# Amazon SES delivery, without building everything around it. > Cresca vs Amazon SES: Cresca sends through Amazon SES and adds the dashboard, templates, campaigns and domain setup that SES leaves you to build. Canonical: https://www.cresca.xyz/compare/cresca-vs-amazon-ses Cresca vs Amazon SES: the same delivery, with the dashboard, templates and campaigns already built. Cresca sends every email through Amazon SES, so delivery runs on the same AWS network. The difference is the work around the send. With SES on its own you request production access, set up IAM, wire delivery events through Amazon SNS and build any templates, lists or campaign tools yourself. Cresca gives you an API key, a dashboard with every email's status, a template editor and AI-designed campaigns, from your own verified domain. [Start free with Cresca](https://app.cresca.xyz/signup) [See the comparison](https://www.cresca.xyz/compare/cresca-vs-amazon-ses#compare) Cresca at a glance - AI agent Designs the whole email - 36 templates Styled with your brand - 26 design themes Switch in one click - Fact-checked copy No invented claims - Own-domain sending Guided SPF and DKIM - Gmail tab estimate Before you hit send - CSV import Fields and tags mapped - Campaign reports Opt-in opens and clicks - 30 days free No credit card ## Every part of Cresca, in one place. Comparison ## Cresca vs Amazon SES, side by side Cresca runs on Amazon SES, so this is a comparison of everything around the send. The SES column describes using SES directly from your own AWS account, based on AWS’s public SES pricing and documentation. Getting started Cresca: Sign up, add your domain’s DNS records and send. No sandbox or production-access request Amazon SES: New accounts start in a sandbox: verified recipients only, 200 emails per 24 hours and 1 per second, until AWS grants production access Delivery events Cresca: Each email’s latest event as last\_event, plus a timeline in the dashboard Amazon SES: Published to Amazon SNS, EventBridge or Data Firehose, which you set up and consume Templates Cresca: Template editor with variables, test emails and version history; send by alias Amazon SES: HTML templates with placeholders, stored through the SES API Marketing campaigns Cresca: An AI agent designs on-brand campaigns from a brief; contacts, lists and campaign reports are built in Amazon SES: Sends marketing email; contact lists and unsubscribe topics through the API, with campaign design and reporting left to you Built for Cresca: Teams of every size sending app email and marketing campaigns from one account Amazon SES: Developers and teams who want to build their own email setup inside AWS Sending network Cresca: Amazon SES, through Cresca’s AWS account and SES’s shared IP addresses Amazon SES: Amazon SES, through your own AWS account; shared IPs by default Pricing Cresca: Free for 30 days, then from $29/month for 7,500 emails, with contacts, templates and campaigns included Amazon SES: $0.10 per 1,000 emails à la carte, or $0.16 per 1,000 on the Essentials plan new accounts start on; $0.12 per GB of attachments Transactional API Cresca: REST API with batch sends (up to 100 per request), scheduling up to 30 days ahead, attachments and idempotency keys Amazon SES: SES API v2 and the AWS SDKs, signed with IAM credentials Dedicated IPs Cresca: Not offered; email goes out on SES’s shared IP addresses Amazon SES: $24.95 per IP per month, or managed dedicated IPs from $15 per month plus $0.08 per 1,000 emails Webhooks and SMTP Cresca: On the roadmap: outbound webhooks and SMTP relay. Today, read each email’s status as last\_event or in the dashboard Amazon SES: SMTP interface, and event publishing through SNS or EventBridge Amazon SES information in this comparison is based on publicly available sources as of November 8, 2026. Plans and features change, so check Amazon SES’s own website for current details.Amazon SES prices are for the first 10 million emails a month, from the SES pricing page. New SES accounts start on the Essentials plan. [Compare other platforms](https://www.cresca.xyz/compare) Alternatives ## Other Amazon SES alternatives Teams comparing SES with a managed service usually look at these as well. Cresca is first because it runs on SES and adds the dashboard, templates and campaigns. Figures for the others come straight from their pricing pages. | Service | What it is | Pricing | | --- | --- | --- | | 1. Cresca | Transactional email API and AI-designed marketing campaigns in one account, sent from your own verified domain | Free for 30 days, then from $29/month for 7,500 emails and 5,000 contacts. [See pricing](https://www.cresca.xyz/pricing) | | 2. Resend | Email API for developers | Free: 3,000 emails/month (100/day). Pro from $20/month for 50,000 emails. | | 3. Postmark | Transactional email delivery service | Free: 100 emails/month. Basic from $15/month for 