--- title: "Amazon SES alternative for transactional emails in Europe" description: "Compare Lettermint vs Amazon SES for transactional email delivery. Lettermint is a simpler EU-based service on sovereign European infrastructure, Amazon SES is a US service with EU regions." url: "https://lettermint.co/compare/amazon-ses-alternative" --- # Lettermint vs Amazon SES Amazon SES is the email service of Amazon Web Services, Inc., a US company. It is pay-as-you-go infrastructure: cheap per email, but deliverability tooling, dedicated IPs and technical support are paid extras. Lettermint is a European email service with support included, running on servers and data processing entirely within the EU. Lettermint is privately held and founder-owned, with no external investors or parent company. This shields customers from acquisition-driven roadmap changes and keeps the company under full EU jurisdiction, outside the reach of the US CLOUD Act. ## Product | Feature | Lettermint | Amazon SES | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | Transactional emails | Yes | Yes | | Broadcast emails | Yes | Yes | | Inbound emails | Yes | Yes | | Scheduled delivery | Yes (up to 30 days) | No | | Batch sending | Yes | Yes | | Attachments | 25MB per email | 40MB per email | | Open & click tracking | Yes | Yes | Scheduled delivery lets you schedule emails to be delivered at a specific date and time. ## Pricing | Feature | Lettermint | Amazon SES | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | Free plan | Yes | AWS credits only | | Starts at | €10/mo (10,000 emails) | $0.10 per 1,000 emails, pay as you go | | Startup / Student discount | Yes | AWS Activate credits | | Billing in Euro | Yes | USD pricing | | Spend limits | Yes | No | ## Infrastructure | Feature | Lettermint | Amazon SES | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | Shared IPs | Yes | Yes | | Dedicated IPs | Yes | Yes | | Infrastructure | Managed infrastructure | AWS | | Own ASN | Yes | Yes | | EU-based infrastructure | Yes | EU regions option | ## Developers | Feature | Lettermint | Amazon SES | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | REST API | Yes | Yes | | SMTP relay | Yes | Yes | | Official SDKs | Node, PHP, Laravel, Go, Python, Java | Yes | | Webhooks | Yes | Yes | | CLI | Yes | Yes | | MCP | Yes | Via AWS API MCP | MCP lets AI agents connect to Lettermint via our Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. ## Security & compliance | Feature | Lettermint | Amazon SES | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | DMARC | Yes | Yes | | DKIM | Yes | Yes | | Managed DKIM | Yes | Yes | | ISO 27001 certified | Yes | Yes | | IP restrictions for API tokens | Yes | Yes | | Single Sign-On (SSO) | All paid plans | Via AWS IAM Identity Center | | Trust Center | Yes (trust.lettermint.co) | Yes | Managed DKIM means the provider hosts the DKIM key behind CNAME records and rotates it automatically. Lettermint replaces the key every six months without interrupting sending. A Trust Center is a public page with certifications, policies and continuously monitored security controls. Lettermint's is at https://trust.lettermint.co. Single Sign-On (SSO) lets your team log in through your organization's identity provider over SAML or OIDC. Lettermint includes it on every paid plan, with SCIM provisioning. ## Data sovereignty | Feature | Lettermint | Amazon SES | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | GDPR compliant | Yes | Yes | | Data stays in EU | Yes | Only in EU regions | | Public subprocessor list | Yes (lettermint.co/subprocessors) | Yes | | DPA included | Applies automatically (lettermint.co/dpa) | Included in terms | | Outside the US CLOUD Act | Yes | No | | Headquarters | Netherlands | United States | | Ownership | Independent, founder-owned | Amazon (US, public) | ## Support | Feature | Lettermint | Amazon SES | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | Ticket support | Yes | Paid support plans | | Email support | Yes | No | | Social media support | Yes | No | | Discord support | Yes | No | ## Migrating to Lettermint Most migration steps can be automated. A migration can be scripted end to end, or carried out by an AI assistant. - **[Team API](https://lettermint.co/docs/api-reference/team/)**: everything you can do in the dashboard, you can do via the API. Add domains, fetch the DNS records to configure, and trigger verification. Manage projects, webhooks, API tokens and suppressions. Retrieve statistics. Available as a REST API and as v2 SDKs for Node.js, PHP, Python, Go and Java. - **[MCP server](https://lettermint.co/features/mcp.md)**: AI agents get the same capabilities through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. An AI assistant can run the migration for you: add and verify domains, then configure projects and webhooks. - **Suppression import**: upload your current suppression list as a CSV. Known bounces and unsubscribes stay blocked from day one. - **SMTP relay**: sending over SMTP today? Switching means updating your SMTP credentials. No code changes. ## GDPR compliance review: Lettermint vs Amazon SES Amazon SES has EU regions, but it is run by Amazon Web Services, Inc., a US company. That means the CLOUD Act applies, whichever region you pick. With Lettermint, your email data stays in the EU on sovereign European infrastructure, and the company behind it is European too. Below are the facts your privacy or legal team will ask for. - **EU data residency**: email data is hosted, stored and processed in the EU on sovereign infrastructure Lettermint owns and operates, as a written commitment in the [DPA](https://lettermint.co/dpa.md). See [European email](https://lettermint.co/european-email.md). - **Data Processing Agreement**: Lettermint is your processor under Article 28 GDPR. The public [DPA](https://lettermint.co/dpa.md) covers security and audit rights and is countersigned on request. - **Subprocessors**: every subprocessor is