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Transactional Email

Amazon SES

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Panel rating · 6 judges · How to read the stars

Category median

Sovereignty: 1 of 6 dimensions proven

0–5 in half steps. 5 means the rubric's top anchor is met on the evidence.

by Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL · aws.amazon.com

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Add ?theme=dark to the image address for dark backgrounds. The badge shows the category and the month of the latest evaluation, and EU-Made where that is the product’s provenance. It never shows a score.

Amazon SES at a glance

Vendor
Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL
Headquarters
Incorporated in United States source, captured 1 Nov 2026
Data hosting
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
Free plan
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
Panel verdict
The AI panel rates Amazon SES 3/5, the mean of 6 judges. Amazon SES is an AWS platform for sending and receiving email using your own addresses and domains, sold with three plans — Essentials, Pro and Enterprise — plus à-la-carte rates. how scores are made
As of
Vendor pages captured 1 Nov 2026; evaluated by the panel 1 Nov 2026. all sources

Amazon SES alternatives, European ones first →

Read this page as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.

The Skeptic

Weighted verdict

Has seen "99% deliverability" with no method behind it, "dedicated IPs" that shared a pool with bulk senders, "EU hosting" that covered the API endpoint but not the logs, and seven days of log retention discovered during an incident on day eight. Reads that a vendor is "trusted by thousands of developers" and asks how bounces are suppressed, what is stored per message, which entity signs the DPA — and what moving away would cost.

Same scores as the panel view — this lens weights them the way this judge cares.

Scored by The Skeptic

Panel median The Skeptic This judge’s scores over the panel median. Each label opens its reasoning below.
Scores per criterion, in stars out of 5
Criterion Panel median The Skeptic
Sending API, SMTP & developer experience 2.5 of 5 2.5 of 5
Deliverability & sender reputation 3.5 of 5 3 of 5
Message logs, events & webhooks 2.5 of 5 2.5 of 5
Message data, retention & security 3.5 of 5 3.5 of 5
Reliability, accounts & support 2.5 of 5 2.5 of 5
European sovereignty 3 of 5 2.5 of 5
Pricing transparency 4 of 5 4 of 5

Sending API, SMTP & developer experience

How this is scored

How an application sends mail: a REST API and an SMTP relay with their limits stated, official SDKs and drivers for named languages and frameworks (PHP and Laravel, Node, Python, Ruby and Rails, Java, Go, .NET), stored templates with variables and versions, batch sending, attachments, idempotency keys, scheduled sending, a test or sandbox mode that does not deliver, inbound email parsed into a webhook, and the quality of the API reference and guides.

0 — Not a sending service; an application cannot send email through it by API or SMTP.

3 — An API or SMTP credentials to send a message; SDKs, templates, limits and a test mode are basic or not described.

5 — A documented REST API and SMTP relay, official SDKs for several named languages, stored templates with variables, attachments and batch sending, rate limits stated, a sandbox or test mode, and quick-start guides for named frameworks.

8 — An API reference with every endpoint and error code, idempotency keys, scheduled sending, template versions and a template language documented, inbound email parsed to a webhook, an OpenAPI specification or official CLI, framework drivers maintained by the vendor, and a migration guide from named competitors.

10 — An API a team builds its product on: versioning and deprecation policy published, backward compatibility stated, full parity between API and SMTP features, local or staging test tooling that mirrors production, and every limit, timeout and retry behaviour documented.

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The Skeptic

The sending paths are genuinely documented: HTTPS API endpoints, an SMTP relay with per-region endpoints and credentials, sending quotas per second and per 24 hours, a 40 MB message cap, attachments, inbound email stored to S3 with Lambda triggers, and both a sandbox limited to verified identities and a mailbox simulator that never touches real recipients. We found no public information on stored templates, batch sending, idempotency keys, scheduled sends, or SDKs and framework guides identified by language. The plumbing is solid and inspectable; the developer conveniences are simply not on these pages. 3 4 5 7

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Deliverability & sender reputation

How this is scored

What the vendor does so the mail reaches the inbox: guided SPF, DKIM and DMARC set-up with a custom return path and tracking domain, shared IP pools and how senders on them are vetted and policed, dedicated IPs with automatic warm-up, transactional and bulk mail kept on separate streams or IP pools, bounces, complaints and unsubscribes turned into suppressions automatically, feedback loops with mailbox providers, blocklist and DMARC monitoring, compliance with the Gmail and Yahoo bulk-sender rules, and published delivery times or inbox placement with their method.

