5 Best Amazon SES Alternatives and Competitors in 2025
Amazon SES is cheap. It scales. And if you're a developer with time, patience, and a support team, it works.
But here's the truth no one tells you:
Most people using SES aren't using it because it's great. They're using it because it's cheap.
And then they hit a wall.
- Setup is brutal. DNS records, SPF, DKIM, DMARC — welcome to email deliverability hell.
- No UI. No guidance. No templates. No visibility into why your emails aren't landing.
- Cold outreach? Don't even try it without warm-up tools and risk mitigation strategies.
If you're:
- A startup founder who just wants things to work
- A cold email agency running volume at scale
- A growth team trying to hit quota, not debug email configs...
Then this post is for you.
I'm breaking down five tools that actually fix what SES makes hard, so you can send emails that land, get replies, and grow your business without hiring a deliverability engineer.
But before that, let's get the basics.
What Is Amazon SES?
Amazon Simple Email Service — SES — is a cloud-based email-sending engine from AWS. SES is an email delivery platform designed for high-volume, reliable email sending.
It’s built for one thing: sending a lot of emails, cheaply and quickly.
If you’re a developer or a technical team, SES can handle:
- Password resets
- Order confirmations
- App-triggered alerts
- Even basic marketing flows (with extra tools)
SES is commonly used as a transactional email service for sending critical emails like password resets and order confirmations.
You connect to it via SMTP or email API for programmatic sending, and it integrates well with other AWS services like Lambda and S3.
So far, sounds great, right?
But here’s the catch…
Why People Start Looking Beyond Amazon SES?
SES isn’t bad — it’s just not built for everyone.
Here’s what most users run into:
- Complicated setup. SPF, DKIM, DMARC, DNS records, rate limits, sandbox mode, and more. You’ll spend hours configuring just to hit “send.”
- No UI. There’s no dashboard, no drag-and-drop editor, no templates — just endpoints.
- Cold outreach? Forget it. SES flags you fast if you’re doing outbound at scale without warming up. Without built-in tools for list hygiene or validation, SES can make reliable delivery difficult and put your sender reputation at risk if emails get flagged or land in spam.
- Support is slow. If something breaks, don’t expect real-time help.
Bottom line: SES is great if you’re an engineer sending app-based emails.
But if you’re a founder, marketer, SDR, or agency, you probably need something easier, safer, and more tailored to your use case.
What Makes a Good Amazon SES Alternative?
Let’s be honest — you’re not looking for another email tool.
You’re looking for one that gets the job done without killing your time, deliverability, or domain reputation.
Here’s what actually matters:
- A user friendly interface that makes campaign management, email design, and automation setup simple.
- Robust analytics for tracking and optimizing your email performance.
- Easy integration with your existing stack, including RESTful API and SMTP relay support.
- Email verification tools to maintain list hygiene and improve deliverability.
- Marketing automation features for running and scaling campaigns efficiently.
- The ability to connect with other tools for workflow automation and seamless data access.
1. Ease of Setup
If it takes hours of tutorials and DNS tweaks just to send your first email, that’s a problem.
Great tools should get you sending — fast. A good alternative should provide a smooth and secure setup process, making onboarding hassle-free. A secure setup is essential for protecting your domain and data.
2. Use Case Fit
Different tools solve different problems:
- Need cold email deliverability? (promotional and transactional emails)
- Sending alerts from your product? (transactional email)
- Running drip campaigns? (email marketing, promotional and transactional emails)
Some platforms are better suited for email marketing, offering advanced campaign management, automation, and analytics, while others focus on reliable transactional email delivery.
Choose the one that fits your use case, not just the one with the best pricing page.
3. Built-In Deliverability Protection
SPF, DKIM, inbox warm-up, IP rotation — these are not optional anymore.
If your tool doesn’t help you protect your domain and inbox rate, you’ll land in spam. Simple as that. For businesses seeking greater control and improved email deliverability, the option to use a dedicated IP, dedicated IP address, or even multiple dedicated IP addresses can be crucial, especially when managing multiple domains or sending transactional emails.
4. Pricing That Scales With You
Cheap upfront costs are great — until you hit a usage wall.
The best alternatives are both cost-effective and scalable, with no hidden limits or surprises.
