Amazon SES vs Ghost: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Amazon SES and Ghost to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Amazon SES
6.8/10
Amazon Simple Email Service is AWS's pay-as-you-go cloud email API and SMTP service for sending transactional and bulk marketing email at high volume.
Ghost
6.9/10
Open-source publishing platform that combines a website, newsletters, and paid memberships for independent publishers, creators, and media businesses.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | A Amazon SES | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.8/10 | 6.9/10 |
| Analytics | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 10/10 | 7/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 3/10 | 7/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 10/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 4/10 | 5/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $105/mo Pro | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $105/mo Pro | Contact for pricing |
| Features | ||
| Email Marketing | ||
| A/B Testing | Not listed | |
| Landing Pages | Not listed | |
| Segmentation | Not listed | |
Amazon SES vs Ghost cost by team size
| Team size | Amazon SES | Ghost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $105/moPro | Contact for pricing |
| 5 users | $105/moPro | Contact for pricing |
| 10 users | $105/moPro | Contact for pricing |
| 25 users | $105/moPro | Contact for pricing |
| 50 users | $105/moPro | Contact for pricing |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
AWhy choose Amazon SES
- Higher Cost score (10/10 vs 7/10)
- Higher Scalability score (10/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for developers (9/10 vs 6/10)
Why choose Ghost
- Higher Ease of Use score (7/10 vs 3/10)
- Higher Analytics score (6/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for freelancers (8/10 vs 3/10)
- Better fit for small business (7/10 vs 4/10)
Pros & Cons
AAmazon SES
Pros
- The a la carte rate of 0.10 USD per 1,000 emails is one of the lowest in the category, and several comparison articles call SES the cheapest option by volume.
- Tiered rates continue past 100M emails per month, so very high-volume senders can grow without changing providers.
- It supports SPF, DKIM and DMARC authentication, TLS 1.2 and above, and KMS encryption for mail stored in S3.
- Optional dedicated IPs, BYOIP and Virtual Deliverability Manager give large senders control over their sending reputation.
Cons
- New accounts start in a sandbox and must request production access, and users on re:Post and Reddit complain about denials.
- There is no visual campaign builder, marketing automation or landing pages, so marketers need a separate tool on top of SES.
- Reviewers on Capterra and G2 report a learning curve and setup effort, including configuring SNS to handle bounces and complaints.
- Hands-on support requires a paid AWS support plan, and add-ons such as VDM and dedicated IPs raise the total cost.
Ghost
Pros
- Ghost takes no percentage of membership revenue, unlike Substack's 10% fee, so publishers pay only the plan price and Stripe fees.
- Website, newsletter, and paid memberships work together without plugins.
- The open-source core can be self-hosted for free, and APIs and webhooks support custom builds.
- More than 100 listed integrations, including Zapier, Stripe, Mailchimp, and privacy-focused analytics tools.
Cons
- Email features are basic: segmentation is limited and there is no built-in A/B testing or SMS.
- Email delivery depends on Mailgun, which users say can be costly or unreliable when self-hosting.
- Lower plans get email-only support with no weekend coverage, and Trustpilot reviews complain about billing and refunds.
- The Starter plan excludes paid subscriptions, custom themes, and integrations.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Ghost scores higher on our Marketing criteria: 6.9/10 against 6.8/10 for Amazon SES. The largest gap is in Ease of Use: 3/10 for Amazon SES and 7/10 for Ghost.
No, neither Amazon SES nor Ghost lists a free plan.
Ghost is the better fit for freelancers: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 3/10 for Amazon SES.