10,000 emails. | | 4. SendGrid (Twilio) | Email API and SMTP service | Free trial: 100 emails/day for 60 days. Essentials from $19.95/month. | | 5. Mailgun | Email API and SMTP service to send, receive and track email | Free: 100 emails/day. Basic from $15/month for 10,000 emails. | | 6. MailerSend | Email API and SMTP relay | Free: 500 emails/month. Hobby (5,000 emails/month) from $5.60/month billed yearly. | Prices in this table come from each provider’s own pricing page, checked on October 28, 2026. Plans change, so check each site for current details. Transactional API ## App email and campaigns, one account Send password resets, receipts and alerts through the Cresca API, from the same verified domain and plan as your campaigns. - An API key, not IAM. Create a sending-access key in the dashboard and call api.cresca.xyz/api/v1 over HTTPS. There are no IAM policies, regions or SDK credentials to set up. [Docs](https://www.cresca.xyz/docs/authentication) - Status without SNS. Each email reports its newest event as last\_event, and the dashboard shows its full timeline. Nothing to wire up through SNS, EventBridge or Firehose. [Docs](https://www.cresca.xyz/docs/email-lifecycle) - Templates edited in the browser. Design a template in the editor, test it and publish it under an alias. Changing copy doesn’t need a deploy. [Docs](https://www.cresca.xyz/docs/templates) - Batch sends. Send up to 100 emails in one request, each with its own recipient and values. [Docs](https://www.cresca.xyz/docs/api-reference/send-batch) - No duplicate receipts. An Idempotency-Key header turns a retried request into the first result instead of a second email. [Docs](https://www.cresca.xyz/docs/idempotency) - Scheduling and attachments. Schedule an email up to 30 days ahead, or attach files to it, from the same send call. [Docs](https://www.cresca.xyz/docs/api-reference/send-email) Send an email ```bash curl -X POST 'https://api.cresca.xyz/api/v1/emails' \ -H 'Authorization: Bearer cr_live_xxxxxxxxx' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -H 'Idempotency-Key: password-reset/user-123' \ -d '{ "from": "Acme ", "to": "user@example.com", "subject": "Reset your password", "html": "

Click here to reset your password.

" }' ``` Response 200 ```json { "id": "4ef9a417-02e9-4d39-ad75-9611e0fcc33c" } ``` [How Cresca transactional email works](https://www.cresca.xyz/transactional-email) · [Quickstart](https://www.cresca.xyz/docs/quickstart) · [Moving off Amazon Pinpoint](https://www.cresca.xyz/blog/amazon-pinpoint-alternative) · [Amazon SES alternatives](https://www.cresca.xyz/blog/best-amazon-ses-alternatives) · [Transactional email services compared](https://www.cresca.xyz/blog/best-transactional-email-services) · [Transactional email API guide](https://www.cresca.xyz/blog/transactional-email-api) · [SMTP vs API](https://www.cresca.xyz/blog/smtp-vs-api-sending) · [Send email from Node.js and more](https://www.cresca.xyz/blog/send-email-nodejs) Why teams switch ## What changes when you move to Cresca Each part of the email program, handled in one workspace. - 1 Domain set up from the dashboard. Cresca creates the SES identity for your domain and lists the ownership, DKIM and MAIL FROM records to add. No AWS console, IAM user or region to choose. - 2 Every email’s status in one place. Delivered, bounced or complained: each API email carries its latest event, and the dashboard shows the whole timeline without an SNS topic or queue. - 3 Templates outside your codebase. Edit a template in the browser, keep its version history and send it by alias. Copy changes go live without a deploy. - 4 Campaigns on the same domain. Describe a newsletter in one sentence and the AI agent designs it. It goes to your contact lists from the same verified domain as your app email. Start to finish ## From brief to report, in one workspace - ### Brief Describe the campaign in one sentence. - ### Design The agent picks a theme and applies your brand. - ### Audience Choose the lists that should receive it. - ### Report Deliveries, bounces and opt-in opens and clicks. - ### Your domain, checked and ready Cresca shows the exact DNS records to add, then checks them and marks the domain ready. - TXT Ownership Verified - CNAME × 3 DKIM Verified - MX + TXT MAIL FROM and SPF Verified Switching ## Move from Amazon SES in three steps 1. 01 ### Verify your domain Add your domain in Cresca and copy the ownership, DKIM and MAIL FROM records into your DNS. Cresca marks the domain ready once they check out. 2. 02 ### Move your templates Recreate each SES template in the Cresca editor with its variables, send a test and publish it under an alias. Or keep your HTML and pass it in the html field of the send call. 3. 