AWS SES vs SendGrid
AWS SES costs $0.10 per 1,000 emails with no monthly fee. SendGrid starts at $19.95/month. At 500k emails/month, the difference is over $200. Here is the full comparison.
Key takeaways
AWS SES is raw, cheap infrastructure — $0.10 per 1,000 emails, no monthly base fee, no managed UI, configure everything yourself. SendGrid is a managed email platform — $19.95/month entry, deliverability dashboard, Marketing Campaigns add-on, and a setup that takes minutes rather than days. The cost difference is 5-10x at any volume. The setup difference is hours vs days. The decision is cost discipline vs operational speed.
- AWS SES: $0.10 per 1,000 emails, no base fee. At 100k emails/month: ~$10. At 500k/month: ~$50. At 1M/month: ~$100.
- SendGrid: Essentials $19.95/month (50k), Pro $89.95/month (100k). At 500k/month: ~$250. Dedicated IPs: +$30/month.
- SendGrid removed its permanent free tier in May 2025 — now a 60-day trial only. AWS SES has no free tier (pay-per-send from day one).
- SES requires AWS account setup, IAM permissions, sandbox exit approval, and manual DNS. SendGrid takes minutes.
AWS SES vs SendGrid: Quick Comparison
| Features | AWS SES | SendGrid |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $0.10/1,000 emails (pay-per-send) | $19.95/month flat + volume |
| Monthly base fee | None | $19.95 to $89.95+/month |
| At 100k emails/month | ~$10 | $89.95/month (Pro) |
| At 500k emails/month | ~$50 | ~$250/month |
| Setup complexity | High (AWS config + sandbox exit) | Low (minutes to first email) |
| Managed deliverability UI | No | Yes |
| Marketing Campaigns | No | ✓ paid add-on |
| Dedicated IPs | Available | ✓ +$30/month |
| Free tier | None (pay per send) | 60-day trial only (2025) |
| Best for | High-volume, cost-first senders | Managed, developer-friendly setup |
What Are AWS SES and SendGrid?
AWS SES
The cheapest email infrastructure available at any volume — raw pay-per-email SMTP and API with no monthly fee, requiring full manual AWS configuration.
- Pricing: $0.10 per 1,000 emails to external recipients; $0 per email when sending from an EC2 instance. No monthly base fee.
- No managed UI, no deliverability dashboard, no warmup tool, no campaign editor — purely SMTP and API infrastructure
- Setup requires: AWS account, IAM permission configuration, sending identity verification, sandbox exit approval (24-48 hours), and DNS setup (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
- Sandbox mode restricts all new accounts to verified recipients only — production access requires a support request and AWS review
- Delivers reliably when configured correctly — dedicated IPs available, full SPF/DKIM/DMARC support, comparable performance to SendGrid at volume
SendGrid
A managed email platform with a clean API, deliverability tooling, Marketing Campaigns add-on, and a setup that takes minutes rather than days.
- Free tier removed May 2025. Now a 60-day trial of 100 emails/day. Paid plan required for ongoing use.
- Essentials: $19.95/month (50k emails/month). Pro: $89.95/month (100k emails). Dedicated IPs: +$30/month.
- Deliverability dashboard: bounce and complaint monitoring, spam testing, event webhooks, ISP outreach support
- Marketing Campaigns module: basic campaign builder and list management for marketing email alongside transactional
- Sub-user management and enterprise compliance features available on Pro and higher plans
Pricing Models: AWS SES, SendGrid, and mailtani
AWS SES: $0.10 per 1,000 emails, no monthly fee
- $0.10 per 1,000 emails sent to external recipients
- $0 per email when sending from an EC2 instance within AWS
- No monthly base fee. No minimum commitment. True pay-per-use billing.
- Dedicated IPs: ~$24.95/month per dedicated IP address
- Sandbox exit required before sending to external recipients — AWS approval takes 24-48 hours
SendGrid: monthly flat rate, free tier removed in May 2025
- Free tier removed May 2025. Now 60-day trial of 100 emails/day only.
- Essentials: $19.95/month for 50,000 emails/month
- Pro: $89.95/month for 100,000 emails. Dedicated IPs: +$30/month.
