AWS SES Cost Calculator
Estimate SES-style cost with a simple model: send charges (per 1,000 emails) plus optional transfer from average email size. Compare baseline vs peak volume with your pricing.
Inputs
Emails sent (per month)
Avg 1.9 emails/sec.
Emails sent (per day)
Est 4,864,000 emails/month.
Send price ($ / 1000 emails)
~$100.00 per 1M emails.
Avg email size (KB)
~47.68 GB/month of outbound data.
Egress price ($ / GB)
Set to 0 for a send-only estimate.
Scenario presets
This estimates send charges plus optional transfer. Dedicated IPs, inbound email, add-ons, and downstream systems can add cost.
Results
Estimated monthly total
$504.29
Send charges
$500.00
Transfer
$4.29
Estimated transfer (GB/month)
48
How to get your inputs
- Inputs: use billing exports, metrics, or logs to get real counts/GB where possible.
- Units: convert throughput (Mbps) or rates (RPS) into monthly units when needed.
- Scenarios: build a baseline and a high-usage scenario to avoid under-budgeting.
Result interpretation
- Send volume drives cost; large payloads matter when transfer is billable.
- Campaign spikes are the common peak case.
Common mistakes
- Using a single average and ignoring peak/incident scenarios.
- Double-counting or missing adjacent line items (transfer, logs, retries).
Input checklist
- Split marketing vs transactional volume (different patterns and peaks).
- Estimate average payload size including templates and attachments.
- Confirm whether transfer charges apply for your path.
Advanced inputs to capture
- Split transactional vs marketing volume to capture different patterns.
- Apply a retry and bounce multiplier to sent volume.
- Estimate attachment-heavy messages separately if payloads are large.
- Include dedicated IPs or add-ons if you use them.
Scenario planning
| Scenario | Emails | Avg size | Transfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | Expected | Typical | Derived |
| Peak | High | Same | Higher |
Validate after changes
- Compare your estimate to the first real bill and adjust assumptions.
- Track the primary driver metric (requests/GB/count) over time.
Next steps
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Example scenario
- 5M emails/month at $0.10 per 1,000 emails, average 10 KB/email, and $0.09/GB egress.
- Peak 200% scenario helps budget for campaign spikes.
Included
- Send charges from emails/month and $ per 1,000 emails.
- Optional transfer estimate from email size and $/GB.
- Optional daily volume estimator.
- Baseline vs peak scenario table for volume spikes.
Not included
- Dedicated IPs, inbound email, and other add-ons unless modeled separately.
- Downstream processing and storage (Lambdas, queues, logs, analytics).
How we calculate
- Send cost = (emails per month / 1,000) x $ per 1,000 emails.
- Transfer GB/month ~= emails per month x avg email KB / 1024 / 1024.
- Transfer cost = transfer GB/month x $ per GB.
- Total = send + transfer.
FAQ
Should I include transfer for SES?
It depends on your setup and what you want to approximate. If transfer is negligible or bundled for your path, set $/GB to 0 and model send charges only.
What drives unexpected email costs?
Higher volume than expected (marketing sends), retries/bounces, large templates/attachments increasing payload size, and dedicated IP/add-on usage.
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Disclaimer
Educational use only. Not legal, financial, or professional advice. Results are estimates based on the inputs and assumptions shown on this page. Verify pricing and limits with your providers and documentation.
Last updated: 2026-02-07