03 ### Swap the send call Replace the SES SendEmail call with POST /emails and a sending-access key. Leave your SES sends running until the new ones look right. Design ## Beautiful emails, with or without AI The agent and the editor work on the same email, so you can mix both. - ### AI agent or hands-on editor Let the agent design the email from a brief, then fine-tune any block yourself. Both edit the same email. - ### 26 design themes, your brand colour Switch between themes like Modern, Editorial, Bold or Minimal in one click; your brand colour is applied on top. - ### Gmail tab estimate See whether Gmail is likely to file the email under Promotions, and what is pushing it there, before you send. - ### Send from your own domain Verify your domain with guided SPF and DKIM setup: Cresca shows each record to add and checks it for you. Pricing ## Simple, flat monthly pricing ### Free Try everything first $0 for 30 days - 250 contacts - 1,000 emails - AI agent and 36 templates - 1 sending domain - Campaign reports [Start free](https://app.cresca.xyz/signup) ### Professional Flat monthly price Growing lists $29 per month - 5,000 contacts - 7,500 emails/month - AI agent and 36 templates - 3 sending domains - Priority support [Choose Professional](https://app.cresca.xyz/signup) Bigger list? Premium is $49/month for 25,000 contacts and Ultra is $99/month for 55,000. [Compare all plans](https://www.cresca.xyz/pricing) Why Cresca ## Choose Cresca if you want… For teams that want SES delivery without running the AWS setup, event pipeline and email tooling themselves. 1. 01 Amazon SES delivery without an AWS account, IAM or a sandbox request 2. 02 An API key and a REST endpoint instead of the AWS SDK 3. 03 Each email’s status in the dashboard, with no SNS or EventBridge setup 4. 04 Templates edited in the browser and sent by alias 5. 05 AI-designed campaigns and contact lists on the same domain 6. 06 Idempotency keys, batch sends of up to 100 and scheduling up to 30 days ahead 7. 07 A Free plan with 1,000 emails over 30 days and no credit card Free for 30 days with no credit card. Paid plans from $29 a month. [Start for free](https://app.cresca.xyz/signup) FAQs ## Cresca vs Amazon SES questions What teams ask before moving from Amazon SES. Still have a question? Also see the [Mailchimp alternative](https://www.cresca.xyz/mailchimp-alternative), [MailerLite alternative](https://www.cresca.xyz/mailerlite-alternative), [Brevo alternative](https://www.cresca.xyz/brevo-alternative), [ConvertKit alternative](https://www.cresca.xyz/convertkit-alternative), [Loops alternative](https://www.cresca.xyz/loops-alternative), [Resend alternative](https://www.cresca.xyz/resend-alternative), [Postmark alternative](https://www.cresca.xyz/postmark-alternative), [SendGrid alternative](https://www.cresca.xyz/sendgrid-alternative), [Mailgun alternative](https://www.cresca.xyz/mailgun-alternative), [Cresca vs Amazon SES](https://www.cresca.xyz/compare/cresca-vs-amazon-ses) pages, or [compare email marketing platforms](https://www.cresca.xyz/compare). [Start free](https://app.cresca.xyz/signup) [Contact Cresca](https://www.cresca.xyz/contact) ### 01 Does Cresca use Amazon SES? Yes. Cresca sends every email through Amazon SES from its own AWS account, on SES’s shared IP addresses, and verifies your domain there with ownership, DKIM and MAIL FROM records. You get the same delivery network as SES without managing the AWS side. ### 02 What is the difference between Cresca and Amazon SES? Amazon SES is the sending service: an API, SMTP and delivery, with templates, event handling and any campaign tools left for you to build. Cresca is built on SES and adds an API key instead of IAM, a dashboard with each email’s status, a template editor and AI-designed marketing campaigns. ### 03 Is Amazon SES cheaper than Cresca? Per email, yes. 30,000 emails a month cost about $3 on SES à la carte or $4.80 on the Essentials plan, against $49/month for Cresca Premium (30,000 emails and 25,000 contacts). Cresca’s price covers the contacts, template editor, campaigns and dashboard you would otherwise build or buy alongside SES. ### 04 Do I need to leave the SES sandbox to use Cresca? No. There is no sandbox or production-access request to AWS. Add your domain’s DNS records and start sending once Cresca shows the domain as ready. ### 05 Can I use SMTP or webhooks with Cresca, like with SES? Not yet. SMTP relay and outbound webhooks are on the roadmap. Today you send with POST /emails over HTTPS and read delivery status with GET /emails/{id} or in the dashboard. ### 06 Can I get a dedicated IP with Cresca? No. Cresca sends on Amazon SES’s shared IP addresses. If you need dedicated IPs, SES offers them at $24.95 per IP per month on your own AWS account. ## Design your next email in minutes. SES delivery with the tooling already built. Verify your domain, publish your first template and send today. Free for 30 days, no credit card. [Start free with Cresca](https://app.cresca.xyz/signup) [See pricing](https://www.cresca.xyz/pricing)