Amazon SES vs Zoho Campaigns: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Amazon SES and Zoho Campaigns 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.
Zoho Campaigns
6.3/10
An email marketing platform from Zoho that lets small and mid-sized businesses send newsletters, automated workflows and segmented campaigns, with close Zoho CRM integration.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | A Amazon SES | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.8/10 | 6.3/10 |
| Scalability | 10/10 | 6/10 |
| Ease of Use | 3/10 | 7/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Support | 4/10 | 5/10 |
| Cost | 10/10 | 8/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Analytics | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $105/mo Pro | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $105/mo Pro | Contact for pricing |
| Features | ||
| Email Marketing | ||
| A/B Testing | Not listed | |
| E-commerce Features | Not listed | |
| Segmentation | Not listed | |
| SMS Marketing | Not listed | |
Amazon SES vs Zoho Campaigns cost by team size
Zoho Campaigns costs less up to 5 users.
| Team size | Amazon SES | Zoho Campaigns |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $105/moPro | FreeForever Free |
| 5 users | $105/moPro | FreeForever Free |
| 10 users | $105/moPro | Contact for pricing |
| 25 users | $105/moPro | Contact for pricing |
| 50 users | $105/moPro | Contact for pricing |
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 6/10)
- Higher Customization score (7/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (8/10 vs 3/10)
Why choose Zoho Campaigns
- Has a free plan (Amazon SES does not)
- Higher Ease of Use score (7/10 vs 3/10)
- Higher Support score (5/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for marketing teams (7/10 vs 3/10)
- Better fit for small business (8/10 vs 4/10)
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.
Zoho Campaigns
Pros
- The Forever Free plan includes 2,000 contacts, 6,000 emails a month and 5 users.
- It integrates tightly with Zoho CRM and the wider Zoho suite, which reviewers often cite as the reason they chose it.
- Paid plans include unlimited email sends, and annual billing saves 25%.
- Professional includes e-commerce workflows such as abandoned cart and purchase follow-up.
Cons
- Reviewers find templates and design options dated or less polished than competitors'.
- Reviewers report weaker integrations with apps outside Zoho.
- Support quality is mixed, and one reviewer noted there is no direct phone line for Campaigns.
- Some reviewers say the wide feature set makes the interface complex and hard to learn.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Amazon SES scores higher on our Marketing criteria: 6.8/10 against 6.3/10 for Zoho Campaigns. The largest gap is in Ease of Use: 3/10 for Amazon SES and 7/10 for Zoho Campaigns.
Zoho Campaigns has a free plan; Amazon SES does not list one.
Amazon SES is the better fit for enterprise: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 3/10 for Zoho Campaigns.
