Amazon SES vs useSend (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Amazon SES if

• Fits if your app already runs on AWS and you know your way around its console
• Works for teams that send in volume and also need to receive, route and archive incoming mail

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you need to email customers today, since new accounts start in a sandbox with daily limits
• Not for you if you'd rather not set things up through code and the AWS console
• Watch out: there's no free monthly allowance, so every email is billed once the $200 of credits is gone
• Pricey if you want managed dedicated IPs, as Pro is $105 a month per region and a second region doubles it
• Watch out: attachments, standard dedicated IPs at $24.95 each and AWS services like S3 and CloudWatch bill separately

Pick useSend if

• Fits if you want open-source software you can host on your own AWS account
• Works for developers who already use Amazon SES

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you don't want to set up Amazon SES, as sending runs on it
• Tight if you send marketing mail on the cloud plan, since the $10 covers 25,000 transactional or 10,000 marketing emails, not both
• Watch out: self-hosting means you run the server and pay AWS directly
• Watch out: past the allowance the cloud charges $0.40 per 1,000 transactional and $1 per 1,000 marketing emails
• Watch out: prices are on the home page, as the site has no separate pricing page

Amazon SES

• Every email is billed: $0.10 per 1,000 on à la carte pricing or $0.16 per 1,000 on Essentials, with no free monthly allowance.
• New accounts start in a sandbox that only sends to verified addresses, with daily limits, until AWS approves a limit increase.
• Pro and Enterprise fees are charged per account per region, so sending from two regions doubles the fixed fee.
• Other AWS services used alongside it, such as S3 storage, SNS notifications or CloudWatch dashboards, are billed separately.

useSend

• Sending runs on Amazon SES, so SES account setup and limits apply, including on a self-hosted copy.
• The cloud plan includes either 25,000 transactional or 10,000 marketing emails, not both.
• The pricing is on the homepage; the site has no separate pricing page.
• The company says it is bootstrapped and funded by the cloud offering and sponsors.

Amazon SES

API, SMTP and AWS SDKs

Send transactional and marketing email from any application through the SES API, an SMTP interface or an AWS SDK, after verifying your domain or address.

Virtual Deliverability Manager

Delivery and engagement insights with recommendations for reputation problems; the paid plans extend it to inbox placement tests and blocklist monitoring.

Dedicated, shared or your own IPs

Send from shared IPs, standard dedicated IPs at $24.95 a month each, managed dedicated IPs that SES warms up for you, or IP ranges you bring.

Mail Manager for incoming email

Receive email and route, allow or block it with rule sets, add security scanning from approved vendors, and archive sent and received mail.

Email validation

Checks recipient addresses before sending, at $0.01 per address checked through the API, or included up to a monthly allowance on Pro and Enterprise.

Tenants and global endpoints

Tenants keep each sender's reputation separate inside one account, and global endpoints spread sending across two AWS regions.

useSend

API and SDKs

Typed SDKs are shown for TypeScript, Python, Go and PHP, over a plain HTTP API.

SMTP relay

A drop-in SMTP relay works with any app or framework; the site mentions Supabase as a use.

Analytics

A searchable log tracks deliveries, opens, clicks, bounces and unsubscribes, filterable by domain, status and API key, and exportable.

Marketing editor and contacts

A visual editor with templates and variables, plus contact lists with per-list subscription status that update from bounces and complaints.

Suppression list

Filled automatically from bounces and complaints and managed by import, export or API, for both transactional and marketing email.

Amazon SES

• À la carte$0

  No plan or minimum fee: $0.10 per 1,000 emails sent or received, plus $0.12 per GB of attachments; features such as dedicated IPs are bought separately.

• Essentials$0

  No fixed fee: $0.16 per 1,000 emails up to 10 million a month, then less. Deliverability insights included; new accounts start on it from July 21, 2026.

• Pro$105

  per month, plus $0.22 per 1,000 emails

  Per account and region. Adds managed dedicated IPs, 2,500 address validations a month, deliverability tracking beyond SES and Trend Micro scanning.

• Enterprise$500

  per month, plus $0.23 per 1,000 emails

  Per account and region. Adds global endpoints across two regions, tenants, an open inbound endpoint, 5,000 validations and Spamhaus scanning.

useSend

• Self-host$0

  Open source and free forever; you host it yourself with Docker or Railway and pay AWS about $0.10 per 1,000 emails. Unlimited domains, contact books and team members.

• Cloud$10

  per month, then pay as you go

  Includes 25,000 transactional or 10,000 marketing emails a month, then $0.40 per 1,000 transactional and $1 per 1,000 marketing. Unlimited domains and contact books.