When considering pricing & scalability, keep in mind that most providers base their pricing on email volume, so costs can increase as your sending needs grow. Many services offer an entry-level Essentials plan, which is typically the most affordable option for lower email volumes. However, there is always a trade off between cost, features, and scalability—choosing a cheaper plan may mean fewer features or lower sending limits.
So, before diving into the top 5 Amazon SES Alternatives, here’s what to look for:
- Ease of setup — Do you need dev skills or can you start in minutes?
- Use case fit — Transactional vs cold outreach vs marketing
- Deliverability controls — DNS, IP management, inbox rotation
- Pricing & scalability — Does it stay affordable as you grow?
Top 5 Amazon SES Alternatives to Consider
Here are the top 5 Amazon SES alternatives. These email delivery services each offer an email delivery platform intended for different use cases, such as transactional email, marketing campaigns, and reliable message delivery:
- Mailforge
- SendGrid
- Postmark
- Mailgun
- Brevo
Mailforge: #1 Amazon SES Alternative — Cold Email Infrastructure SES Can’t Touch
Let’s not sugarcoat it:
Amazon SES was never built for cold email. is.
SES gives you a pipe. Mailforge gives you the whole system — domains, inboxes, DNS, warm-up, masking — done in minutes.
Mailforge is designed for effortless maintenance, so you spend less time managing and more time sending. It supports bulk email and commercial emails for outreach, and is built to handle high volume commercial sending with a significant share of commercial emails worldwide.
While Mailforge is optimized for cold email, it can also be used for sending transactional emails when needed.
No engineers.
No guesswork.
No getting flagged.
If you're doing cold outreach and still messing with SES, you're wasting time.
What Mailforge Actually Does?
Mailforge isn’t an email sender.
It’s the infrastructure behind the scenes that makes your cold outreach actually work. Mailforge is a well integrated package that combines domain setup, inbox management, and deliverability tools to simplify your workflow.
- Buys and sets up domains for you
- Creates inboxes — at scale
- Auto-configures SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and custom tracking
- Handles inbox rotation, domain masking, and warm-up
- Helps automate workflows for cold email campaigns, streamlining processes and improving efficiency
- Works with any sender — Salesforge, Instantly, Lemlist, whatever you’re using
This is what you think you’re getting with SES — but don’t.
Why It’s an SES Alternative (Even If It’s Not an API)
Here’s the deal:
You don’t need another way to send emails.
You need a way to send cold emails that actually land
SES will let you send. But it won’t:
- Warm up your domains
- Rotate inboxes
- Protect your sending reputation
- Or save you when Gmail flags your IP
Mailforge does all of that. Automatically, and provides more reliable email delivery with high deliverability rates and robust infrastructure.
If SES is a Ferrari engine with no wheels or body, Mailforge is the full car — gassed up, ready to drive. For businesses that rely on cold email, Mailforge is a solid partner you can trust.
Real Pricing with Example
Let’s say you’re running a basic sequence to 1,000 leads/month.
- 5 .com domains: $70/year
- 5 mailboxes (1 per domain): $13/year
- Total: $83/year if billed annually
- That’s $6.91/month for cold email infrastructure — fully set up
Mailforge also offers custom reports to help you track performance and ROI, making it easy to monitor your campaigns and export data as needed.
Compare that to Gmail or Outlook? Not even close.
Compare that to SES + warm-up tools + DNS headaches? Again, not even close.
Who Should (and Shouldn’t) Use This
Quick Recap
If cold email is how you get customers, Mailforge is the infrastructure you wish SES had.
SendGrid: #2 Amazon SES Alternative— Like SES, But With a Dashboard You Can Use
SendGrid is made for teams who want to send emails from their app or website, but also want tracking, templates, and support when things go wrong.
It offers robust email marketing tools and allows you to send email marketing campaigns with ease. You can use SendGrid to send promotional as well as transactional emails, making it suitable for a variety of marketing needs.
The platform also provides a wide range of marketing tools, including automation and campaign management features.
No black screen.
No mystery errors.
Just a solid platform that works.
What is SendGrid good at?