- Marketing Campaigns: additional monthly cost on top of transactional plan
- At 500k emails/month: ~$250. AWS SES at same volume: ~$50.
mailtani: €89 once, use AWS SES as your sending backend
- One-time €89 payment — no monthly fee, no per-email charges beyond AWS SES cost
- Connect your AWS SES credentials as the SMTP backend
- AWS SES at 100k emails/month: ~$10. mailtani marketing layer: €0/month ongoing.
- Full marketing layer — sequences, warmup, broadcasts, rotation — included in one-time payment
AWS SES vs SendGrid: The Full Breakdown
The cost difference compounds dramatically and it favours SES at every volume. A SaaS sending 100,000 emails per month pays roughly $10 with AWS SES versus $89.95 on SendGrid Pro. At 500,000 emails: $50 vs approximately $250/month. At 1,000,000 emails: $100 vs $500-700/month. Over 36 months at 500k/month, the saving exceeds $7,000 in pure platform cost. For businesses where email infrastructure is a recurring cost, SES delivers the same fundamental outcome at a fraction of the price.
SES's setup complexity is real and takes longer than most first-time users expect. AWS SES requires: creating an AWS account, setting up IAM permissions with the correct SES policy, verifying your sending domain or email address, configuring SPF, DKIM, and DMARC DNS records, requesting production access to exit the sandbox (a support ticket that takes 24-48 hours for approval), and setting up SNS topics for bounce and complaint event notifications. For a team without prior AWS experience, this process takes 1-3 days. SendGrid takes 15-30 minutes from signup to first email delivered.
Deliverability is comparable when both are configured correctly — the gap is how you get there. SES with proper SPF, DKIM, DMARC, a dedicated IP on a warmed domain, and bounce and complaint handling configured delivers as reliably as SendGrid Pro. The operational gap is the guided setup and ongoing monitoring tools. SendGrid provides a deliverability dashboard, automated bounce handling, and spam testing. SES gives you the raw infrastructure and leaves reputation management entirely in your hands.
Neither platform provides marketing sequences, warmup, or a campaign editor. Both SES and SendGrid are transactional infrastructure only. Founders who need marketing email on top of their transactional setup end up using both an infrastructure provider and a separate marketing tool. At SendGrid Pro rates, that combined monthly cost often runs $100-250/month or more indefinitely. SES plus mailtani as a one-time €89 payment achieves the same full-stack outcome for roughly $10/month in ongoing infrastructure cost.
How AWS SES, SendGrid, and mailtani Compare, Feature by Feature
| Feature | AWS SES | SendGrid | mailtani |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest per-email cost | |||
| No monthly base fee | |||
| Managed deliverability dashboard | |||
| Marketing Campaigns module | |||
| Dedicated IPs available | |||
| Simple onboarding (minutes) | |||
| Bounce/complaint automation | ✓ configure manually | ||
| Spam testing built in | |||
| Sub-user management | |||
| Webhook events | |||
| Enterprise volume scale | |||
| SMTP relay supported | |||
| Sandbox exit approval required | |||
| AWS IAM configuration needed | |||
| Marketing sequences / warmup | |||
| Campaign editor | |||
| Flat one-time pricing | |||
| No ongoing monthly platform fee | |||
| ISP outreach / reputation team | |||
| React Email support |
The Third Option: Why Founders Pick mailtani
- Connect AWS SES as your SMTP backend and run marketing sequences, warmup, and broadcasts on top — one-time €89 payment, no monthly platform fee
- AWS SES at $0.10/1,000 emails is the cheapest infrastructure available; mailtani adds the marketing layer at zero extra monthly cost
- The BYOS model means you own your sending infrastructure and domain reputation entirely — no lock-in to a platform's shared IP pool
- Bootstrappers and indie hackers get professional email infrastructure without $89-250/month monthly fees of managed platforms
What Each Tool Is Built For
AWS SES
Optimised for high-volume senders with devops expertise who want the lowest possible email infrastructure cost and full control.
AWS SES is the right choice when cost is the primary constraint and your team can manage AWS configuration. At 500,000 emails per month, SES saves roughly $200/month versus SendGrid Pro — over $2,400/year. At 1M emails/month, the saving grows to $400-600/month. For established SaaS businesses with devops capability, those savings are material. The trade-offs are real: SES requires navigating the AWS console, configuring IAM, exiting sandbox mode, and managing your own bounce and complaint handling. There is no guided deliverability dashboard — reputation management is entirely your responsibility.
