Scaleway Transactional Email vs Amazon SES
Comparing pricing tiers, deliverability architectures, and feature support for transactional and marketing senders.
Editorial Verdict
The two cheapest options in the field split by jurisdiction and ops appetite: SES is $0.10/1k raw infrastructure (62k free on EC2) you operate yourself; Scaleway is €0.25/1k managed-enough SMTP/API with 10,000 free emails/month and Paris residency. EU-bound workloads or ops-light teams pick Scaleway; maximum-margin AWS-native stacks pick SES.
Cost Benchmark Across Typical Workloads
Starter SaaS 10,000 emails/mo (95% tx)
Scaleway Transactional Email $0.00/mo
vs
Amazon SES $1.00/mo
Scaleway Transactional Email is $1.00/mo cheaper
Active Product 75,000 emails/mo (80% tx)
Scaleway Transactional Email $14.04/mo
vs
Amazon SES $7.50/mo
Scale Broadcast 500,000 emails/mo (50% tx)
Scaleway Transactional Email $52.92/mo
vs
Amazon SES $74.95/mo
Detailed Architectural Comparison
Scaleway Transactional Email
Visit Scaleway Transactional Email →Key Strengths
- Managed sending without bounce/warm-up plumbing
- 10,000 free emails/month with no daily cap
- French/EU data residency under EU law
- No AWS account sprawl or IAM surface
Trade-offs & Gotchas
- No dedicated IP, inbound routing, or template editor
- Transactional-only
Amazon SES
Visit Amazon SES →Key Strengths
- $0.10/1k flat — the field’s price floor for tx AND bulk
- 62,000 free emails/month when sending from EC2
- AWS-native event streaming and automation
- Effectively unlimited scale headroom
Trade-offs & Gotchas
- Sandbox gating plus self-managed reputation
- No EU residency; US-owned infrastructure
Feature Matrix Comparison
| Feature Capability | Scaleway Transactional Email | Amazon SES |
|---|---|---|
| Webhooks Event Dispatch | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| React Email / Modern SDKs | ✓ Native Support | ✓ Native Support |
| Inbound Email Routing / Parsing | ✗ Not Supported | ✓ Supported |
| Visual Drag & Drop Template Builder | Code Templates | Code Templates |
| Standard SMTP Relay | ✓ Supported | ✓ Supported |
| Sub-account / Multi-tenant Hierarchy | ✓ Supported | ✓ Supported |
| Activity & Search Retention | 30 Days | 14 Days |
| Dedicated IP Monthly Fee | N/A | $24.95/mo |
| EU Sovereign Data Residency (GDPR) | 🇪🇺 Yes (EU Datacenter) | US Cloud |
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