights, and a fully guided onboarding experience – no AWS console complexity required. 

Mailgun is ideal for product teams, SaaS platforms, and engineering organizations that want predictable performance and support without owning the operational burden of SES. 

Pricing overview: 

Plan	Monthly cost	Email limit	Key features
Free	$0	100 emails/day	SMTP & API access, basic logs
Foundation	$35	50,000 emails	Full API suite, analytics, 5-day logs
Scale	$90	100,000 emails	Dedicated IPs, 30-day logs, premium support
Enterprise	Custom	Custom	SLA-backed deliverability, monitoring

Standout features: 

• Fast, developer-friendly API and SMTP relay 
• Real-time email analytics and logs 
• IP reputation management tools 
• Reliable inbox placement 
• SDKs for Python, Node.js, PHP, Go, Java, Ruby 
• 24/7 support for higher tiers 

Primary use cases: 

• High-volume transactional sending 
• SaaS product notifications and verifications 
• Engineering-driven email infrastructure 
• Teams needing advanced analytics 

Pros and cons: 

Pros	Cons
Excellent inbox placement	More technical setup than drag-and-drop tools
Deep analytics and log retention	Dedicated IPs require higher tier
Strong API documentation	No native email marketing suite
Predictable pricing model – free plan never expires	Some advanced tools require Scale tier
Highly rated for security + compliance

Best for: 
Developers, DevOps teams, and SaaS platforms that want SES-level performance with better deliverability tools, clearer onboarding, and faster support. 

G2: 4.0 ⭐ | Capterra: 4.1 ⭐ 

SendGrid is one of the most widely recognized transactional email platforms and a strong Amazon SES alternative for teams who want both API-based sending and built-in email marketing tools. SendGrid offers flexible API integrations and a visual template editor, but its deliverability visibility and support experience can be inconsistent for mid-market engineering teams – plus, its inbox placement testing tools are only available via Inbox Monster integration. 

Pricing overview: 

Plan	Monthly cost	Email limit	Key features
Free	$0	100/day	API/SMTP, limited analytics
Essentials	$19	50,000	Basic support, suppression mgmt
Pro	$89+	100,000+	Subuser management, dedicated IP
Premier	Custom	Custom	Priority support, advanced scalability

Standout features: 

• Hybrid platform for marketing + transactional use cases 
• Flexible API with strong language SDK coverage 
• Drag-and-drop email builder 
• Subuser management and multi-account control 
• Decent analytics for basic reporting 

Use cases: 

• Teams who want both marketing and transactional in one platform 
• Large-volume senders scaling beyond free-tier limits 
• Products requiring flexible template creation workflows 

Pros and cons: 

Pros	Cons
Strong hybrid marketing + transactional features	Deliverability insights lack granularity
Good integrations and template tools	Support quality varies by tier
Scales well for large senders	Sudden pricing changes frustrate users
Widely adopted and documented	Complex dashboards for new developers
	HIPPA compliant, but no business associate agreements offered

Best for: 
Teams that want transactional + marketing functionality in a single platform and are comfortable with a more complex interface. 

G2: 4.6 ⭐ | Capterra: 4.8 ⭐ 

Postmark is a developer-centric transactional email service known for fast delivery, high reliability, and simple onboarding. It’s one of the strongest AWS SES alternatives for teams that value transparency and speed over massive volume discounts. 

However, its rigid volume tiers and lack of a generous free plan make it less flexible for growing products. 

Pricing overview: 

Plan	Monthly Cost	Email Limit	Key Features
10K Plan	$15	10,000	High-speed delivery, basic analytics
50K Plan	$55	50,000	45-day retention, link tracking
125K Plan	$115	125,000	Dedicated IP option
Enterprise	Custom	Custom	Priority support, SLA

Standout features: 

• Extremely fast email delivery 
• Industry-leading reliability 
• Great reputation among developers 
• Clean API and excellent documentation 
• Detailed message-level analytics 

Use cases: 

• Transactional notifications 
• Password resets and authentication emails 
• High-speed receipts and confirmations 
• Engineering teams that value minimal friction 

Pros and cons: 

Pros	Cons
Exceptional reliability	No true free tier
Developer-loved onboarding	Pricing jumps between tiers
Easy-to-use dashboards	Limited marketing functionality
Strong inbox placement	Less flexible for massive scale

Best for: 

Developers that prefer an out-of-the-box solution, with easy implementation. 

G2: 4.67⭐ | Capterra: 4.6 ⭐ 

MailerSend is an affordable, modern transactional email tool with generous free tiers and easy onboarding. It’s one of the best Amazon SES alternatives for small businesses, startups, and teams who want polished dashboards without enterprise pricing. 

It’s not as robust as Mailgun or Postmark for high-volume deliverability, but it excels in usability and cost-effectiveness. 