- You can send all kinds of emails — marketing, transactional, or both
- SendGrid offers a user friendly interface for managing campaigns, templates, reporting, and account settings
- Responsive templates are available for email design, ensuring your emails look great on any device
- Supports API and SMTP relay for easy integration and testing with your domain
- You get a simple dashboard to track opens, clicks, bounces, etc.
- There’s a drag-and-drop editor to build emails (no coding needed)
- It connects easily with your CRM or website
What You Should Know about SendGrid
- Cold outreach? Don’t use SendGrid. You’ll get flagged or shut down
- Their support can be slow — if something breaks, expect to wait. However, SendGrid does provide resources and documentation to help when unexpected issues arise.
- Setup is still a bit technical — not the easiest for beginners
- If you want dedicated IPs or auto warm-up, you’ll have to upgrade to the Pro plan
SendGrid Pricing (API Plans)
Note: Want warm-up, better inboxing, and IP control? You’ll need to pay more. Higher-tier plans also allow for more API calls to support automation and integration.
Best For You If…
- You run a SaaS or app and need to send sign-up emails, receipts, or updates; SendGrid serves as a comprehensive marketing platform for SaaS and product teams, integrating multiple marketing tools.
- You want to see what’s happening with your emails (opens, clicks, bounces)
- You don’t want to build everything from scratch, like with SES
- You need a drag-and-drop email builder or API for devs
Not for You If…
- You’re sending cold emails or lead gen at volume
- You need fast help when something goes wrong
- You’re not comfortable tweaking DNS or settings yourself
Quick Recap
If you want something more powerful than SES, but don’t want to hire an engineer to manage it, SendGrid is your next step.
Just don’t expect it to save your cold email campaign.
Postmark #3 Amazon SES Alternative — For Transactional Emails That Actually Land
Amazon SES is cheap. But cheap can get you in trouble when your important emails… don’t show up.
And that’s where Postmark wins.
Postmark is an email delivery service focused on reliable and fast email delivery for transactional emails—password resets, order confirmations, alerts—and makes sure they hit the inbox.
If every second counts, Postmark delivers.
What Makes Postmark Great?
- Fastest delivery speed in the game — 4x faster than most
- Inbox-first sending — not dumped in “Promotions” or “Spam”
- Reliable delivery for transactional emails and API services
- Enterprise-level analytics for advanced tracking and performance insights
- Easy setup with clear docs and real support
- Email history & analytics built-in (45 days by default)
- Great for developers and non-tech founders
This is the tool teams use when they’re tired of email issues and just want things to work.
What to Know Before You Switch?
- Postmark doesn’t do cold email or bulk marketing — only transactional. It operates as a standalone service for transactional email.
- Pricing is higher than SES, but you’re paying for inbox placement
- No free tier for high volume — just 100 emails/month on the dev plan
- Dedicated IPs cost extra and only unlock after 300K/month volume
Postmark Pricing
All plans include access to custom reports for tracking and exporting email performance metrics.
Best For You If…
- You send transactional emails that must reach inboxes
- You’re a SaaS, product, or e-commerce company
- You’ve had issues with SES, SendGrid, or Mailgun
- You care more about deliverability than saving a few dollars
- You want integrated email verification tools to maintain list hygiene, reduce bounces, and protect sender reputation
Not for You If…
- You want to send cold outreach or bulk marketing
- You need drag-and-drop templates for non-technical users
- You’re looking for the lowest-cost option (SES is cheaper)
Quick Recap
Mailgun #4 Amazon SES Alternative — Great Power, But Handle With Care
If you’ve got a dev team and want total control over your email sending, Mailgun gives it to you with a powerful email API and easy integration with other systems.
You get:
- APIs that scale, with support for both API and SMTP relay for flexible sending
- Built-in email verification to maintain list hygiene and improve deliverability
- Logs for days
- And smart delivery features
But here’s the deal: it’s not beginner-friendly. And the support? Eh… hit or miss.
What Makes Mailgun Great
- Dev-friendly API with deep docs and logs
- Great for sending large volumes of transactional or system emails, including bulk email
- Built-in validations, robust analytics, webhooks, SSO, and email templates
- Can send from US or EU servers — choose where your data lives
- Reliable email delivery infrastructure with high deliverability rates
- Supports automation to build drip campaigns using workflow templates
- Starts cheap, grows with you
If you’re a startup with a tech team (or a big sending use case), Mailgun can work really well.
