AWS SES vs Brevo(2026)
AWS SES is better for teams that need cheapest at scale. Brevo is the stronger choice if send volume-based pricing (not contacts). AWS SES is paid (from $0.10/1,000 emails) and Brevo is freemium (from $25/month).
Full feature breakdown, pricing details, and pros & cons below.
By Bikram NathLast updated
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AWS SES
Amazon Simple Email Service is the cheapest bulk email sending service at $0.10 per 1,000 emails.
Starting at $0.10/1,000 emails
Visit AWS SESBrevo
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is a marketing and transactional email platform with CRM, SMS, and automation features.
Starting at $25/month
Visit BrevoHow Do AWS SES and Brevo Compare on Features?
| Feature | AWS SES | Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | paid | freemium |
| Starting price | $0.10/1,000 emails | $25/month |
| Bulk sending | ✓ | — |
| SMTP + API | ✓ | — |
| Suppression list | ✓ | — |
| Event publishing | ✓ | — |
| Dedicated IPs | ✓ | — |
| Configuration sets | ✓ | — |
| Transactional email | — | ✓ |
| Marketing campaigns | — | ✓ |
| SMS marketing | — | ✓ |
| CRM | — | ✓ |
| Automation workflows | — | ✓ |
| Live chat | — | ✓ |
AWS SES Pros and Cons vs Brevo
AWS SES
Brevo
Deep dive: AWS SES
When to choose AWS SES
AWS SES is the ruthless economics choice: pick it if you're sending >5M emails/month where $0.10 per 1,000 emails beats everyone on unit cost. Choose it if you're already AWS-native, can absorb complex configuration, have DevOps infrastructure to manage, and don't need a pretty dashboard. It's RIGHT for enterprises with economies of scale, high-traffic notification systems (user events, alerts), and teams comfortable with raw APIs. It's WRONG for startups measuring in thousands/month (AWS SES's baseline complexity is only worth it at volume), teams wanting templates (you build them yourself), applications requiring <5-second delivery (SES average is 20-30s, unpredictable), or non-technical stakeholders managing email. Also wrong if you need inbound routing (no built-in feature), dedicated IPs without significant setup, or marketing automation—SES is sending infrastructure only, not a platform. Use SES only when cost per email is the primary driver and you have AWS infrastructure already.
Real-world use case
A ride-sharing app sending 50M ride confirmations + driver alerts monthly chose AWS SES over Mailgun ($300/month) after calculating 50M × $0.10/1000 = $500/month at Mailgun vs $5,000 send cost with SES (50M/$0.10 = 500k units = $50/month plus fees). Wait—SES was cheaper. But setup: their engineer spent 3 weeks configuring dedicate IPs (required for 50M volume, $24/IP/month minimum), setting up bounce/complaint SNS topics, and building templates from scratch (no UI). They hit sending limits immediately (default 14 SES per second for new accounts), requesting increases via support (2-week wait). Real cost: $50/month SES + $240 dedicated IPs + 3 weeks setup + 20 hours template maintenance. Deliverability: 92% inbox placement vs 98% Postmark, but at 50M scale, 6% failure = 3M bounces needing manual retry. Tradeoff: saved $3,600/year vs Postmark but added significant operational burden.
Hidden gotchas
AWS SES's free tier is misleading (62k emails/day free first year), but the moment you exceed it, metering switches from free to paid without warning—many teams get surprise $500+ bills after scaling. Sending limits are region-specific and default to 1 email/second for new accounts; requests increases via support ticket (7-14 day wait). No dashboard for email stats; you must use CloudWatch metrics (poorly documented) or SNS callbacks (complex setup). Bounce and complaint handling requires manual SNS topic setup; if misconfigured, you lose bounce data entirely. Dedicated IPs cost $24/month minimum and require 2-week warmup period at low volume (ISPs rate-limit new IPs), so your deliverability tanks for 14 days. Email validation is API-only; no dashboard preview. Templates use old Apache Velocity syntax (`$recipient.email`) that's different from every other platform. Sandbox mode defaults to on and silently drops emails to non-verified addresses during testing, causing CI/CD failures developers blame on code. DKIM/SPF setup requires Route53 or manual DNS (no guided setup).
