Amazon Simple Email Service

Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) is a cloud-based email service provider that can integrate into any application for high-volume email automation. [1]

aws.amazon.com/ses/ · By Amazon Web Services · Agent JSON · Suggest an edit · Last verified 2026-06-06 · Source confidence: high

Amazon SES is AWS's cloud email service for high-volume transactional, marketing, and inbound email. Pricing is pay-per-use at $0.10 per 1,000 emails, with 3,000/month free for the first year, and signup is self-serve through AWS. The REST API uses signature auth and webhooks, with seven SDKs and an official MCP server, and it carries SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, GDPR, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and an SLA. Used by Netflix, Duolingo, and Grab.

Best for / Avoid if

Best for: AI agents and automation - an agent-ready surface (MCP / llms.txt); Teams needing broad API coverage out of the box; Cost-sensitive teams - low, transparent entry price

Avoid if: You want to try it free before paying

Pricing & procurement

Pricing model
Usage-based [2]
Published pricing
Yes [3]
Free tier
No [4]
Free tier details
Free tier customers receive up to 3,000 message charges free each month for the first 12 months after you start using SES. Starting July 15, 2025, new AWS customers will receive up to $200 in AWS Free Tier credits, which can be applied towards eligible AWS services, including Amazon Simple Email Service. [5]
Self-serve signup
Yes [6]
Requires sales call
No [7]
Enterprise plan
No [8]
Published prices
PlanItemPerAmountSource
outbound emails1,000 emails$0.1source
Global Endpoints surcharge1,000 emails$0.03source
attachment dataGB$0.12source
inbound emails1,000 emails$0.1source
incoming mail chunks1,000 chunks$0.09source
email validationvalidation$0.01source
Auto Validation1,000 validations$0.01source
Mail Manager ingress endpointmonth$50source
Mail Manager email processing1,000 emails$0.15source
Mail Manager additional recipients1,000 recipients$0.1source
Mail Manager archiving ingestionGB$2source
Mail Manager archiving storageGB-month$0.19source
StandardDedicated IPmonth$24.95source
ManagedDedicated IPmonth$15source
ManagedDedicated IP emails (0–10M)1,000 emails$0.08source
ManagedDedicated IP emails (10M–50M)1,000 emails$0.04source
ManagedDedicated IP emails (50M–100M)1,000 emails$0.02source
BYOIPmonth$24.95source
tenantmonth$0.005source
Tenants email volume1,000 emails$0.005source
VDM SES deliverability (0–10M emails)1,000 emails$0.07source
VDM SES deliverability (10M–100M emails)1,000 emails$0.05source
VDM SES deliverability (>100M emails)1,000 emails$0.02source
VDM queries1,000 queries$0.0005source
VDM Global deliverability subscriptionmonth$1250source
VDM Global deliverability domain overagedomain$25source
VDM Global deliverability IP overageIP$12.5source
VDM Global deliverability seed list test overagetest$10source
Free tier3,000 messagesmonth$0source
Free tierAWS Free Tier creditsaccount$200source