0 — No sender authentication and no bounce handling; mail goes out from shared addresses with no reputation management at all.

3 — SPF and DKIM can be set up and bounces are recorded; IP policy, stream separation and suppressions are basic or not described.

5 — Guided SPF, DKIM and DMARC set-up with a custom return path, shared IPs with a stated sender vetting policy, dedicated IPs available, automatic suppression of hard bounces and complaints, transactional and marketing mail separated by stream or IP pool, and deliverability guidance in the documentation.

8 — Dedicated IPs with automatic warm-up and pool management, a stated acceptable-use and vetting process for shared pools, feedback loops and blocklist monitoring, DMARC reports, BIMI or custom tracking domains, compliance with the Gmail and Yahoo sender requirements stated, delivery times published, and access to deliverability experts.

10 — Deliverability that can be verified: delivery time and bounce rates per mailbox provider published continuously with their method, inbox placement testing included, pool reputation shown to the customer, and a documented escalation path with mailbox providers.

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The Skeptic

The reputation machinery is real: managed dedicated IPs that SES warms up itself, pools you group manually, a global suppression list that auto-blocks hard bounces, custom MAIL FROM domains, outbound content filtering and virus scanning, plus a Virtual Deliverability Manager with inbox placement testing, blocklist monitoring and dashboards cut by ISP, identity and tenant. Before I trust an inbox claim I still want the missing pieces — a vetting policy for who shares your pool, the Gmail and Yahoo sender requirements, DMARC reports, and published delivery times — and the pages themselves state that no email service can guarantee delivery of every single email. Reputation isolation is a paid feature by plan and tenant, which tells you the shared default is what a careful sender pays to escape. 3 6 7 8

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Message logs, events & webhooks

How this is scored

What the team can see about each message once the application has handed it over: a message log searchable by recipient, subject, tag or message ID, the full event history (processed, delivered, deferred, bounced with the remote server's answer, opened, clicked, complained), how long logs and message content are kept, event webhooks with retries and a signature, an events API, dashboards and statistics per stream, tag or domain, alerts on bounce or complaint spikes, and access for a support team without developer rights.

0 — Nothing can be seen after sending; no logs, no events and no webhooks.

3 — Totals of sent and bounced messages; per-message logs, webhooks and retention are basic or not described.

5 — A searchable message log with per-message event history and the bounce reason, log retention stated, event webhooks for delivery, bounce, open, click and complaint, statistics per tag or domain, and an API to fetch events.

8 — Webhooks signed and retried with their schedule documented, the raw SMTP response and the rendered message viewable per send, log retention configurable or extended by plan, alerts on bounce, complaint or delivery-time thresholds, export or streaming of events to a named log or data tool, and read-only roles for support staff.

10 — Full traceability: every message traceable from API call to the receiving server's final answer, events streamed in real time with ordering and delivery guarantees stated, long retention with search across the whole history, and observability features documented with their limits.

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The Skeptic

Bounce, complaint and delivery notifications flow through SNS and onward to CloudWatch or Firehose, statistics break down by ISP, identity, configuration set and tenant, and an archiving add-on stores sent and received mail with search and export. On the questions that bite during an incident — log retention periods, the receiving server's answer per message, retry and signature behaviour of the notifications, alerts on bounce spikes — we found no public information. The searchable message store is an add-on on all plans, priced per gigabyte, not part of what you see by default. 3 4 6 8

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Message data, retention & security

How this is scored

What is stored about each message and what the customer controls: whether message bodies are stored or only metadata, retention periods and the setting to shorten them, deletion of a recipient's data on request, open and click tracking that can be switched off per stream or message, TLS for delivery with an option to require it, encryption at rest, API keys with scopes and per-domain restrictions, IP allow-listing, two-factor authentication and SSO for the dashboard, an audit log, a vulnerability disclosure programme, and security certifications or audits with their scope. Where the data is processed and by whom is scored under sovereignty.

0 — Stores every message indefinitely with no controls, and the vendor states it uses message content for its own purposes.