SendGrid
Optimised for teams who want to start sending immediately without AWS configuration complexity, and who need a managed deliverability dashboard.
SendGrid is the right choice when time-to-first-email and managed deliverability matter more than cost optimisation. The setup takes minutes rather than days, the deliverability dashboard monitors bounce and complaint rates automatically, and the API is well-documented with broad third-party support. The Marketing Campaigns module adds basic marketing functionality for teams that want transactional and marketing email from one platform. The trade-offs: SendGrid is 5-10x more expensive than SES at any volume, and its free tier was removed in May 2025 — making it a paid commitment from day one.
AWS SES vs SendGrid: Who Should Choose Which?
Choose AWS SES if...
- You send high email volume and want the lowest possible infrastructure cost — SES is 5-10x cheaper at any volume
- Your team has devops or AWS experience to handle IAM configuration, sandbox exit, and DNS setup
- You want full control over your sending infrastructure and domain reputation without platform lock-in
- You can manage bounce and complaint handling yourself without a guided deliverability dashboard
- You want to use a BYOS marketing tool like mailtani on top of SES for sequences and campaigns
Choose SendGrid if...
- You want to start sending transactional email in minutes without navigating AWS configuration
- You want a managed deliverability dashboard, automated bounce handling, and spam testing built in
- Your team lacks AWS expertise and prefers a managed service that handles infrastructure complexity
- You want Marketing Campaigns alongside transactional email in one platform without a second tool
- You need sub-user management, ISP outreach support, or enterprise compliance features
AWS SES vs SendGrid: Pros & Cons
AWS SES
Pros
- 5-10x cheaper than SendGrid — $0.10/1,000 emails vs $19.95-$89.95+/month; savings compound to thousands per year at volume
- No monthly base fee — pay only for emails sent; zero fixed cost in months with low or zero sending volume
- Full infrastructure control — dedicated IPs, custom bounce handling, full DNS ownership; no platform constraints
- Scales to any volume — SES handles billions of emails for enterprise customers; no volume ceiling at any tier
- AWS ecosystem integration — natively integrates with Lambda, S3, SNS, CloudWatch for teams already in the AWS stack
Cons
- High setup complexity — IAM config, sandbox exit approval, DNS records, SNS bounce handling; 1-3 days for AWS newcomers
- No managed deliverability dashboard — bounce rates, complaint rates, and reputation monitoring require manual CloudWatch setup
- Sandbox restriction — all new accounts limited to verified recipients until production access is approved via support ticket
- No warmup tool — domain and IP warming is entirely manual; no guided warmup schedule or automation built in
- No marketing layer — no campaign editor, no sequence builder, no marketing email features of any kind
SendGrid
Pros
- Minutes to first email — clean onboarding, well-documented API, no AWS console navigation or IAM setup required
- Managed deliverability dashboard — bounce and complaint monitoring, spam testing, event tracking, ISP outreach team
- Marketing Campaigns add-on — basic campaign builder and list management for marketing email alongside transactional
- Sub-user management — isolate environments, teams, or clients within one account hierarchy
- Broad third-party integration — extensive ecosystem of integrations via Twilio and established market presence
Cons
- 5-10x more expensive than SES — $89.95/month Pro vs ~$10 for the same 100k emails on SES; gap widens with volume
- Free tier removed May 2025 — now a 60-day trial only; requires paid subscription for any ongoing sending
- No native email warmup — warmup tooling not included; teams setting up new domains must use a separate service
- Older API design — endpoint naming and dashboard interface feel dated compared to modern alternatives like Resend
- No React Email support — HTML templates only; JSX-based email development is not supported
Neither AWS SES nor SendGrid right for you?
AWS SES and SendGrid are infrastructure only — neither gives you sequences, warmup, or a campaign editor. mailtani wraps AWS SES (or SendGrid SMTP) with a full marketing layer: sequences, warmup, broadcasts, and rotation. €89 once — your only ongoing cost is AWS SES at ~$0.10 per 1,000 emails.
Before You Decide: Common Questions Answered
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