Capabilities

  • Transactional send
  • Inbound parsing
  • Templates
  • Batch send
  • SMTP relay
  • Dedicated IP
  • Analytics
Supported actions
BatchGetMetricData, CancelExportJob, CloneReceiptRuleSet, CreateConfigurationSet, CreateConfigurationSetEventDestination, CreateConfigurationSetTrackingOptions, CreateContact, CreateContactList, CreateCustomVerificationEmailTemplate, CreateDedicatedIpPool, CreateDeliverabilityTestReport, CreateEmailIdentity, CreateEmailIdentityPolicy, CreateEmailTemplate, CreateExportJob, CreateImportJob, CreateMultiRegionEndpoint, CreateReceiptFilter, CreateReceiptRule, CreateReceiptRuleSet, CreateTemplate, CreateTenant, CreateTenantResourceAssociation, DeleteConfigurationSet, DeleteConfigurationSetEventDestination, DeleteConfigurationSetTrackingOptions, DeleteContact, DeleteContactList, DeleteCustomVerificationEmailTemplate, DeleteDedicatedIpPool, DeleteEmailIdentity, DeleteEmailIdentityPolicy, DeleteEmailTemplate, DeleteIdentity, DeleteIdentityPolicy, DeleteMultiRegionEndpoint, DeleteReceiptFilter, DeleteReceiptRule, DeleteReceiptRuleSet, DeleteSuppressedDestination, DeleteTemplate, DeleteTenant, DeleteTenantResourceAssociation, DeleteVerifiedEmailAddress, DescribeActiveReceiptRuleSet, DescribeConfigurationSet, DescribeReceiptRule, DescribeReceiptRuleSet, GetAccount, GetAccountSendingEnabled, GetBlacklistReports, GetConfigurationSet, GetConfigurationSetEventDestinations, GetContact, GetContactList, GetCustomVerificationEmailTemplate, GetDedicatedIp, GetDedicatedIpPool, GetDedicatedIps, GetDeliverabilityDashboardOptions, GetDeliverabilityTestReport, GetDomainDeliverabilityCampaign, GetDomainStatisticsReport, GetEmailAddressInsights, GetEmailIdentity, GetEmailIdentityPolicies, GetEmailTemplate, GetExportJob, GetIdentityDkimAttributes, GetIdentityMailFromDomainAttributes, GetIdentityNotificationAttributes, GetIdentityPolicies, GetIdentityVerificationAttributes, GetImportJob, GetMessageInsights, GetMultiRegionEndpoint, GetReputationEntity, GetSendQuota, GetSendStatistics, GetSuppressedDestination, GetTemplate, GetTenant, ListConfigurationSets, ListContactLists, ListContacts, ListCustomVerificationEmailTemplates, ListDedicatedIpPools, ListDeliverabilityTestReports, ListDomainDeliverabilityCampaigns, ListEmailIdentities, ListEmailTemplates, ListExportJobs, ListIdentities, ListIdentityPolicies, ListImportJobs, ListMultiRegionEndpoints, ListReceiptFilters, ListReceiptRuleSets, ListRecommendations, ListReputationEntities, ListResourceTenants, ListSuppressedDestinations, ListTagsForResource, ListTemplates, ListTenantResources, ListTenants, ListVerifiedEmailAddresses, PutAccountDedicatedIpWarmupAttributes, PutAccountDetails, PutAccountSendingAttributes, PutAccountSuppressionAttributes, PutAccountVdmAttributes, PutConfigurationSetArchivingOptions, PutConfigurationSetDeliveryOptions, PutConfigurationSetReputationOptions, PutConfigurationSetSendingOptions, PutConfigurationSetSuppressionOptions, PutConfigurationSetTrackingOptions, PutConfigurationSetVdmOptions, PutDedicatedIpInPool, PutDedicatedIpPoolScalingAttributes, PutDedicatedIpWarmupAttributes, PutDeliverabilityDashboardOption, PutEmailIdentityConfigurationSetAttributes, PutEmailIdentityDkimAttributes, PutEmailIdentityDkimSigningAttributes, PutEmailIdentityFeedbackAttributes, PutEmailIdentityMailFromAttributes, PutIdentityPolicy, PutSuppressedDestination, PutTenantSuppressionAttributes, ReorderReceiptRuleSet, SendBounce, SendBulkEmail, SendBulkTemplatedEmail, SendCustomVerificationEmail, SendEmail, SendRawEmail, SendTemplatedEmail, SetActiveReceiptRuleSet, SetIdentityDkimEnabled, SetIdentityFeedbackForwardingEnabled, SetIdentityHeadersInNotificationsEnabled, SetIdentityMailFromDomain, SetIdentityNotificationTopic, SetReceiptRulePosition, TagResource, TestRenderEmailTemplate, TestRenderTemplate, UntagResource, UpdateAccountSendingEnabled, UpdateConfigurationSetEventDestination, UpdateConfigurationSetReputationMetricsEnabled, UpdateConfigurationSetSendingEnabled, UpdateConfigurationSetTrackingOptions, UpdateContact, UpdateContactList, UpdateCustomVerificationEmailTemplate, UpdateEmailIdentityPolicy, UpdateEmailTemplate, UpdateReceiptRule, UpdateReputationEntityCustomerManagedStatus, UpdateReputationEntityPolicy, UpdateTemplate, VerifyDomainDkim, VerifyDomainIdentity, VerifyEmailAddress, VerifyEmailIdentity [9]
Regions
US East (N. Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (N. California), US West (Oregon), Africa (Cape Town), Asia Pacific (Hyderabad), Asia Pacific (Jakarta), Asia Pacific (Malaysia), Asia Pacific (Mumbai), Asia Pacific (Osaka), Asia Pacific (Seoul), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Canada (Central), Canada West (Calgary), Europe (Frankfurt), Europe (Ireland), Europe (London), Europe (Milan), Europe (Paris), Europe (Stockholm), Europe (Zurich), Israel (Tel Aviv), Middle East (Bahrain), Middle East (UAE), South America (São Paulo), AWS GovCloud (US-East), AWS GovCloud (US-West) [10]
Input types
SMTP interface, SES API (HTTP/HTTPS JSON), raw MIME email, email templates (JSON) [11]
Output types
email messages (SMTP/MIME delivery), SNS notifications (JSON), CloudWatch metrics, Kinesis Data Firehose streams, S3 objects (raw MIME for received email), Lambda function triggers, API responses (JSON) [12]
Webhooks
Yes [13]
Sandbox / test mode
No [14]
SDK languages
Python, Node.js, Java, Go, .NET, PHP, Ruby [15]
MCP server
Yes [16]