3 — A privacy policy and a statement that data is encrypted; what is stored, retention and access controls are basic or not described.

5 — What is stored per message documented, retention periods stated, open and click tracking switchable, TLS used for delivery, API keys with restricted permissions, two-factor authentication for the dashboard, and a data processing agreement offered.

8 — Message content retention configurable down to none or metadata only, enforced TLS per domain or message, encryption at rest stated, scoped API keys and IP allow-listing, SSO (SAML) and roles, an audit log, deletion of recipient data by API, and ISO 27001 or SOC 2 stated with its scope.

10 — Data minimisation that can be verified: every stored field and its retention listed, content never stored unless the customer opts in, customer-managed encryption keys or equivalent, independent audits published with their scope, and every security control the customer has listed with its effect.

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The Skeptic

The controls are concrete: a require-secure-connection option with TLS 1.2 minimum, AES-256 at rest, customer-controlled keys via KMS and CloudHSM, MFA, IAM-scoped access, CloudTrail audit logging enabled by default, and a contract clause that content stays in the regions you select absent legal compulsion — with certifications running deep (ISO 27001, 27017, 27018, SOC 1-3, PCI DSS Level 1, BSI C5, ENS High). We found no public information on what is stored per message and for how long, on switching off open and click tracking, or on SSO and IP allow-listing; the retention language on the privacy page is purpose-based, not a per-message setting. 3 9 10 11

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Reliability, accounts & support

How this is scored

Whether the platform can be relied on and run by a team: a public status page with incident history, uptime SLA and service credits published, redundancy or failover across data centres described, queueing and retry of mail during outages, sub-accounts or servers per application, client or tenant, team members with roles, separate environments, support channels and response times per plan, named migration help, and integrations with platforms that send mail on the customer's behalf (WordPress, Shopify, Shopware, Supabase, Vercel and similar).

0 — No status page, no support channel and no way to separate users or applications.

3 — A support contact and a single account; status page, SLA, sub-accounts and roles are basic or not described.

5 — A public status page with incident history, an uptime SLA on at least one plan, sub-accounts or separate servers per application, team members with roles, support by email or chat with stated hours, and plugins or guides for several named platforms.

8 — An SLA with service credits published, redundancy across data centres or regions described, mail queued and retried during incidents, sub-accounts with their own keys, domains and limits manageable by API, granular roles, support response times per plan, and migration assistance offered.

10 — Reliability that can be verified: uptime history published for years, post-mortems for incidents, multi-region failover documented, an SLA covering delivery latency as well as API availability, and white-label or reseller tooling for agencies and platforms.

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The Skeptic

Redundancy is described, not implied — multiple availability zones per region and multi-region endpoints that route traffic away from an impaired region — and isolation exists via tenants with separate identities, configuration and reputation. Access control runs through IAM at no charge, and support scales from a free forum to plans from $29 per month with a technical account manager for enterprise buyers. We found no public information on a public status page with incident history, on an uptime commitment with service credits, or on response times per plan; the customer agreement promises 90 days' notice before adverse service-level changes, which presupposes a commitment without showing one. 3 7 8 9

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European sovereignty

How this is scored

Who the contracting entity and the parent company are, where messages, logs and recipient data are processed and stored, whether an EU region can be chosen and what it covers, and who the subprocessors are (cloud hosting, sending infrastructure, logging, support and payment tools). Independently sourced by the sovereignty pipeline; every message carries personal data, so the whole sending chain counts, not only the dashboard.

0 — Non-EU vendor and contracting entity, hosting unstated, subprocessors unnamed, and no data processing agreement offered.

3 — A privacy policy and a data processing agreement exist, but hosting location is unstated or non-EU and the subprocessors are not listed.

5 — An EU region available and an EU contracting entity or EU representative, but parts of the chain (sending infrastructure, logs, support, payment) run through non-EU providers without a stated safeguard, or the EU region does not cover logs and account data.

8 — EU processing of messages, logs and account data on named infrastructure, an EU contracting entity, subprocessors listed with their locations, a data processing agreement published, and security certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2) stated.

10 — Sovereign end to end and evidenced: European ownership, entity, hosting, sending infrastructure and every subprocessor, data export and deletion documented, and certifications published with their scope rather than implied.

