I'm trying to integrate basic newsletter and marketing emails into my app, which is a B2C platform like Letterboxd. I noticed that many successful services emphasize sending out weekly newsletters or trending updates to keep users engaged. When I checked out different email service options, Resend looked decent, but I ran into issues with their editor and the need to use their templates. It seems like I'm primarily managing the subscription state through their platform, which complicates things since I already have a backend that handles user subscriptions. I found out that sending marketing emails costs significantly more than I anticipated—$40 a month for 5000 users and $80 for 10,000. This seems outrageous compared to the cheap rates of AWS SES, which would only charge around $4 for 40,000 emails. It's frustrating that email service pricing is so convoluted. I get that these services include analytics and support, but why is the markup so extreme?
5 Answers
Running a reliable email service is a lot of work! Most businesses are okay with paying high fees just to ensure their emails go out smoothly without dealing with the complexities themselves. If it were cheaper, it could be abused, which would hurt deliverability rates.
Deliverability is everything! Without the right infrastructure, you can easily end up being marked as a spammer, and that’s a huge issue with email providers like Google. They actively prevent spam from ruining their service, making quality delivery costly.
Email itself is cheap, but the prices are high because you're paying for a lot of extras—like templates, analytics, compliance issues, IP warming, and the overall deliverability. Sure, the markup seems excessive, but that’s the value they’re providing beyond just sending emails.
If you're frustrated with the prices, consider that mass mailing as a service is complex. The continuous issue of servers getting blacklisted and handling user spam reports contributes to the need for a markup. Sure, AWS SES is cheaper, but you’ll still spend time managing it.
The big cost lies in compliance and management—not just email delivery. If you manage your own templates and user subscriptions, AWS SES is a great choice for small apps. You might find that layering a solution over SES keeps your costs down while still being effective.
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