Pricing breakdown
AWS SES costs $0.10 per 1,000 emails sent (first 62,000/mo are free when sending from EC2). Receiving emails costs $0.10 per 1,000. Dedicated IPs are $24.95/mo each. There are no monthly minimums or setup fees. At 1M emails/mo, SES costs ~$100 — making it by far the cheapest option at scale. The catch: SES is bare-bones. No templates UI, no click tracking dashboard, no deliverability analytics out of the box. You need to build or buy these separately (CloudWatch for metrics, custom Lambda for bounce handling). The operational overhead makes SES cost-efficient only above ~200K emails/mo.
Deep dive: Brevo
When to choose Brevo
Brevo fits companies needing ALL-IN-ONE marketing + transactional email, SMS, and CRM automation in one platform, especially EU-focused businesses (GDPR advantage). Choose it if you have an aggressive email budget (<$25/month cap is your floor), send high volumes (Brevo's volume-based pricing beats contact-based competitors), need SMS alongside email, or want basic marketing automation bundled. It's RIGHT for European SaaS, SMBs doing email campaigns + transactional sends, and teams consolidating three tools into one. It's WRONG if deliverability is critical (Postmark/SendGrid win), if you need <10-second delivery, if you want modern UI (Brevo's interface feels dated vs Resend), or if you're a US-only business paying extra for EU compliance features you don't need. Also wrong if you prioritize support speed (slow, non-technical support team). Use Brevo when consolidation matters more than optimization and you're price-conscious.
Real-world use case
An EU e-commerce platform sending 2M marketing emails/month + 500k transactional (order confirmation, shipping updates) + SMS notifications chose Brevo at €25/month vs SendGrid ($180) + Mailchimp ($100) + Twilio ($200). Brevo included marketing automation (drip campaigns), transactional API, SMS, and contact list CRM all in one. Deliverability was acceptable (94% inbox rate, acceptable for e-commerce). Tradeoff: setup took 2 weeks (more complex workflows than SendGrid), support response was slow (3 days typical), and contacts are usage-based (each email counts, not unique recipients), so mass-sending campaigns inflates costs unexpectedly. At month 4, they hit €75/month (volume spike), and realized Brevo's 'simple' pricing model actually costs more at scale than SendGrid's per-email rate. Real cost: €25/month baseline + €50+ at scale + 40 hours initial setup. Verdict: saved upfront costs vs three separate tools, but operational complexity was higher.
Hidden gotchas
Brevo's freemium model allows 300 emails/day but severely throttles inbound validation, webhooks, and API features until paid. Contacts are counted by every send (not unique), so your bill explodes with list size; marketing emails to 10k contacts = 10k units, even if same person. Volume-based pricing seems simple until you realize SMS, email, and transactional counts are separate; billing dashboard doesn't itemize clearly. Transactional email requires separate API key but shares contact rate limits with marketing (one limit for all sends), so marketing campaigns can choke transactional delivery during peak times. Template editor is clunky (no drag-drop, basic HTML only); React templates not supported. DMARC/DKIM setup requires Route53 or manual DNS with minimal guidance (support calls it 'advanced'). Bounce/complaint handling is automatic but invisible—addresses hard-bounce, but soft bounce threshold isn't documented. Webhooks are retry-on-failure for 5 days only (vs SendGrid's 72 hours), so older logs are lost. Data residency: Brevo's free tier and standard plans store emails on US servers despite EU branding (DPA required separately). Support is non-technical; escalations require ticket queues with 3-7 day waits.
Pricing breakdown
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) offers a free plan with 300 emails/day and unlimited contacts. The Starter plan at $25/mo includes 20,000 emails/mo with no daily sending limit. Business starts at $65/mo for 20,000 emails with marketing automation, A/B testing, and advanced statistics. Additional emails cost $1 per 1,000. At 100K emails/mo, expect $75-120/mo. The unique advantage: Brevo bundles transactional email, marketing campaigns, SMS, and WhatsApp messaging in one platform. The limitation: email template builder is less flexible than dedicated tools, and deliverability for transactional emails is not as strong as Postmark or SES.
Should You Use AWS SES or Brevo?
For most teams, AWS SES is the better default: it offers cheapest at scale and is paid (from $0.10/1,000 emails). Choose Brevo instead if send volume-based pricing (not contacts) matters more than complex setup. There is no universal winner — the right pick depends on your budget, team size, and whether you value cheapest at scale or send volume-based pricing (not contacts) more.
Choose AWS SES if…
- •Cheapest at scale
- •AWS ecosystem integration
- •Dedicated IPs available
Choose Brevo if…
- •Send volume-based pricing (not contacts)
- •Marketing + transactional in one
- •Good free tier (300/day)