Trust & compliance

SOC 2
SOC 2 Type II [17]
HIPAA
Yes [18]
GDPR
Yes [19]
ISO 27001
Yes [20]
PCI DSS
Yes [21]
Published SLA
Yes [22]
Rate limits
Sandbox: 200 emails per 24-hour period, 1 email per second. Production: varies by account and use case. API: All actions (except SendEmail, SendRawEmail, and SendTemplatedEmail) are throttled at one request per second. Maximum 50 recipients per message. Maximum message size: 10 MB (v1 API, after base64 encoding), 40 MB (v2 API or SMTP, after base64 encoding). Messages larger than 10MB are subject to bandwidth throttling, and depending on your sending rate, you may be throttled to as low as 40MB/s. Sending quotas are based on recipients rather than on messages. Sending quotas are separate for each AWS Region. [23]
Known restrictions
When your account is in the sandbox, you can only send mail to verified email addresses and domains, or to the Amazon SES mailbox simulator., In the sandbox, you can send a maximum of 200 messages per 24-hour period., In the sandbox, you can send a maximum of 1 message per second., Maximum number of recipients per message: 50 recipients (any 'To', 'CC', or 'BCC' address)., Maximum message size: 10 MB (v1 API, after base64 encoding), 40 MB (v2 API or SMTP, after base64 encoding)., Messages larger than 10MB are subject to bandwidth throttling, and depending on your sending rate, you may be throttled to as low as 40MB/s., In each AWS Region, you can verify up to 10,000 email addresses and domains, in any combination., Amazon SES does not support email receiving in AWS GovCloud (US-West) and AWS GovCloud (US-East) regions. [24]

Developer surface

Docs rendering: static · llms.txt present

Integration

API style
rest
Base URL
https://email.{region}.amazonaws.com
Version
2019-09-27
Versioning
url
Stability
ga
Auth methods
hmac_signature
Idempotency keys
No
Error format
vendor-specific

SDKs

  • Python boto3 · repo · updated 2026-06 · 9,825
  • Node.js @aws-sdk/client-sesv2 · repo · updated 2026-06 · 3,635
  • Java software.amazon.awssdk:ses · repo · updated 2026-06 · 2,588
  • Go github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2/service/sesv2 · repo · updated 2026-06 · 3,574
  • .NET AWSSDK.SimpleEmailV2 · repo · updated 2026-06 · 117
  • PHP aws/aws-sdk-php · repo · updated 2026-06 · 6,190
  • Ruby aws-sdk-sesv2 · repo · updated 2026-06 · 3,656

Adoption & maturity

Launched
2011-01-25
Notable customers
Netflix, Duolingo, Grab, BCAA, EDF, Firstcry, Academia, Adzuna, Granicus

Other Email APIs

  • Mailgun

    Mailgun is the all-in-one, intelligent email delivery platform trusted by businesses and loved by developers.

    Hybrid · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

  • Mailjet

    The best email marketing software that's built for devs and loved by marketers.

    Hybrid · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

  • Brevo

    Brevo is the most intuitive all-in-one customer engagement platform: email and SMS marketing, automation, CRM, live chat, and transactional email.

    Hybrid · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

  • SendGrid

    Email at scale, proven deliverability, and so much more

    Hybrid · public pricing · self-serve

  • MailerSend

    MailerSend is a powerful transactional email system built for developers but designed so non-tech teams can contribute without coding.

    Hybrid · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

  • Postmark

    Fast, Reliable Email Delivery Service

    Hybrid · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

Amazon Simple Email Service alternatives · Amazon Simple Email Service vs Mailgun · All Email APIs APIs

References

Change history

Every field change, who made it, and when - from our audited data pipeline and editors.

