# Amazon SES

> The cheapest email at volume, and the only one that keeps data in Sydney. The sandbox is a pain.

- Verdict: Use when it fits
- Vendor: AWS
- Layer: [Email](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/layers/email.md). Job: Email when data must stay in AWS
- Last reviewed: 18 October 2026, by Nicolas Dao (Cloudless Labs, Sydney)
- Web page: https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/aws-ses/. The whole stack in one file: https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/brief.md

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](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/resend/index.md): Everything else.

## Where it fits

- [Sending email](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/use-cases/email.md): pick 2. When data must stay in Australia.

## Sources

- [SES pricing](https://aws.amazon.com/ses/pricing/)

## Related

- [Email](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/layers/email.md): every tool in this layer, with its verdict
- [The whole stack in one file](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/brief.md): every use case and tool, for questions that span many
- [Map of every Markdown file on cloudlesslabs.com, with what each one answers](https://ask.cloudlesslabs.com)