SES is cheap and solid once you're out of the sandbox. I keep it for clients who need their email data in Australia.
Use it when
- Data residency in an AWS region (Australia included).
- Very high volume where price dominates.
Don't use it when
- Data residency isn't a constraint: Resend does transactional and marketing on one platform, with a better developer experience.
Pricing
New accounts default to the Essentials plan at $0.16 per 1,000 emails (since 21 July 2026); the à la carte rate of $0.10 per 1,000 can still be selected.
In my words: what hurts
- Getting out of the sandbox means arguing a case with AWS support, per region. The sandbox is very limited.
Gotchas, with fixes
Gotcha: New SES accounts silently default to the Essentials plan at $0.16 per 1,000, 60% more than à la carte.
Fix: Choose the à la carte plan explicitly if you don't need Essentials features.
Gotcha: Sandbox exit is per region, and AWS quotes about 96 hours for a first response.
Fix: Request production access on day one of the project, in every region you'll send from.
Provisioning
Official Pulumi package · Official Terraform provider
Instead, consider
- Resend Everything else.
Where it fits
- Sending email: Pick 02.
When data must stay in Australia.
Sources
Last reviewed by Nicolas Dao