Amazon SES ranks #3 of 10 in our transactional email providers testing. $16 for a hundred thousand emails — an order of magnitude below the field, with an onboarding process that earns it..
87/100
nothing else is close on price, and nothing else makes you apply for permission to send — which of those matters more depends entirely on your volume.
#1 in transactional email providers · $35 for a hundred thousand emails, a month of logs, and the api the rest of the category is being measured against.
91/100
verdictless than half what mailgun and sendgrid charge at volume, with thirty days of history and a genuinely good api — the gaps are in what it hasn't documented, not what it does.
Resend vs Amazon SES
Amazon SES
Resend
price
$1.60/mo
$20/mo
free tier
no
yes
10k emails
$1.60/mo
$20/mo
100k emails
$16/mo
$35/mo
free tier
none (aws credits only)
3,000/mo
log retention
not documented
30 days
eu region
yes, by region
not documented
switch fordevelopers who want the sending problem to disappear without auditing a pricing page every quarter.
pros
+$35 at 100k emails — less than half the mid-field
+30-day log retention on standard plans
+react email templates and modern api ergonomics
+3,000 emails a month free
cons
−dedicated ip needs the scale plan plus $30/mo
−eu data residency not documented on its own pages
#2 in transactional email providers · the longest message history in the category and a price cut that made it competitive again — until you reach a hundred thousand.
89/100
verdictthe retention and reliability pick, dramatically better value at 10,000 emails than it was a year ago — and quietly the most expensive place on this page to send 100,000.
Postmark vs Amazon SES
Amazon SES
Postmark
price
$1.60/mo
$15/mo
free tier
no
yes
10k emails
$1.60/mo
$15-16.50/mo
100k emails
$16/mo
~$133 (derived)
free tier
none (aws credits only)
100/mo
log retention
not documented
45 days, 365 for $5
eu region
yes, by region
not documented
switch forteams whose support workload depends on being able to look up what happened to an email weeks later.
pros
+45 days retention standard, 365 for $5/mo — best in class
+10k tier cut from $60.50 to $16.50 in 2025
+inbound processing included on pro
+unlimited daily sending volume on all plans
cons
−no printed price at 100k — must be derived from overage
−roughly $133 at 100k, the most expensive here
−dedicated ip costs $50/mo and needs 300k+ volume
−basic plan omits inbound at the same email allowance as pro
#4 in transactional email providers · thirty days of logs as standard and two years if you'll pay — the most serious answer here to the question everyone forgets to ask.
84/100
verdictcheaper than postmark at scale with retention almost as good and extendable further — held back by how little it publishes about anything else.
SMTP2GO vs Amazon SES
Amazon SES
SMTP2GO
price
$1.60/mo
$10/mo
free tier
no
yes
10k emails
$1.60/mo
$10/mo
100k emails
$16/mo
$75/mo
free tier
none (aws credits only)
1,000/mo
log retention
not documented
30 days, 2yr add-on
eu region
yes, by region
not documented
switch foroperations teams who need long searchable history without postmark's price at volume.
pros
+30 days retention standard, extendable to two years
+$75 at 100k undercuts mailgun and sendgrid
+free tier of 1,000 a month
+clear, simple volume tiers
cons
−dedicated ip cost not published anywhere reachable
#6 in transactional email providers · one price, one tenth of a cent an email, no tiers and no contact games — and no discount however much you send.
77/100
verdictthe most transparent pricing in the category by a distance, and the linearity that makes it honest at ten thousand makes it expensive at a hundred thousand.
Plunk vs Amazon SES
Amazon SES
Plunk
price
$1.60/mo
$10/mo
free tier
no
yes
10k emails
$1.60/mo
$10/mo
100k emails
$16/mo
$100/mo
free tier
none (aws credits only)
1,000/mo
log retention
not documented
not documented
eu region
yes, by region
not documented
switch forsmall senders who value knowing exactly what next month costs over paying the least.
#7 in transactional email providers · eu residency stated plainly on the pricing page, attached to a plan that forgets your mail after twenty-four hours.
74/100
verdicta capable, well-established platform whose entry plan has the worst retention here — one day — on exactly the tier most small senders buy.
Mailgun vs Amazon SES
Amazon SES
Mailgun
price
$1.60/mo
$15/mo
free tier
no
yes
10k emails
$1.60/mo
$15/mo
100k emails
$16/mo
$90/mo
free tier
none (aws credits only)
100/day
log retention
not documented
1-30 days by plan
eu region
yes, by region
yes, stated
switch foreu-based senders at scale tier volumes who need residency and thirty-day history together.
pros
+eu data residency stated on the pricing page at no extra cost
+30-day retention on the scale tier
+dedicated ip included from foundation at 100k volume
#8 in transactional email providers · the default answer for a decade, now without a free plan, with three days of history, and behind a redirect loop.
68/100
verdictstill capable at the top tiers, and the entry experience has gone backwards — no free plan, three days of logs, and a pricing page that redirects in circles.
SendGrid vs Amazon SES
Amazon SES
SendGrid
price
$1.60/mo
$19.95/mo
free tier
no
no
10k emails
$1.60/mo
$19.95/mo
100k emails
$16/mo
$89.95 (pro)
free tier
none (aws credits only)
60-day trial only
log retention
not documented
3 days, 7 on pro
eu region
yes, by region
pro and premier
switch forhigh-volume senders on pro or premier who need a dedicated ip and eu residency bundled.
pros
+dedicated ip and eu residency bundled on pro and premier
+proven infrastructure at very large scale
+overage falls to $0.0005 per email at the top tiers
cons
−permanent free plan removed in may 2025
−three days of log retention on free and essentials
−essentials 100k price not printed anywhere reachable
#9 in transactional email providers · unlimited sends for a flat per-contact price — a different product that keeps appearing in the same comparisons.
66/100
verdictgenuinely good economics if your contact list is small and your send volume is high — and it cannot be compared to anything else on this page on price.
Loops vs Amazon SES
Amazon SES
Loops
price
$1.60/mo
contact-based
free tier
no
yes
10k emails
$1.60/mo
n/a — per contact
100k emails
$16/mo
n/a — per contact
free tier
none (aws credits only)
1,000 contacts
log retention
not documented
not documented
eu region
yes, by region
not documented
switch forproduct teams sending both lifecycle marketing and transactional mail to a stable, known contact list.
pros
+unlimited sends on paid plans, transactional included free
+one product for lifecycle and transactional mail
+free tier of 1,000 contacts and 4,000 sends
cons
−priced per contact — not comparable to per-send vendors
−paid tier prices sit behind an unreadable slider
−no dedicated ip, eu residency or retention information
−poor fit if you email many addresses infrequently
every tool on this page went through the same test as Amazon SES — same tasks, same order, scored the same way. the comparison tables are the figures from that testing, not vendor spec sheets.