  1. 2026-06-15 Score Agent Friendliness: 3055
  2. 2026-06-15 Score Docs Quality: 1525
  3. 2026-06-15 Robots Allows Agents: (none)Yes
  4. 2026-06-15 Llms Txt Present: NoYes
  5. 2026-06-15 Llms Txt URL: (none)https://docs.aws.amazon.com/llms.txt
  6. 2026-06-15 Has Structured Data: (none)No
  7. 2026-06-09 Scoring Methodology: Scores are computed deterministically from this profile's published, sourced fi…Scores are computed deterministically from this profile's published, sourced fi…
  8. 2026-06-09 Best For: AI agents and automation — an agent-ready surface (MCP / llms.txt), Teams needi…AI agents and automation - an agent-ready surface (MCP / llms.txt), Teams needi…
  9. 2026-06-09 Score Pricing Transparency: (none)85
  10. 2026-06-09 Score Setup Speed: (none)60
  11. 2026-06-09 Score Docs Quality: (none)15
  12. 2026-06-09 Score Procurement Friction: (none)85
  13. 2026-06-09 Score Trust Readiness: (none)100
  14. 2026-06-09 Scoring Methodology: (none)Scores are computed deterministically from this profile's published, sourced fi…
  15. 2026-06-09 Best For: (none)AI agents and automation — an agent-ready surface (MCP / llms.txt), Teams needi…
  16. 2026-06-09 Avoid If: (none)You want to try it free before paying
  17. 2026-06-09 Score Agent Friendliness: (none)30
  18. 2026-06-08 Status Page URL: (none)https://status.aws.amazon.com
  19. 2026-06-08 Llms Txt Present: (none)No
  20. 2026-06-08 Rendering: (none)static
  21. 2026-06-08 Docs URL: (none)https://docs.aws.amazon.com
  22. 2026-06-07 SDK Packages: Python, Node.js, Java, Go, .NET, PHP, RubyPython, Node.js, Java, Go, .NET, PHP, Ruby
  23. 2026-06-07 Summary Md: (none)Amazon SES is AWS's cloud email service for high-volume transactional, marketin…
  24. 2026-06-07 SDK Languages: C++, Go, Java, JavaScript, Kotlin, .NET, PHP, PowerShell, Python, Ruby, Rust, S…Python, Node.js, Java, Go, .NET, PHP, Ruby
  25. 2026-06-07 Auth Methods: (none)hmac_signature
  26. 2026-06-07 Auth Docs URL: (none)https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_sigv.html
  27. 2026-06-07 API Style: (none)rest
  28. 2026-06-07 Base URL: (none)https://email.{region}.amazonaws.com
  29. 2026-06-07 API Version: (none)2019-09-27
  30. 2026-06-07 Versioning Scheme: (none)url
  31. 2026-06-07 Stability: (none)ga
  32. 2026-06-07 Deprecation Policy URL: (none)https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/service-lifecycle.html
  33. 2026-06-07 SDK Packages: C++, Go, Java, JavaScript, Kotlin, .NET, PHP, PowerShell, Python, Ruby, Rust, S…Python, Node.js, Java, Go, .NET, PHP, Ruby
  34. 2026-06-07 Quickstart URL: (none)https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/dg/getting-started.html
  35. 2026-06-07 Idempotency Supported: (none)No
  36. 2026-06-07 Error Format: (none)vendor-specific
  37. 2026-06-07 Webhook Events URL: (none)https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/dg/notification-contents.html
  38. 2026-06-07 Requires Verification: (none)Yes
  39. 2026-06-07 SLA URL: (none)https://aws.amazon.com/pinpoint/sla/
  40. 2026-06-07 Starting Price Usd: (none)0.1
  41. 2026-06-07 Price Basis: (none)1,000 emails
  42. 2026-06-07 Free Tier Limit: (none)3,000 messages/month for 12 months
  43. 2026-06-07 Launched At: (none)2011-01-25
  44. 2026-06-07 Notable Customers: (none)Netflix, Duolingo, Grab, BCAA, EDF, Firstcry, Academia, Adzuna, Granicus
  45. 2026-06-07 Fields Not Found: (none)ga_date, data_retention_policy_url, rate_limit_requests, rate_limit_window
  46. 2026-06-07 SDK Packages: (none)C++, Go, Java, JavaScript, Kotlin, .NET, PHP, PowerShell, Python, Ruby, Rust, S…
  47. 2026-06-07 Capabilities: {"smtp":true,"inbound":true,"analytics":true,"templates":true,"batch_send":true…{"smtp":true,"inbound":true,"analytics":true,"templates":true,"batch_send":true…

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