How Much Does It Cost to Send 1 Million Emails? (2026 Breakdown)
Sending 1 million emails through Amazon SES costs about $100 at the standard rate of $0.10 per 1,000 emails. Add roughly $10–20 a month for a server to run your email app. Optional add-ons like a dedicated IP or deliverability dashboards add more, but most senders under 1 million a month don't need them.
What does Amazon SES charge per email?
The à la carte rate is $0.10 per 1,000 outbound emails, or $0.0001 per email. It is billed per recipient, so one email sent to 10 people counts as 10.
What is the full cost of 1 million emails?
| Cost item | Price | Cost for 1M emails |
|---|---|---|
| SES outbound sending | $0.10 per 1,000 | $100 |
| Attachment data | $0.12 per GB | $0 if no attachments |
| Server for your email app | VPS or Railway | $10–20 per month |
| Self-hosted app licence | One-time, varies | $30 once for EazyEmailer |
| Typical total | about $110–120 |
What optional SES add-ons cost extra?
- Virtual Deliverability Manager: $0.07 per 1,000 emails. Useful dashboards, but not required.
- Standard dedicated IP: $24.95 per IP per month. Only worth it at steady high volume; a new dedicated IP also needs warming up.
- SES subscription plans: AWS now also sells plans that bundle extras, starting at $0.16 per 1,000. The à la carte $0.10 rate is still available.
Check the official SES pricing page before budgeting, because add-on prices change.
How does that compare to hosted email tools?
Hosted marketing tools usually charge by subscriber count, not emails sent. A list of 50,000 people emailed 20 times a month is 1 million emails.
| Option | Pricing model | Approximate monthly cost for 1M emails |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted app + Amazon SES | Per email sent | ~$110–120 |
| Mailchimp Essentials | Per contact | $385 for 50,000 contacts, but capped at 500,000 sends a month, so 1M needs a bigger plan |
| beehiiv Lite | Per subscriber | $299 for up to 100,000 subscribers |
Hosted prices are from each vendor's pricing page on 31 October 2026, billed monthly.
Why is self-hosting so much cheaper?
Hosted tools bundle the app, support and deliverability work into one price that scales with your list. Self-hosting splits those apart. You pay infrastructure rates for sending and a fixed cost for the app.
The trade-off is responsibility: you handle domain authentication, warmup and list hygiene yourself. See Self-hosted email marketing: the complete guide.
FAQ
Is Amazon SES free?
Not after your credits run out. New AWS customers get up to $200 in Free Tier credits that can be spent on SES. After that, it is $0.10 per 1,000 emails with no monthly minimum.
Does SES charge for contacts stored?
No. SES charges for emails sent, not for contacts. Your contact list lives in your own app's database.
How long does it take to send 1 million emails on SES?
It depends on your account's sending rate, which AWS raises as you build a good record. A new production account often starts with a lower daily quota, so large sends may spread across days.
Is the cheapest option always the best?
No. If your list is small, a free hosted tier may cost less overall. Self-hosting wins on cost once your monthly bill reaches roughly the price of a one-time licence.