Amazon SES vs Mailgun
Amazon SES vs Mailgun compared on price, deliverability, setup and APIs — plus how to manage either from RAPID SMTP.
Quick answer
Pick Amazon SES if you want the cheapest unit price and you're comfortable managing domain reputation, IAM, and AWS sandbox limits. Pick Mailgun if you want a polished dashboard, built-in deliverability tooling, and a faster setup. Either way, you can plug both into RAPID SMTP and manage campaigns, templates, contacts, and analytics from one UI.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | Amazon SES | Mailgun |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $0.10 / 1,000 emails (pay-as-you-go) | Flex plan from $15/mo + usage |
| Free tier | 62,000/mo (from EC2) or 3,000/mo trial | 100 emails/day (sandbox) |
| Deliverability | Excellent if warmed; needs your domain & IP reputation | Excellent with dedicated IPs; managed reputation |
| Setup difficulty | Medium — IAM, domain verify, sandbox removal | Easy — verify domain, get SMTP/API keys |
| APIs | SMTP + AWS SDK (SES API v2) | SMTP + REST API + libraries |
| Analytics | CloudWatch + SES event publishing | Built-in dashboard, logs, webhooks |
| Best for | High-volume senders wanting lowest unit cost | Teams wanting managed deliverability and an easy UI |
When Amazon SES wins
- You send 100k+ emails/month and unit cost matters.
- You already run on AWS and want IAM-based access.
- You'll warm up your own dedicated IP for long-term reputation.
When Mailgun wins
- You want a managed deliverability team and a polished UI on day one.
- You need rich event webhooks without wiring CloudWatch.
- Your developers prefer a single REST API over the AWS SDK.
Using either with RAPID SMTP
RAPID SMTP is the management layer on top of whichever SMTP provider you choose. Connect your Amazon SES SMTP credentials or your Mailgun SMTP credentials in Settings → SMTP, and you get campaigns, list management, open/click tracking, and unsubscribes — without changing providers.
- Bring your own SMTP — keep your unit pricing.
- Bangladesh-based support and BDT billing.
- No vendor lock-in — swap providers anytime.