Amazon SES vs Loops: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Amazon SES and Loops 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.
Loops
6.8/10
Loops is an email platform for SaaS companies that combines marketing campaigns, event-triggered lifecycle automations and transactional email in one tool.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | A Amazon SES | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.8/10 | 6.8/10 |
| Scalability | 10/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 3/10 | 8/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Support | 4/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 10/10 | 7/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $105/mo Pro | $49/mo Growth |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $105/mo Pro | Free Free |
| Features | ||
| Email Marketing | ||
| A/B Testing | Not listed | |
| Segmentation | Not listed | |
| SMS Marketing | Not listed | |
Amazon SES vs Loops cost by team size
Loops costs less at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Amazon SES | Loops |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $105/moPro | FreeFree |
| 5 users | $105/moPro | FreeFree |
| 10 users | $105/moPro | FreeFree |
| 25 users | $105/moPro | FreeFree |
| 50 users | $105/moPro | FreeFree |
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 Scalability score (10/10 vs 7/10)
- Higher Cost score (10/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for e-commerce (6/10 vs 2/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (8/10 vs 5/10)
Why choose Loops
- Has a free plan (Amazon SES does not)
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: Free vs $105/mo
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 3/10)
- Higher Support score (6/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for marketing teams (7/10 vs 3/10)
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.
Loops
Pros
- Marketing, lifecycle and transactional email share one contact record, so there is no data syncing between tools.
- Paid plans include unlimited sends and no seat fees, and unsubscribed contacts do not count toward the bill.
- Every feature, including split testing, is available on every plan, including the free one.
- The Goals feature measures conversions such as upgrades, not only opens and clicks.
- The REST API, SDKs and native Stripe, Clerk and Supabase integrations make event-triggered emails straightforward for developers.
Cons
- Reviewers say it fits ecommerce, agencies and newsletter-first businesses poorly.
- Automation and behavioural segmentation are shallower than Customer.io's.
- It sends email only, with no SMS or push channels.
- Costs rise steadily as the contact list grows.
- Free-plan emails carry Loops branding.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Amazon SES and Loops both score 6.8/10 on our Marketing criteria. The largest gap is in Ease of Use: 3/10 for Amazon SES and 8/10 for Loops.
Loops costs less for 10 users: free on its Free plan, against about $105/mo on its Pro plan for Amazon SES, billed monthly.
Loops has a free plan; Amazon SES does not list one.
Amazon SES is the better fit for e-commerce: we rate it 6/10 for them, against 2/10 for Loops.