listed publicly on the [subprocessors page](https://lettermint.co/subprocessors.md), with what it does and where it processes data. Changes are announced 30 days ahead. - **Your data stays yours**: email data is never used for model training, fine-tuning or research, and is processed only on your documented instructions. - **No longer than needed**: Lettermint keeps your data only as long as your account needs it. Close your account and everything is deleted, exactly as the DPA sets out. - **International transfers**: no transfers outside the EEA on Lettermint's initiative. Email to recipients outside the EU is delivered only at your instruction. - **Certification**: [ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified](https://lettermint.co/blog/lettermint-iso-27001-certified.md). Security controls are continuously monitored, with live status, policies and certificates in the [Trust Center](https://trust.lettermint.co). - **EU jurisdiction, outside the CLOUD Act**: Lettermint B.V. is incorporated in the Netherlands under EU law, with no US parent company, so the US CLOUD Act does not reach your email data. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is Lettermint a good free alternative to Amazon SES for transactional emails? Yes. Lettermint offers a Free plan for [transactional emails](https://lettermint.co/features/transactional-emails) that you can keep using in production for as long as you fit within its limits. ### Is Lettermint easier to set up than Amazon SES? For most teams, yes. Amazon SES is a building block inside AWS: you choose a region, set up IAM credentials and policies, and wire bounce and complaint notifications through SNS topics or event destinations yourself. With Lettermint you add your domain, copy the DNS records, create an API token and send. Delivery events arrive through webhooks you set up in the dashboard, every email is visible with its status, and official SDKs, SMTP, a CLI and an MCP server are ready to use. ### Can I use Lettermint for both transactional and marketing emails? Yes. Lettermint supports both transactional and marketing emails. Marketing emails are called [Broadcast emails](https://lettermint.co/features/broadcast-emails). You can send order confirmations, password resets, newsletters and promotional campaigns from one account. ### How does Lettermint compare to Amazon SES on deliverability? Lettermint sends from its own infrastructure and its own IP ranges (AS213427), so your sender reputation is not shared with unrelated tenants on a hyperscaler. Transactional and broadcast email run on separate IP pools. Instead of a claim, Lettermint publishes the numbers: the [Time to Inbox page](https://lettermint.co/time-to-inbox-tti.md) shows live measurements of how many seconds an email takes to reach Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud and others. Compare those with what Amazon SES shows you. ### What does Lettermint cost for a small startup or webshop compared to Amazon SES? The Free plan covers 300 emails per month with no credit card, and you can stay on it for as long as you fit within it. Paid plans start at €10 per month for 10,000 emails and scale with your volume. See [pricing](https://lettermint.co/pricing.md) for every tier. Amazon SES is cheaper per email on paper ($0.10 per 1,000), but technical support, dedicated IPs and deliverability tooling are paid extras, and new accounts no longer get a free plan. Billing is in euros from an EU company, so there is no currency conversion and the invoice works for European bookkeeping and VAT. ### How can I migrate from Amazon SES to Lettermint? Lettermint supports both API and SMTP, just like Amazon SES, so a migration takes four steps: 1. Add your domain and verify it with SPF, DKIM and DMARC. 2. Replace your Amazon SES API token or SMTP credentials with Lettermint ones. 3. Import your suppression list as a CSV, so known bounces and unsubscribes stay blocked from day one. 4. Send a test email and follow its delivery on the [Time to Inbox page](https://lettermint.co/time-to-inbox-tti.md). Or skip the manual work. The [Team API](https://lettermint.co/docs/api-reference/team/) covers every step, so you can script the migration end to end, or let an AI assistant run it for you through the [MCP server](https://lettermint.co/features/mcp.md). The [documentation](https://lettermint.co/docs/) has the details. ### Why is Lettermint a great Europe-based alternative to Amazon SES? Lettermint's entire infrastructure and support are European, which means short delivery paths inside the EU and full compliance with EU regulations like GDPR. In comparison, Amazon SES is run by Amazon Web Services, Inc., a US company headquartered in the United States. Picking an EU region does not change that, so the US CLOUD Act applies to it. ### Isn't picking an EU data centre at Amazon SES enough for GDPR? A region setting controls where data is stored, not which law applies. A US company falls under the US CLOUD Act wherever its servers are, so your compliance review still needs extra safeguards for that provider. With Lettermint both are European: the infrastructure is in the EU and the company behind it is a Dutch B.V. under EU law. That is what digital sovereignty means in practice. ### How fast can I start sending with Lettermint? Sign up without a credit card, verify your domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, create an API token and send your first email, usually within minutes. The [documentation](https://lettermint.co/docs/) walks through each step. You can send over the REST API, SMTP relay or the official SDKs for Laravel, Node.js, PHP, Python, Go and Java, plus integrations such as WordPress, Zapier and Make. Lettermint starts at €10/mo for 10,000 emails. See [pricing](https://lettermint.co/pricing.md) for details. All data is based on publicly available information as of August 2026. For inaccuracies, contact us at https://lettermint.co/contact.