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Email Marketing · head to head

Amazon SES vs SendGrid

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
SendGrid logo

SendGrid

Email Marketing

Email at scale, proven deliverability, and so much more

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only SendGrid 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.; SendGrid free plan caps at 100 emails per day and expires after 60 days, per twilio.com/en-us/products/email-api/pricing (Aug 2026), after which sending requires a paid plan
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Amazon SES and SendGrid differ
AttributeAmazon SESSendGrid
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelPer 1,000 emails sent, tiered by volume, no campaign features includedfreemium
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 SendGrid

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 SendGrid
  • A company building its own email product or newsletter tool on AWS and wanting to own the campaign layer itselfnot SendGrid
  • A business already deep in AWS infrastructure wanting to avoid adding a separate marketing-platform vendor for pure transactional sendingnot SendGrid
  • A high-volume sender for whom SES's per-thousand rate is materially cheaper than a marketing platform's equivalent volume pricingnot SendGrid

SendGrid

  • Marketing email campaigns and transactional email deliverynot Amazon SES
  • Password reset and account confirmation emailsnot Amazon SES
  • Newsletter distribution and subscriber engagementnot Amazon SES
  • Automated email notifications for SaaS applicationsnot 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.

SendGrid

  • Free plan caps at 100 emails per day and expires after 60 days, per twilio.com/en-us/products/email-api/pricing (Aug 2026), after which sending requires a paid plan
  • Dedicated IP addresses are only included from the Pro plan at $89.95 per month; Essentials at $19.95 per month lacks a dedicated IP, per Twilio's own pricing page

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

SendGrid

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the SendGrid review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Amazon SES if

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

Choose SendGrid if

  • You want to start without paying.
SendGrid review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon SES or SendGrid better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon SES starts at On request and SendGrid at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon SES or SendGrid?
SendGrid has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Amazon SES and Free for SendGrid.
Does Amazon SES or SendGrid run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use SendGrid for free?
Yes. SendGrid 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 SendGrid is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon SES do that SendGrid 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.

SendGrid: How much does SendGrid cost?

SendGrid email API pricing is usage-based. Twilio SendGrid offers a free tier for new users and scales with email volume. Customers should check the Twilio SendGrid pricing page for current rates and plan options.

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.

SendGrid: Is there a free tier for SendGrid?

Yes, SendGrid offers a free tier for new users to get started with email API delivery. The free plan includes limited monthly emails and is suitable for getting started with transactional email.

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.

SendGrid: What support is included with SendGrid?

SendGrid includes technical documentation and email support for users. Customers can access the help center, API documentation, and send emails to support for assistance with integration and troubleshooting.

Source
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