Amazon SES vs Elastic Email
Amazon SES and Elastic Email are both popular choices in the transactional email service space. Amazon SES is priced by usage, while Elastic Email starts at $19/mo. Their pricing is not measured the same way, so we don't rank them on price. Elastic Email offers a free plan (3,000 emails/month (100 emails/day); Email Marketing: up to 1,000 contacts), while Amazon SES does not. Elastic Email has the edge with marketing automation, A/B testing, landing pages.
Quick Verdict
Amazon SES wins on integrations.
Elastic Email wins on free tier.
It's a close call — your choice depends on your specific needs.
Amazon SES
Cheapest email at scale on AWS infrastructure
Amazon SES is AWS's cloud-based email sending service that processes over a trillion emails annually for customers like Netflix and Duolingo. At just $0.10 per 1,000 emails with no minimum commitments, it is the most cost-effective option for developers and businesses already in the AWS ecosystem who need raw transactional email infrastructure at massive scale.
Elastic Email
Budget-friendly email delivery with marketing features
Elastic Email is a budget-friendly email delivery platform founded in 2010 that offers both transactional email API and marketing email capabilities. Built entirely in-house down to the protocol level, it serves tens of thousands of companies sending over 100 million emails monthly, with API plans starting at just $19/month for 50,000 emails.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Amazon SES | Elastic Email |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.4/5 | 4.4/5 |
| Starting Price | Usage-based | $19/mo |
| Free Plan | No free plan | 3,000 emails/month (100 emails/day); Email Marketing: up to 1,000 contacts |
| Founded | 2011 | 2010 |
| Email Templates | 0 | 100 |
| Integrations | 50 | 30 |
| Deliverability Rate | 95% | 95% |
| Marketing Automation | No | Yes |
| A/B Testing | No | Yes |
| Landing Pages | No | Yes |
| Segmentation | No | Yes |
| Drag & Drop Editor | No | Yes |
| SMS Marketing | No | No |
| Ecommerce Features | No | No |
| API Access | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-Language | No | No |
| Web Push Notifications | No | No |
| Live Chat | No | Yes |
| Advanced Analytics | Yes | Yes |
Amazon SES: Pros & Cons
Pros
- + Extremely low cost at $0.10 per 1,000 emails, making it the cheapest option for high-volume sending
- + Native integration with AWS ecosystem including Lambda, SNS, CloudWatch, and IAM
- + Handles over a trillion emails per year with enterprise-grade reliability and uptime
- + Built-in support for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC email authentication out of the box
- + Flexible IP options including shared, dedicated ($24.95/mo), and managed dedicated IPs
Cons
- − Steep learning curve requiring AWS expertise for domain verification, DKIM, SPF, and IAM setup
- − No visual drag-and-drop email editor or built-in template builder included
- − Limited customer support; no phone support and documentation can be hard to navigate
- − Strict sending limits initially; requires a production access request to leave the sandbox
- − Advanced analytics like click tracking require additional services like Amazon Pinpoint at extra cost
Elastic Email: Pros & Cons
Pros
- + Very affordable pricing starting at $19/month for 50,000 emails via the API plan
- + Combines both transactional API and marketing email features in one platform
- + Custom-built infrastructure written from the protocol level up for optimized performance
- + Includes landing page editor, signup forms, and segmentation even on marketing plans
- + Unlimited contacts on API plans and up to 1M contacts on marketing plans
Cons
- − Free plan severely limited to 100 emails/day and sending only to yourself
- − Third-party deliverability tests show inconsistent results averaging around 59.5% inbox placement (EmailToolTester)
- − Customer support response times can be slow; dedicated support costs an extra $100/month
- − Template editor feels limited compared to competitors unless you code custom HTML
- − Automation trigger options are very limited compared to full-featured marketing platforms
The Verdict
Amazon SES and Elastic Email are closely matched — both score within 0.0 points of each other in our overall rating. Your decision should come down to specific needs rather than overall quality.
| Criterion | Weight | Amazon SES | Elastic Email |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | 30% | Usage-based | $19/mo |
| Deliverability | 25% | 95% | 95% |
| Rating | 25% | 4.4/5 | 4.4/5 |
| Integrations | 10% | 50 Winner | 30 |
| Free Tier | 10% | No | Yes Winner |
Weights determine how much each criterion counts toward the final score. See full methodology
Choose Amazon SES if…
- + You're a aws native developers
- + You're a high volume transactional senders
- + Extremely low cost at $0.10 per 1,000 emails, making it the cheapest option for high-volume sending
Choose Elastic Email if…
- + You need a free plan to get started
- + You need marketing automation
- + You need built-in landing pages
- + You need A/B testing