Pricing
Amazon SES pricing for newsletters
By FlockStackPublished
Amazon SES charges for the emails you send, per 1,000, and nothing for the size of a list. A new account starts on the Essentials plan, at $0.16 per 1,000 emails with no monthly fee, per AWS's pricing page read on October 21, 2026. A weekly newsletter to 10,000 subscribers is 10,000 times four sends, so about 40,000 emails a month, which is $6.40 in sending fees. That is the price of SES alone, and it leaves out everything a newsletter platform provides.
The plans
SES has three pricing plans and, for older accounts, à la carte pricing. Prices are per 1,000 emails sent for the first tier, up to 10 million a month; the page lists lower rates above that, which a newsletter of the sizes here does not reach.
| Plan | Per 1,000 emails | Fixed fee | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $0.16 | None | New accounts from July 21, 2026 |
| Pro | $0.22 | $105 a month for each account and region | Adds managed dedicated IPs, email validation and more deliverability tools |
| Enterprise | $0.23 | $500 a month for each account and region | Adds global endpoints, tenants and an annual assessment |
| À la carte | $0.10 | None | Accounts that sent mail on or after June 1, 2025 |
Each plan includes what the one before it does, and features are switched on one by one. Accounts that sent mail on or after June 1, 2025 stay on à la carte pricing until they switch, per AWS's announcement of July 21, 2026. You change plan in the SES console, and an upgrade takes effect at once.
What a weekly newsletter costs
A weekly issue to every subscriber is four sends a month. The table is the sending fee only, at the first-tier price of each plan:
| Subscribers | Emails a month | À la carte | Essentials | Pro, with its fixed fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 4,000 | $0.40 | $0.64 | $105.88 |
| 10,000 | 40,000 | $4 | $6.40 | $113.80 |
| 50,000 | 200,000 | $20 | $32 | $149 |
| 100,000 | 400,000 | $40 | $64 | $193 |
| 500,000 | 2,000,000 | $200 | $320 | $545 |
Essentials costs more per email than à la carte, and it includes tools à la carte charges for. Pro's fixed fee is the whole cost for a small list, which is why it only makes sense for large senders.
What else SES charges for
- Attachments: $0.12 per GB of attachment data sent.
- A dedicated IP: $24.95 a month for a standard one, which a list with a steady volume can use. A dedicated IP does not by itself fix a sender's reputation.
- Inbound email: $0.10 per 1,000 emails received, plus a charge for each 256 KB chunk.
- Other AWS services: data transfer, storage and notifications are billed apart, as AWS's page says.
Is it free to start?
Not for sending. New AWS customers get up to $200 in Free Tier credits over six months, usable on SES and other services. AWS's announcement says the older SES free tier of 3,000 message charges a month closed to new customers on July 21, 2026; the SES FAQ still describes it, so read the pricing page and the announcement for what applies to a new account.
The sandbox
A new account starts in the SES sandbox: it can send 200 messages in 24 hours, one a second, and only to verified addresses. To send to a real list you request production access in the console, with your website and how you collect addresses. AWS Support's first reply can take up to 96 hours, and the documentation does not state a fixed sending quota for a new production account.
What SES leaves for you to build
SES sends email. A newsletter also needs a place to write the issue, signup and confirmation, an unsubscribe that works in one click, bounce and complaint handling, a suppression list, an archive on the web, and reports on opens and clicks. SES has contact lists, topics and hosted unsubscribe links, but not an editor or an archive. Either you build or run those yourself, or a platform provides them. How to send a newsletter with Amazon SES covers what a first send takes, and SPF, DKIM and DMARC for newsletters covers the records SES asks you to set up.
How it compares with a platform's price
A newsletter platform's price includes the sending and the rest. FlockStack's plans, for the emails they hold:
| Plan | Per month | Emails a month | Per 1,000 emails |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $9 | 25,000 | $0.36 |
| Growth | $29 | 125,000 | $0.23 |
| Pro | $59 | 250,000 | $0.24 |
| Scale | $109 | 500,000 | $0.22 |
| Max | $299 | 2,000,000 | $0.15 |
Per email, SES alone costs less than any of these, because it sells the sending and nothing else. A fair comparison counts the editor, the list, the unsubscribe handling, the archive and the time to keep it working. If you self-host FlockStack, it sends through your own Amazon SES account and you pay AWS directly, plus your own server; self-hosted newsletter software covers what that takes. FlockStack Cloud's plans include the sending.
What this post leaves out
It lists AWS's prices in US dollars, read on October 21, 2026, for the first volume tier. It does not cover the volume tiers above 10 million emails, Mail Manager, tenants, or regional differences, which AWS's page lists. Prices change, and taxes are extra: check AWS's page before you decide. FlockStack is not affiliated with Amazon.
Sources
- Amazon SES pricing: the plans and their prices per 1,000 emails, fixed fees, à la carte prices, attachments, inbound email, the dedicated IP, worked examples and the Free Tier credits: aws.amazon.com, checked
- AWS's announcement of SES pricing plans (July 21, 2026): who starts on Essentials, and the end of the older free tier for new customers: aws.amazon.com, checked
- AWS's SES documentation on choosing and managing a pricing plan: docs.aws.amazon.com, checked
- AWS's SES documentation on production access and the sandbox's limits: docs.aws.amazon.com, checked
- AWS's Free Tier page: the credits new customers get: aws.amazon.com, checked
- FlockStack's README: self-hosting with an Amazon SES account, and the plans' emails: github.com, checked
Questions
- How much does Amazon SES cost?
- On the Essentials plan, $0.16 per 1,000 emails sent, for up to 10 million a month, with no monthly fee. Accounts that sent mail on or after June 1, 2025 stay on à la carte pricing at $0.10 per 1,000 until they switch, per AWS's pricing page read on October 21, 2026.
- Is Amazon SES free?
- Not for sending. New AWS customers get up to $200 in Free Tier credits over six months, which SES can use. AWS's announcement says the older SES free tier of 3,000 messages a month closed to new customers on July 21, 2026, though the SES FAQ still describes it.
- What does it cost to send a weekly newsletter with Amazon SES?
- A weekly issue to every subscriber is four sends a month. At $0.16 per 1,000, a list of 10,000 costs about $6.40 a month in sending fees on Essentials, and a list of 100,000 about $64. That is the price of the sending only.
- Does Amazon SES have a newsletter editor or list management?
- SES sends email. It has contact lists, topics and hosted unsubscribe links, but not an editor, a signup form, an archive or reports like a newsletter platform's. You build or buy those, which is the cost this price leaves out.
- Can I use my own Amazon SES account with FlockStack?
- If you self-host FlockStack, yes. It sends through your own Amazon SES account, so you pay AWS directly. FlockStack Cloud's plans include the sending, and you cannot connect an AWS account of your own to it.
See what sending costs on FlockStack
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