vs 
Score vs Amazon SES
Amazon SES is a low-cost raw sending API — extremely cheap per email, but it gives you no campaign UI, no segmentation, and a single AWS pipeline to depend on. Score sits above your providers, routing across SES, SendGrid, Mailgun and others with weighted rules and automatic failover, and adds the campaign, segmentation, and deliverability tooling SES leaves to you.
- Route across multiple providers — including Amazon SES itself — with weighted failover
- Campaigns, journeys, and segmentation built in on top of raw sending
- Per-provider deliverability analytics and reputation alerts
- No single-pipeline risk: blend SES with other providers without rebuilding
- Pay only for emails sent, with the platform layer included
- Among the lowest raw per-email sending costs available
- Deep, native integration with the AWS ecosystem (IAM, SNS, CloudWatch)
- Massive, proven sending scale and infrastructure reliability
- Full control for teams that want to build their own tooling on top
| Feature | Score | Amazon SES |
|---|---|---|
| Sending model | Multi-provider routing layer with weighted rules and failover | Single provider — all mail flows through AWS SES |
| Pricing model | $15/mo + $0.30 per 1,000 emails over 10K included | ~$0.10 per 1,000 emails sent [VERIFY: confirm current AWS SES per-email rate and any data-transfer/attachment charges] |
| Campaign & segmentation tooling | Built in — lists, segments, A/B testing, journeys, templates | None — SES is a sending API only; you build or buy the UI |
| Failover | Automatic failover to a backup provider when one degrades | No cross-provider failover — single point of failure |
| Deliverability visibility | Per-provider analytics with reputation alerts | Raw metrics via SNS/CloudWatch; no built-in inbox-placement view [VERIFY] |
| Setup effort | Connect providers and start sending in minutes | Requires AWS account, IAM, sandbox removal, and custom integration |
Amazon SES pricing and feature details verified from Amazon SES's site on June 23, 2026.
Is Score a cheaper way to use Amazon SES with campaign tools?
Score is a multi-SMTP routing and campaign layer that sits above providers like Amazon SES — it routes your mail across SES and other providers with weighted rules and automatic failover, and adds the lists, segmentation, and deliverability monitoring SES doesn’t include. So you keep SES’s low per-email cost while gaining the tooling and resilience a raw sending API leaves to you.
Amazon SES is one of the cheapest, most reliable ways to push email out at scale. But it is deliberately just the sending engine: no contact management, no segmentation, no A/B testing, no inbox-placement view, and a single AWS pipeline. Everything above the API is yours to build, integrate, and maintain.
What does Amazon SES not include?
SES gives you an API, an SMTP endpoint, and raw event data through SNS and CloudWatch. It does not give you a campaign builder, audience lists, dynamic segments, journey automation, or a deliverability dashboard. Teams that adopt SES almost always bolt a marketing or orchestration tool on top — which is exactly the layer Score provides. Score connects to SES as one of several providers and turns raw sending into a full platform without locking you to any single pipeline. The same single-engine trade-off applies to other raw senders like Mailgun and Postmark.
Where Score pulls ahead
Resilience and tooling at SES-level economics. Routing across multiple providers means no single point of failure: if SES throttles or a region degrades, Score fails over to a healthy provider automatically — much like a dedicated multi-ESP platform such as Ongage, but with campaign and segmentation tooling built in rather than billed separately. You can send the bulk of your volume through SES for cost while keeping other providers ready, and per-provider deliverability analytics let you act before inbox placement slips. Start routing across providers in minutes instead of building the platform layer yourself.
Frequently asked questions
Is Score a good Amazon SES alternative?
Score is less an alternative to Amazon SES than a layer on top of it. SES is excellent low-cost raw sending but has no campaign UI, segmentation, or cross-provider failover. Score can route through SES alongside other providers like SendGrid and Mailgun with weighted rules and automatic failover, and adds the campaign and deliverability tooling SES leaves to you — so you keep SES economics without building everything yourself.
Can I keep using Amazon SES with Score?
Yes. Score is a routing and campaign layer that sits on top of your SMTP providers, so you can add your existing Amazon SES credentials as one of several providers. Many teams send the bulk of their volume through SES for cost and keep other providers in the mix for failover and reputation balancing.
How does Score's pricing compare to Amazon SES?
Amazon SES bills purely on raw volume at a very low per-email rate [VERIFY: confirm current SES rate], but you supply your own campaign software, segmentation, and deliverability monitoring. Score charges $15/month plus $0.30 per 1,000 emails over the included 10K and bundles the full platform. If you route through SES under Score, you pay SES for sending plus Score for the routing and tooling layer.
Does Amazon SES have campaign and segmentation tools?
No. Amazon SES is a sending API and SMTP relay only — it has no contact lists, segmentation, A/B testing, or visual campaign builder. Teams typically pair SES with a separate marketing tool. Score provides that layer directly on top of SES and other providers.
What happens if Amazon SES has an outage or throttles my account?
With SES as your only pipeline, a throttle, sandbox limit, or regional outage halts your sending. Score monitors each connected provider and automatically fails over to a healthy backup provider, so delivery continues without manual intervention.
See why teams pick Score over Amazon SES
Start sending in minutes with your own SMTP providers — pay only for the emails you actually send.