Pricing overview: 

Plan	Monthly Cost	Email Limit	Key Features
Free	$0	3,000	API/SMTP, basic analytics
Premium	$30	50,000	24-hour support, templates
Enterprise	Custom	Custom	SLA, dedicated account mgmt

Standout features: 

• Very generous free tier 
• Designed for non-technical teams 
• Good templates and user-friendly dashboard 
• API and SMTP are simple to implement 
• Reliable for small-to-midsize sending volumes 

Use cases: 

• SaaS startups 
• MVPs and early-stage products 
• SMBs with moderate sending volumes 
• Teams that want easy dashboards over raw power 

Pros and cons: 

Pros	Cons
Excellent free plan	Less powerful for large-scale sending
Very easy to use	Deliverability tools aren’t as deep
Modern dashboard & templates	Limited analytics depth
Affordable pricing	Support tier varies by plan

Best for: 

Startups and SMBs that want an affordable, easy-to-use SES replacement without steep AWS complexity. 

Migrating away from Amazon SES can feel intimidating – especially if your infrastructure relies on IAM configurations, Lambda functions, or SES-specific templating. This guide breaks the process into clear, low-risk steps designed for engineering teams, DevOps, and product organizations moving to any Amazon SES alternative, including Mailgun, SendGrid, Postmark, or MailerSend. 

The goal: move cleanly, minimize downtime, and avoid reputation loss.  

Before cutting over from SES, set up essential components on your new provider: 

• Create your account & get API credentials: Generate API keys or SMTP credentials, depending on your integration path. 
• Add and verify sending domains: Most platforms require DNS domain verification (TXT records). 
• Set up DKIM, SPF, and DMARC: Add these DNS records early so they propagate before switching traffic. 
• Configure link tracking & custom return paths (if needed): Replicate your SES tracking and bounce-handling configuration. 

Amazon SES uses template formats and webhook conventions that differ from other providers. To avoid breakage: 

• Rebuild your transactional templates: Port over HTML, variables, dynamic fields, and conditional logic. 
• Map SES events to your new provider’s webhook model: For example, Send, Delivery, Bounce, Complaint, Open, Click, Rendering Failure. Make sure your new provider sends equivalent event types. 
• Update Lambda, Step Functions, or microservices relying on SES events: Refactor any SES-specific fields, naming conventions, or payload schemas. 

Depending on your existing tech stack: 

• Replace SES SDK calls: For example, replace AWS SES SDK code with your new provider’s SDK or standard SMTP calls. 
• Update environment variables: Regenerate SMTP host, API keys, port values, and IAM-dependency configs (now removed). 
• Run end-to-end tests: Confirm emails send as expected through staging before any production cutover. 

Setup equivalent functionality: 

• Import suppression lists: Most providers allow CSV or API-based imports. 
• Recreate bounce and complaint rules: Match SES’s behavior to preserve sender reputation and compliance baselines. 
• Migrate user-level unsubscribe data: Especially important for transactional emails with cross-account opt-outs. 

If you’re adopting a dedicated IP on Mailgun, SendGrid, or Postmark: 

• Start with a low nightly send volume: Typically 50–100/day, depending on your sending history. 
• Increase volume gradually: Warmup helps mailbox providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) trust your new IP. 
• Monitor bounce rates, blocks, and complaints: Freeze warmup increases if numbers spike. 

A controlled migration prevents outages. 

• Phase 1 – Divert 10% of traffic: Monitor deliverability, bounces, and spam complaints. 
• Phase 2 – Increase to 25–50%: Ensure event webhooks behave consistently. 
• Phase 3 – Move the remainder: Once stable, finalize cutover. 

Once volume is fully migrated: 

• Remove SES IAM permissions: Eliminate unused access keys for security. 
• Delete SES SMTP credentials: Prevents accidental use. 
• Disable SES templates and configuration sets: Keeps your AWS console clean. 

Amazon SES is powerful, scalable, and cost-efficient – but it isn’t always the easiest platform to manage. The steep configuration curve, limited analytics, and ticket-only support lead many engineering teams to look for an Amazon SES alternative that offers more visibility, stronger tooling, and a smoother developer experience. 

If you want an SES-level foundation without the operational overhead, Mailgun is the best all-around choice. It delivers a clean API, deep logs and analytics, industry-leading deliverability tools, and real support that teams can depend on. SendGrid, Postmark, and MailerSend each have strengths depending on your needs, from marketing functionality to speed to affordability. 

Whether you’re building a high-volume SaaS application or migrating off SES for the first time, the platforms in this guide provide reliable, modern options that significantly reduce complexity. 

Ready to send smarter? 

Join the thousands of developers who trust Mailgun by Sinch for their transactional and product email infrastructure.