SendGrid vs Amazon SES: pricing compared
Transactional Email APIs · June 2026 snapshot
Amazon SES is far cheaper per email ($0.10 vs ~$0.40 per 1,000) but is bare infrastructure: you build templating, analytics and suppression yourself. SendGrid costs more but is a turnkey product with a forever-free 100/day tier, a dashboard and marketing tools. Choose SES for cost at scale, SendGrid for speed to launch.
Source: Vendor published pricing pages. Data as of June 2026.
SendGrid vs Amazon SES side by side
| Dimension | SendGrid | Amazon SES |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per 1,000 emails | ~$0.40 (Essentials) | $0.10 pay-as-you-go |
| Free tier | 100/day forever | 62k/month only on EC2 |
| Product vs infrastructure | Full product (UI, analytics, marketing) | Infrastructure / API only |
| Deliverability tooling | Built-in | Build your own |
| Best for | Fast launch, mixed transactional + marketing | Lowest cost at high volume |
Vendor pricing as of June 2026 — verify on the vendor pricing page.
The verdict
On headline price, Amazon SES wins this matchup, but the cheaper option is not always the right one. Amazon SES is far cheaper per email ($0.10 vs ~$0.40 per 1,000) but is bare infrastructure: you build templating, analytics and suppression yourself. SendGrid costs more but is a turnkey product with a forever-free 100/day tier, a dashboard and marketing tools. Choose SES for cost at scale, SendGrid for speed to launch.
Read the full profiles: SendGrid pricing · Amazon SES pricing. Or see the whole Transactional Email APIs comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Is SendGrid or Amazon SES cheaper?
On price, Amazon SES is generally the cheaper option. Amazon SES is far cheaper per email ($0.10 vs ~$0.40 per 1,000) but is bare infrastructure: you build templating, analytics and suppression yourself. SendGrid costs more but is a turnkey product with a forever-free 100/day tier, a dashboard and marketing tools. Choose SES for cost at scale, SendGrid for speed to launch.
What is the difference between SendGrid and Amazon SES?
Amazon SES is far cheaper per email ($0.10 vs ~$0.40 per 1,000) but is bare infrastructure: you build templating, analytics and suppression yourself. SendGrid costs more but is a turnkey product with a forever-free 100/day tier, a dashboard and marketing tools. Choose SES for cost at scale, SendGrid for speed to launch. See the full comparison table for email pricing, free tiers and best-fit use cases.
Source
Figures are snapshots of the SendGrid and Amazon SES public pricing pages, captured in June 2026. Names are trademarks of their respective owners. Pricing changes often — verify on each vendor's page. See our methodology.
Last updated: 2026-06-18