Facts read November 6, 2026
Amazon SES vs Postmark
Amazon SES is Cuely's default email pick when your description doesn't favor either one: lowest cost per email at high volume. Pick Postmark if you care most about compliance-heavy products.
Side by side
| Fact | Amazon SES | Postmark |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AWS's raw email sending service, priced per message. | Transactional email service focused on deliverability, with separate message streams. |
| Free plan | No SES-specific free quota listed. New AWS customers get up to $200 in general Free Tier credits. | Free developer plan: 100 emails per month, no overage, does not expire. |
| Paid from | $0.10 per 1,000 outbound emails, plus $0.12 per GB of attachments. | Basic: $15/month for 10,000 emails. |
| At 1,000 users | $0/month | $15/month |
| Open source | No | No |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| Best for | High send volume; Teams already on AWS | Mission-critical transactional email; Long activity retention for support |
| Watch out | More setup: sandbox exit request, bounce and complaint handling are yours. No SES-specific monthly free quota is listed; new AWS accounts get general credits. | Free plan is 100 emails a month, enough for development only. |
Where they differ
The published scores, from −3 to +3, that decide which one Cuely picks for each need.
| Need | Amazon SES | Postmark |
|---|---|---|
| high volume | +3 $0.10 per 1,000 emails is the lowest rate here. | 0 No particular strength here. |
| keep costs as low as possible | +1 Cheapest per email once you're sending real volume. | −1 Only 100 free emails a month. |
| regulated or compliance-sensitive | 0 No particular strength here. | +2 Activity retention up to 365 days on Pro helps audits and support. |
| Next.js or React | −1 More setup than a developer-first API. | 0 No particular strength here. |
Sources: Amazon SES pricing (read November 6, 2026), Postmark pricing (read November 6, 2026). No vendor pays for placement.