Amazon SES vs Listmonk: Features, Pricing and User Reviews 2026
Compare features, pricing, reviews, and more to make an informed decision
Amazon SES
Amazon SES is a cloud-based email service that lets you send and receive emails at scale with pay-as-you-go pricing.
Listmonk
Listmonk is a free, open-source newsletter and mailing list manager that runs on your own server for complete data control.
Amazon SES
Amazon SES is a cloud-based email service that lets you send and receive emails at scale with pay-as-you-go pricing.
Listmonk
Listmonk is a free, open-source newsletter and mailing list manager that runs on your own server for complete data control.
Amazon SES
Send and receive emails at any scale
Pay only for emails you actually send
Built-in spam and virus protection
Email authentication with SPF, DKIM, DMARC
Real-time delivery tracking and analytics
Dedicated or shared IP addresses
Template support for personalized emails
Integration with AWS services
Sandbox mode for safe testing
99.9% uptime guarantee
Global endpoint support
Mail Manager for advanced routing
Listmonk
Self-hosted with full data control
Unlimited subscribers and email sending
Drag-and-drop visual email builder
Multi-SMTP server support
Subscriber segmentation with SQL queries
Campaign analytics and reporting
Transactional email API
Bounce and webhook management
Template library with Go language
Privacy-compliant with GDPR tools
S3-compatible media storage
Open source under AGPLv3 license
Amazon SES
Amazon SES uses simple pay-as-you-go pricing with no hidden fees or contracts. You only pay for what you use, making it affordable for any business size.
Free Tier: New AWS customers get 3,000 message charges free monthly for the first 12 months. This covers sending, receiving, or using Virtual Deliverability Manager features. Each sent or received email counts as one message charge.
Standard Pricing: After the free tier, outbound emails cost $0.10 per 1,000 emails sent, plus $0.12 per GB for attachments. Inbound emails cost $0.10 per 1,000 emails received, plus $0.09 per 1,000 chunks processed.
Add-on Features: Dedicated IPs start at $24.95 monthly per address. Virtual Deliverability Manager costs $0.07 per 1,000 emails for volumes under 10 million. Mail Manager open ingress endpoints cost $50 monthly, with email processing at $0.15 per 1,000 emails.
Listmonk
Listmonk is completely free to use because it is open-source software. There are no subscription fees, hidden costs, or limits on the number of subscribers or emails you can send. The software is licensed under AGPLv3, which means anyone can download, use, and modify it without paying anything.
However, you will need to account for your own infrastructure costs. This includes paying for a server or virtual private server (VPS) to host Listmonk, which typically costs between five and twenty dollars per month depending on your needs. You will also need an SMTP service to actually send the emails. Services like Amazon SES charge around ten cents per thousand emails, while others like SendGrid offer free tiers. Overall, running Listmonk costs a fraction of traditional email marketing platforms.
