Amazon SES vs Mailgun
Two sides of the transactional email decision: raw infrastructure and transactional API. When each fits, what it costs, who moves from one to the other, and what makers who chose it say.
Which fits you
Choose Amazon SES if- You send at high volume and cost per email matters most
Use it whenYou already run on AWS, or your email volume makes per-message price the main cost.
Trade-offBare-bones; you build templates, bounce handling and tooling yourself.
Choose Mailgun if- Your app also needs to receive and parse email that users send to it
Use it whenUsers need to reply to or email into your app, and you need to route and parse those messages.
Trade-offIts dashboard and API are older and busier than newer services, and the free tier is small.
At a glance
| Amazon SES | Mailgun | |
|---|---|---|
| Used by | 4 makers' products · 32 open-source projects | 47 makers' products · 11 open-source projects |
| Cost at default usageemails 50k emails | $5.00/mo À la carte | $35/mo Foundation 50k |
| Downloads | 3.6M/wk−15% vs npm | 1.1M/wk−23% vs npm |
| Pricing | Pay per message; the cheapest option at high volume. · paid from $0.10 per 1k emails | Free tier; paid plans by volume. · paid from $15/mo |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Open source | No | No |
| Incidents, 90 daysfrom its status page | no public status feed | 12 (5 major) |
Cost as you grow
At 1k emails Mailgun costs less ($0 vs $0.10); from about 5k emails Amazon SES does ($0.50 vs $15). They're different kinds of tool — raw infrastructure and transactional API — so the prices don't buy the same thing.
The numbers, plan by plan
| Emails per month | Amazon SES | Mailgun |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $0.10 À la carte | $0 Free |
| 5,000 | $0.50 À la carte | $15 Basic |
| 10,000 | $1.00 À la carte | $15 Basic |
| 25,000 | $2.50 À la carte | $35 Foundation 50k |
| 50,000 | $5.00 À la carte | $35 Foundation 50k |
| 100,000 | $10 À la carte | $75 Foundation 100k |
| 250,000 | $25 À la carte | $215 Scale 250k |
| 500,000 | $50 À la carte | $400 Scale 500k |
| 1,000,000 | $100 À la carte | $700 Scale 750k |
| 5,000,000 | $500 À la carte | $2,250 Scale 2.5M |
From each vendor's pricing page: Amazon SES, Mailgun.
What makers say
Makers on using it for transactional email, from Product Hunt and Starter Story interviews, each linked to the source. Products with a page of their own and fuller notes first.
On Amazon SESNo maker quote about Amazon SES for transactional email yet.
On MailgunCommon integrations include: ● Payment: Stripe , Paypal ● Newsletter Sending: Mailgun ● CRM: Salesforce ● Analytics: Google Analytics and Tag Manager ● Videos: YouTube, Vimeo…
I love using Plausible for analytics, LogSnag for event tracking, NewRelic for application monitoring, MailGun for emails, Render for hosting, Stripe for billing.
MailGun is one of the best services I’ve ever used for Transactional email (like sending important emails related to a customer’s account).
Loved and watch-outs
Themes that recur in makers' words and Hacker News comments, each linked to what it summarises.
Amazon SESMailgun- Reliable transactional email that gets a SaaS sending within days or weeks of starting. PHStarter Story
- The API is a cost-effective choice for transactional mail next to a separate marketing tool. Starter StoryPH
- Works as an SMTP relay for self-hosted servers, with a free tier for low volumes. HNHN 2HN 3HN 4
Who uses each
Amazon SES4 makers' products
Chat Data
UptimeRobotWhat makers pair each with
With Amazon SES
Langfuse
Novu
PostHog
Twenty
documensoethereum-org-websiteletterpadneuronpediaralllyaws-doc-sdk-examplesbackstagecatalystgrucloudhashisland.iskurrierand 13 more
Strapidocumensoethereum-org-websiteneuronpediaralllyaws-doc-sdk-examplesbackstagecardstackcatalyst
Directusgrucloudhashisland.isand 14 moredocumensonocodb
Trigger.devWith Mailgun
crtrdgFlowChatGummySearchImagined with AILeave Me Alone
Minicart
NashraPDFShiftRepurpose PieSocialBuand 23 more
Amploo
MailTock
Instatus
AnnounceKitAmplooMailTockPDFShiftThankbox
UXAudit.Now
Wristband
BrewButtondown
YouktiAnnounceKit
Bitbucket
Buttondownand 7 more
Hookdeck
Replit
Retool
Telnyx
Linkeddit
Sentry
Customer.ioNeither quite right?
See the whole transactional email decision →
ResendTransactional APIA modern developer API with email templates written as React components.vs Amazon SES →vs Mailgun →
PostmarkTransactional APIDeliverability when the mail has to arrive within seconds.vs Amazon SES →vs Mailgun →
SendGridTransactional + marketingOne vendor for both jobs at large scale.vs Amazon SES →vs Mailgun →