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The Skeptic

A Luxembourg EMEA entity contracts with European customers, a DPA with the 2021 standard contractual clauses is published, subprocessors are listed with locations and 30 days' notice of changes, and the certifications include BSI C5, ENS High and the CISPE code. But the captured pages state that messaging providers "route and process data globally as necessary", region selection is the customer's job with no stated default, and we found no public information that the SES sending chain itself stays in the EU. Sovereignty here is a configuration the buyer must assemble and monitor, not a property the vendor commits to end to end. 9 10 11 12

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Pricing transparency

How this is scored

Whether a buyer can compute the real annual cost from public pages alone: price per tier by monthly message volume, the price per additional thousand messages, the free tier and its limits, what dedicated IPs, extra log retention, sub-accounts, SSO and support plans cost, minimum term, and whether unused volume carries over.

0 — No public prices at all; every customer is a sales call.

3 — A starting price or a free tier exists, but how cost scales with volume or which features cost extra is unclear.

5 — Tiers are public with their monthly volume and price, but at least one commonly needed piece (overage rate, dedicated IP, longer log retention, SSO, support plan) is unpriced or "on request".

8 — Every tier priced publicly with its volume and overage rate per thousand messages, dedicated IPs and add-ons priced, log retention per tier stated, minimum term and VAT treatment stated.

10 — Complete price computability: annual cost derivable for a given monthly volume, number of domains and sub-accounts and feature set, with every add-on, support and overage fee and the cancellation terms published.

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The Skeptic

A buyer can genuinely compute a bill: three named plans with per-1,000-email rates by volume tier applied marginally, fixed monthly charges of $105 and $500 per account per region for Pro and Enterprise, à-la-carte rates for outbound ($0.10 / 1,000 emails), standard dedicated IPs at $24.95 / month / IP, archiving, validation and tenants at $0.005/month/tenant beyond the included 1,000, fees exclusive of indirect taxes, no minimum term and closure at will. The gaps are narrow but real: deliverability expert services are priced only by opening a support ticket, support plans above the $29 floor are unpriced in the captures, and we found no public information on log retention per plan. 3 8 9

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European sovereignty — proven facts

1 of 6 dimensions proven

Built only from facts shown on the vendor's own pages. A dimension we could not prove is left open, not scored as zero.

Hosting location Not determined ⚠ unverified — uncited Report an error
Hosting options Not determined ⚠ unverified — uncited Report an error
Open source Not determined — uncited Report an error
Data processing agreement Not determined — uncited Report an error
Transfer impact assessment Not determined — uncited Report an error

Questions about Amazon SES

Is Amazon SES European?

No. whats-best.ai classifies Amazon SES as Rest of world. Its vendor, Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL, is incorporated in United States, per the vendor’s page captured 1 Nov 2026.

Where does Amazon SES store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026.

Does Amazon SES have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026.

What are the best alternatives to Amazon SES?

As of 2 Nov 2026, the panel rates Lettermint (3.5/5), Bird Email API (formerly SparkPost) (3/5) and Postmark (3/5) highest among the other 15 Transactional Email products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is Lettermint (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made. The full list, with European products first: Amazon SES alternatives.

Where this could be wrong

What we left out

A claim that does not survive our checks costs us the claim, not the page. This is what was taken off this one.

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Sources (13)

The pages every claim on this page was read from — each one checked, dated, and kept verifiable.

  1. 1 Vendor homepage aws.amazon.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  2. 2 Vendor homepage (German) aws.amazon.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  3. 3 Features page (FAQ) aws.amazon.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  4. 4 Documentation docs.aws.amazon.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  5. 5 Documentation (SMTP interface) docs.aws.amazon.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  6. 6 Documentation (Virtual Deliverability Manager) docs.aws.amazon.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  7. 7 Documentation (regions) docs.aws.amazon.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  8. 8 Pricing page aws.amazon.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  9. 9 Terms of service (AWS Customer Agreement) aws.amazon.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  10. 10 Privacy policy aws.amazon.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  11. 11 Security / trust page (GDPR) aws.amazon.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  12. 12 Subprocessor list aws.amazon.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  13. 13 Legal notice — found from the homepage aws.amazon.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →