Send your first email through AWS SES in 4 minutes

Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) is the cheapest way to send bulk email at scale — $0.10 per 1,000 emails. This guide walks you through it end-to-end.

Step 1: Create an AWS account

Go to aws.amazon.com. You need a credit card on file, but AWS SES has a generous free tier and charges only when you send.

Step 2: Open the SES console

Type "SES" into the AWS console search. Pick your region — most people use us-east-1. Your account starts in "sandbox" mode.

Step 3: Request production access

Account Dashboard → Request Production Access. AWS typically approves legitimate businesses within 24 hours.

Step 4: Verify your sending domain

Verified Identities → Create Identity → Domain. Add the SPF/DKIM/DMARC records SES gives you.

Step 5: Generate IAM credentials

Create an IAM user with ses:SendEmail permissions. Copy the access key into SES Mailbox.

{
  "Effect": "Allow",
  "Action": [
    "ses:SendEmail",
    "ses:SendRawEmail",
    "ses:GetSendQuota"
  ],
  "Resource": "*"
}

What it costs

SES Mailbox Pro is $9.99/mo flat. AWS SES is $0.10 per 1,000 emails. A campaign to 10,000 subscribers = $9.99 + $1 = $10.99 total.