Amazon SES alternatives
Providers that compete with Amazon SES on at least one of: Transactional
Cheapest at scale, most setup work.
Best AWS SES alternatives: a hand-picked, ranked list with rationale per position.
Switching as SaaS product teams
A SaaS product sends on behalf of its customers, so the deciding factors are tenant isolation, whether suppressions can be scoped rather than global, and whether support can answer why one specific account did not receive one specific email. Lifecycle automation and transactional sending usually need to coexist.
Amazon SES does not cover multi-tenant support, operating track record, scheduling, best published rate per 1,000, and webhook coverage. MailerSend, Mailgun, and Postmark close that gap. The order below weighs this audience's priorities first, so it differs from a general popularity ranking.
ranked for SaaS product teams
- 01
MailerSend
TransactionalModern transactional API with a clean UI.
Adds multi-tenant support, scheduling, and webhook coverage over Amazon SES, with nothing given up on these priorities.
500/mo permanent · $7/mo for 5,000 emails - 02
Mailgun
TransactionalDeveloper-leaning email infra, owned by Sinch.
Adds multi-tenant support, scheduling, and webhook coverage over Amazon SES, with nothing given up on these priorities.
100/day permanent free plan · $15/mo for 10,000 emails (Basic) - 03
Postmark
TransactionalTransactional-only, fast and well-delivered.
Adds multi-tenant support and webhook coverage over Amazon SES, with nothing given up on these priorities.
100/mo developer plan · $15/mo for 10,000 emails - 04
Mailtrap
Transactional TestingOriginally a staging inbox, now a sender too.
Adds multi-tenant support and webhook coverage over Amazon SES, with nothing given up on these priorities.
4,000/mo (sending), free testing tier · $15/mo for 10,000 sending - 05
Cloudflare Email Service
Inbound TransactionalFree routing, programmable inbound via Workers, sending in beta.
Adds multi-tenant support over Amazon SES, with nothing given up on these priorities.
Email Routing free; Email Workers on Workers Free plan · Sending: $0.35 per 1,000 messages (Workers Paid required, $5/mo) - 06
Loops
Marketing TransactionalModern lifecycle and broadcast email for SaaS.
Adds scheduling and webhook coverage over Amazon SES, with nothing given up on these priorities.
1,000 contacts and 4,000 sends/mo on the Free plan · $49/mo for 5,000 contacts - 07
Resend
TransactionalEmail API tightly coupled to React Email.
Adds scheduling and webhook coverage over Amazon SES, with nothing given up on these priorities.
3,000/mo permanent, capped at 100/day, one domain · $20/mo for 50,000 emails - 08
Brevo
Transactional MarketingAll-in-one with a generous daily free tier.
Adds scheduling and webhook coverage over Amazon SES, with nothing given up on these priorities.
300/day permanent · $9/mo for 5,000 emails
Amazon SES and its alternatives, side by side
Columns are the priorities SaaS product teams weigh, in order. Amazon SES is the first row so the trade in each direction is readable at a glance.
| Provider | Multi-tenant | Event stream | Suppressions API | Operating since | Scheduling | Best published rate per 1,000 | Webhooks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon SES | No | Yes | Yes | 2011 | No | $0.10 | No |
| MailerSend | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2020 | Yes | Tiers not published in comparable form | Yes |
| Mailgun | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2010 | Yes | $0.70 | Yes |
| Postmark | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2010 | No | $1.50 | Yes |
| Mailtrap | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2014 | No | Tiers not published in comparable form | Yes |
| Cloudflare Email Service | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not published | No | Tiers not published in comparable form | No |
| Loops | No | Yes | Yes | 2022 | Yes | Tiers not published in comparable form | Yes |
| Resend | No | Yes | Yes | 2023 | Yes | $0.35 | Yes |
| Brevo | No | Yes | Yes | 2012 | Yes | Tiers not published in comparable form | Yes |
MailerSend, Mailgun, and Postmark add capability without giving anything up on these priorities. The rest trade one thing for another.
before you switch
Amazon SES pricing, tier by tier
All 4 paid tiers with effective cost per 1,000 emails. Worth checking whether the cost curve, rather than the feature set, is what is prompting the switch.