Where Mailgun Slips
- UI isn’t beginner-friendly — you’ll likely need developer help
- Support issues are common, especially on lower plans, and users often compare Mailgun's support to other services
- Account suspensions happen often if you trip spam filters
- Costs can stack fast with validations, extra IPs, etc.
Mailgun Pricing
Mailgun also offers custom reports for tracking email performance, allowing users to easily customize and export data to monitor key metrics.
Best For You If…
- You’re a developer, or you’ve got devs on your team
- You need fine-grain control over how email gets sent
- You want to scale fast and handle millions of emails
- You care about analytics, logs, and routing flexibility
- You are an enterprise business with high sending needs, advanced analytics, and compliance requirements
Not for You If…
- You need fast, friendly support (especially in the EU timezone)
- You want a plug-and-play UI — this isn’t Mailchimp
- You hate debugging setup issues
- You're a non-technical founder trying to move fast
Quick Recap
It’s a smart SES alternative if you’ve got the right team behind it.
Brevo #5 Amazon SES Alternative — Email + CRM That Just Works
Brevo is a comprehensive marketing platform designed to support your marketing campaigns, marketing automation, and email marketing—all in one place.
It’s your whole email + CRM + automation stack — in one place.
You don’t need tech skills.
You don’t need a team.
You just log in, build a campaign, and send.
What Makes Brevo Great
- Pay for emails, not contacts (huge win for scaling)
- 300 free emails/day forever — perfect for small senders
- Simple drag-and-drop builder to effortlessly create campaigns
- User friendly interface for easy campaign management and automation setup
- Automation flows that actually feel doable
- CRM + email + SMS + WhatsApp under one login as a well integrated package
- Great support — even on lower plans
Brevo removes 90% of the friction most small businesses face when doing email.
Where Brevo Falls Short
- Some templates and automation tools can feel a bit basic
- Limited design freedom unless you know HTML
- Not ideal for hardcore dev use or massive email infrastructure
- Reporting tools could be deeper
But if you want clean UX, no deliverability headaches, and less thinking per send, Brevo delivers.
Brevo Pricing
You only pay for what you send, not how many contacts you have.
Brevo also offers custom reports, making it easy to track campaign performance and export data as needed.
Best For You If…
- You want something that “just works”
- You’re a small business, solopreneur, or early-stage startup
- You don’t want to mess with DNS and deliverability setups
- You need CRM + email in one stack
Not for You If…
- You’re running a dev-heavy SaaS and want total control
- You need advanced workflows or deep data analytics
- You send millions of emails/month
Quick Recap
Brevo is the easiest on-ramp if you’re tired of juggling multiple tools.
It’s not just an SES alternative — it’s your whole email engine, simplified.
Which Amazon SES Alternative Should You Go For?
It really comes down to your use case:
TL;DR: Choose Based on This
Note: Mailchimp offers robust analytics for campaign tracking and insights, making it a strong choice for data-driven marketing. Mailchimp Transactional is a paid add on for existing Mailchimp users who need transactional email capabilities. MessageBird Email is recommended for high-volume commercial sending and advanced enterprise analytics.
Finally…
This article wasn't about features. It was about fit.
It doesn't matter how fancy the dashboard is if your emails go to spam.
And you won't care how cheap a tool is if you lose $10K chasing DNS errors.
You care about one thing: Does it land, and does it scale?
Here's the brutal truth:
Amazon SES is not built for growth. It's built for engineers.
That's why founders switch.
That's why cold email teams switch.
And that's why you're reading this.
So here's the real recap:
- Brevo is your easy on-ramp. Great for SMBs and non-technical teams.
- SendGrid is like SES with training wheels. Powerful, but clunky.
- Postmark is surgical — fast, clean, and dead-on for transactional.
- Mailgun is your power tool. But don't touch it without gloves.
- ? Mailforge is built for cold outreach. Period.
Domains. Inboxes. DNS. Warmup. Rotation. All done for you. In minutes. No stress. No setup hell. Just results.
👉 If your business lives or dies on cold email, you need Mailforge. Don't duct-tape tools. Don't gamble on SES.
Start with Mailforge today. Get infrastructure that actually works.
This is how the pros do it.
Now you can, too.