Amazon SES vs MailerSend
Amazon SES and MailerSend are both popular choices in the transactional email service space. Amazon SES has been around since 2011, giving it a 9-year head start over MailerSend (founded 2020). Amazon SES is priced by usage, while MailerSend starts at $7/mo. Their pricing is not measured the same way, so we don't rank them on price. MailerSend offers a free plan (500 emails/month (100/day max), 1 domain, 1 template), while Amazon SES does not. MailerSend has the edge with A/B testing, SMS marketing, a drag-and-drop editor.
Quick Verdict
Amazon SES wins on deliverability, rating, integrations.
MailerSend wins on free tier.
Best for most users: Amazon SES (aws native developers).
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.
MailerSend
Developer-friendly transactional email by the MailerLite team
MailerSend is a transactional email service built by the team behind MailerLite, launched in 2020 with over a decade of email deliverability expertise. It offers a polished developer experience with a full API, SMTP relay, drag-and-drop template builder, and SMS capabilities, making it an ideal choice for SaaS and app developers who need reliable transactional email delivery without the complexity of AWS.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Amazon SES | MailerSend |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.4/5 | 4.2/5 |
| Starting Price | Usage-based | $7/mo |
| Free Plan | No free plan | 500 emails/month (100/day max), 1 domain, 1 template |
| Founded | 2011 | 2020 |
| Email Templates | 0 | 90 |
| Integrations | 50 | 29 |
| Deliverability Rate | 95% | 86.8% |
| Marketing Automation | No | No |
| A/B Testing | No | Yes |
| Landing Pages | No | No |
| Segmentation | No | No |
| Drag & Drop Editor | No | Yes |
| SMS Marketing | No | Yes |
| 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
MailerSend: Pros & Cons
Pros
- + Excellent developer experience with SDKs for Node.js, Python, Java, Laravel, PHP, Go, and Ruby
- + Strong deliverability averaging 86.8% inbox placement in EmailToolTester third-party tests (2nd best tested)
- + Intuitive drag-and-drop email builder with 90+ pre-built content blocks for quick template creation
- + Built by the MailerLite team with 10+ years of email deliverability expertise behind the platform
- + Includes SMS API for US and Canada on Starter plans and above at no extra base cost
Cons
- − Free plan reduced from 3,000 to just 500 emails/month in October 2025, with 100/day cap
- − No marketing automation or campaign features; purely transactional and lacks segmentation tools
- − Starter and Professional plans both start at $25/month for same 50,000 emails, confusing tier differentiation
- − Some users report sudden account suspensions for high bounce rates with no refunds offered
- − Pricing can become expensive at scale compared to Amazon SES or Elastic Email ($0.90 per 1,000 overage)
The Verdict
Amazon SES edges ahead with a 4.4/5 rating compared to MailerSend's 4.2/5. The gap comes mainly from deliverability (4.6 vs 3.2) and value for money (5 vs 4.9). On deliverability, Amazon SES reports 95% compared to 86.8% for MailerSend — a meaningful difference if inbox placement is critical for your campaigns.
| Criterion | Weight | Amazon SES | MailerSend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | 30% | Usage-based | $7/mo |
| Deliverability | 25% | 95% Winner | 86.8% |
| Rating | 25% | 4.4/5 Winner | 4.2/5 |
| Integrations | 10% | 50 Winner | 29 |
| 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 MailerSend if…
- + You need a free plan to get started
- + You need SMS marketing
- + You need A/B testing
- + You're a developers building transactional email flows