Cloud Email Comparison - SendGrid vs. Amazon SES
Email is an integral part of any business. For this reason, it's crucial to choose a reliable email service provider that guarantees the high deliverability of your emails. In recent years, two cloud-based email APIs have become popular among developers and marketers – SendGrid and Amazon SES. While both services offer excellent email delivery rates, they have some differences that you should consider before selecting one for your business.
SendGrid
SendGrid is a cloud-based email service that offers robust email marketing capabilities. It provides an efficient and straightforward way to send emails, manage subscriptions, and track email statistics. Some of SendGrid's key features are:
- Easy API integration
- SMTP relay
- Webhooks
- Custom templates
- GDPR and CASL compliance
- Detailed analytics
SendGrid offers a free plan that enables you to send up to 100 emails per day, which makes it a good option for small businesses or startups. For more extensive email campaigns, the paid plans start at $14.95 per month, which includes 100k emails.
According to the SendGrid Email Benchmark Report, the average deliverability rate for SendGrid is 96.1%, which is exceptional. However, it's worth noting that some users have reported difficulties with the platform's customer service and support.
Amazon SES
Amazon SES is a cloud-based email service that allows you to send and receive emails using the Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure. There is no limit to the number of emails you can send through the Amazon SES API. With Amazon SES, you get:
- API integration
- SMTP relay
- Customizable email templates
- Bounce and complaint notifications
Amazon SES provides a pay-as-you-go pricing model, and it's not easy to estimate your monthly cost. Still, the standard rate is $0.10 per 1,000 emails sent. If you are already using other Amazon Web Services, this pricing structure could be very cost-effective.
According to DataValidation, Amazon SES has an average deliverability rate of 97.5%. However, setting up Amazon SES can be challenging, and the user interface is not as user-friendly as SendGrid's.
Conclusion
When deciding between SendGrid and Amazon SES, it ultimately comes down to your business needs. SendGrid has more email marketing features and easy to use dashboard while Amazon SES is more cost-effective and provides higher deliverability rates.
Therefore, we recommend starting with SendGrid if you are looking for an email service provider with a comprehensive range of features, and you value excellent customer support. But if your primary consideration is cost and email deliverability, then Amazon SES could be the right choice for you.