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Email Marketing · head to head

Amazon SES vs MailerLite

Amazon SES logo

Amazon SES

Email Marketing

Raw transactional email infrastructure priced per thousand messages, with no campaign UI at all

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
MailerLite logo

MailerLite

Email Marketing

Email marketing tools priced by subscriber count

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only MailerLite has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Amazon SES there is no campaign UI, template editor, list management or scheduling interface at all, so any marketer-facing use case requires building or buying a separate application on top of the raw API.; MailerLite free plan caps at 250 subscribers, 2,500 monthly emails and 2 user seats
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amazon SES and MailerLite actually diverge.

Attributes where Amazon SES and MailerLite differ
AttributeAmazon SESMailerLite
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelPer 1,000 emails sent, tiered by volume, no campaign features includedsubscription
Free tierNoYes

Identical on both: platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Email Marketing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Amazon SES

  • Send and receive API
  • Deliverability infrastructure
  • Bounce and complaint handling
  • Mail Manager
  • Configuration sets
  • Dedicated IP options

Only in MailerLite

Nothing recorded that Amazon SES does not also cover.

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Amazon SES

  • An engineering team sending transactional email (receipts, password resets, alerts) at a volume where per-message cost dominates the decisionnot MailerLite
  • A company building its own email product or newsletter tool on AWS and wanting to own the campaign layer itselfnot MailerLite
  • A business already deep in AWS infrastructure wanting to avoid adding a separate marketing-platform vendor for pure transactional sendingnot MailerLite
  • A high-volume sender for whom SES's per-thousand rate is materially cheaper than a marketing platform's equivalent volume pricingnot MailerLite

MailerLite

  • Email marketing automation for small to mid-sized businessesnot Amazon SES
  • Newsletter campaigns with subscriber managementnot Amazon SES

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Amazon SES

  • There is no campaign UI, template editor, list management or scheduling interface at all, so any marketer-facing use case requires building or buying a separate application on top of the raw API.
  • Deliverability and sender reputation management are the sender's responsibility to configure correctly; a mistake in DKIM, SPF or DMARC setup has no support layer catching it before it affects deliverability.
  • New accounts start in a sandbox with strict sending limits and must request production access from AWS, adding a manual approval step some competitors do not require.
  • Inbound email processing via Mail Manager is priced and configured separately from outbound sending, so a bidirectional email use case is really two separate services to set up.
  • Comparing its per-message price directly against Campaign Monitor or Zoho Campaigns is misleading, since those prices include a full marketing platform that SES does not provide at any price.

MailerLite

  • Free plan caps at 250 subscribers, 2,500 monthly emails and 2 user seats
  • Comfort plan is limited to 3 user seats; unlimited seats require the Power plan
  • Pricing scales with subscriber count and email volume rather than a flat seat rate, and resets to the plan's subscriber ceiling each billing anniversary
  • Annual billing earns only a 10% discount versus monthly, smaller than many competitors' annual discounts

Pricing, plan by plan

Amazon SES

On request
  • Essentials$undefined/month
    • $0.16 per 1,000 emails up to 10 million a month
    • $0.14 per 1,000 from 10 to 100 million a month
    • $0.11 per 1,000 above 100 million a month, no fixed monthly fee
  • Pro$undefined/month
    • $0.22 per 1,000 emails up to 10 million a month, scaling down at volume
    • $105 fixed monthly fee per account per region
    • Higher sending limits and support options
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • $0.23 per 1,000 emails up to 10 million a month, scaling down at volume
    • $500 fixed monthly fee per account per region
    • Highest support tier and sending limits

MailerLite

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 250 subscribers
    • 2,500 monthly emails
    • Email campaigns
  • Comfort$12/monthly
    • Monthly emails equal to 10x subscriber tier ceiling
    • Subscriber-dependent pricing tiers
    • Full feature set
  • Power$25/monthly
    • Unlimited monthly emails
    • Unlimited seats
    • Unlimited automations
  • Enterprise$null/custom
    • Custom pricing for 200K+ subscribers
    • Dedicated success manager
    • Priority support

Which should you pick?

Choose Amazon SES if

  • You need send and receive api.
  • You also want deliverability infrastructure.
Amazon SES review

Choose MailerLite if

  • You want to start without paying.
MailerLite review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon SES or MailerLite better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon SES starts at On request and MailerLite at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon SES or MailerLite?
MailerLite has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Amazon SES and Free for MailerLite.
Does Amazon SES or MailerLite run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use MailerLite for free?
Yes. MailerLite has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Amazon SES starts at On request.
What is Amazon SES best used for?
Amazon SES is most often used for an engineering team sending transactional email (receipts, password resets, alerts) at a volume where per-message cost dominates the decision, a company building its own email product or newsletter tool on aws and wanting to own the campaign layer itself, a business already deep in aws infrastructure wanting to avoid adding a separate marketing-platform vendor for pure transactional sending, a high-volume sender for whom ses's per-thousand rate is materially cheaper than a marketing platform's equivalent volume pricing. Of those, an engineering team sending transactional email (receipts, password resets, alerts) at a volume where per-message cost dominates the decision and a company building its own email product or newsletter tool on aws and wanting to own the campaign layer itself are not what MailerLite is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon SES do that MailerLite cannot?
Amazon SES covers Send and receive API, Deliverability infrastructure, Bounce and complaint handling, Mail Manager.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Amazon SES: Can I use SES for marketing campaigns like Campaign Monitor?

Technically yes via the API, but there is no campaign UI, segmentation tool or template editor; you would need to build or buy that layer separately.

MailerLite: Can I switch between annual and monthly billing?

MailerLite offers both monthly and annual billing options. Annual billing provides a 10% discount compared to monthly billing. Both USD and EUR currency options are available for payment.

Source
Amazon SES: Is there a free tier?

New AWS customers can access AWS Free Tier credits usable against SES for a limited period, but there is no permanent free sending allowance.

MailerLite: What happens when I exceed the monthly email limit on my plan?

On the Comfort plan, monthly emails are determined by your subscriber tier ceiling. The Power plan includes unlimited monthly emails. For precise overage details, contact MailerLite support.

Source
Amazon SES: Why is it so much cheaper per email than a marketing platform?

Because it sells only the sending infrastructure; the price excludes every campaign management feature a marketing platform bundles into its per-email cost.

MailerLite: Is there a free plan and what are its limitations?

The Free plan supports up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 monthly emails, with access to email campaigns, 3 automations, website and landing page builder, and signup forms. No payment required to use the free plan.

Source
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