Amazon SES email marketing software

Amazon SES email marketing software: the self-hosted frontend for sending campaigns through SES

Amazon SES is the cheapest way to deliver email at scale (about $0.10 per 1,000), but it is just a sending API — no campaign builder, no list management, no open/click reporting. AcelleMail is the self-hosted frontend that sits on top of SES: connect your SES credentials and get a drag-and-drop email builder, lists and segments, automation, and full engagement analytics — for a $80 one-time license, with the full PHP source and no per-subscriber fee.

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What Amazon SES gives you — and what it's missing

Amazon SES is a delivery backend: it accepts an email over SMTP or API and hands it to recipients' mail servers with strong deliverability and pay-as-you-go pricing. That is exactly what it's good at. What it deliberately leaves out is the entire marketing layer:

  • No campaign UI — no place to compose, preview, and schedule a newsletter.
  • No list or subscriber management — no lists, segments, custom fields, or signup forms.
  • No templates or drag-and-drop builder — you hand SES finished HTML.
  • No engagement reporting — SES does not track opens, clicks, or per-campaign analytics.
  • No automation — no autoresponders, drips, or behavior-triggered journeys.

To actually run email marketing on SES you need an application on top of it. That application is what AcelleMail provides.

AcelleMail is the self-hosted frontend for Amazon SES

AcelleMail runs on your own server and turns SES into a full email-marketing platform:

  • Drag-and-drop email builder with mobile preview and a template gallery.
  • Lists, segments, custom fields, signup forms, and double opt-in.
  • Visual automation — trigger / wait / condition / branch journeys, not just linear drips.
  • Open, click, and bounce analytics per campaign, with click heatmaps and spam scoring.
  • A/B testing on subject lines and content.

SES handles delivery; AcelleMail is the dashboard you and your team work in every day.

Connect SES in minutes — and let it handle bounces & complaints

Add Amazon SES in Sending Servers → Add using SMTP credentials or the SES API, paste your keys, and run the test-send. AcelleMail generates the SPF/DKIM records to publish and signs DKIM at the application layer. It also ships a built-in webhook handler for SES bounce and complaint notifications (via SNS), so hard bounces and complaints are recorded and suppressed automatically — protecting your sender reputation without extra tooling.

Not locked to SES, either: AcelleMail ships 8 sending drivers (SES, SendGrid, SparkPost, Mailgun, Elastic Email, Blastengine, Gmail relay, generic SMTP) plus a plugin SDK, so you can add or mix providers later.

Own it for $80 one-time — not $X per month

Hosted ESPs charge a recurring fee that climbs with your subscriber count. SES charges only for what you send (~$0.10 per 1,000), and AcelleMail is a one-time license ($80 Regular) with lifetime point/minor updates and full, unencrypted PHP source. A 500,000-emails/month sender pays roughly $50/month of SES on a modest VPS — with no per-subscriber pricing on top. Your data and your list stay on your server.

Build your own SES-backed email SaaS ($199 Extended)

The Extended License turns one SES backend into a multi-tenant product. It bundles customer accounts, subscription plans, 6 payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Razorpay, Paystack, Offline), prorated upgrades, dunning, and white-label branding. You run one install, your clients log in to their own accounts, and all sending flows through your SES account — the exact "multi-customer SES frontend" agencies and resellers look for. See For Developers.

AcelleMail vs Sendy vs the raw SES console

Capability AcelleMail Sendy Raw SES console
Sends through Amazon SES Yes Yes Yes (it is SES)
Other sending providers 7 more + generic SMTP + plugin SDK SendGrid, Mailjet, Elastic Email No
Drag-and-drop campaign builder Yes Yes No
Lists, segments, signup forms Yes Yes No
Visual branching automation Yes (Automation2) Autoresponder drips No
Open / click / bounce analytics Yes Yes No
SES bounce/complaint webhook handler Built-in Built-in You build it
Multi-tenant / resell to clients Yes (Extended) White-label client accounts No
Full editable source code Yes (unencrypted PHP) Commercial PHP product n/a
Pricing model $80 one-time + SES usage $69 one-time + SES usage SES usage only

Sendy facts from sendy.co; SES facts are the documented Amazon SES model. See the full AcelleMail vs Sendy comparison.

How to send bulk email with Amazon SES using AcelleMail

  1. Verify your domain in SES and request production access (to leave the sandbox).
  2. Install AcelleMail on your server (PHP 8.1+, MySQL/MariaDB; 5-minute web installer).
  3. Connect SES in Sending Servers — SMTP or API — and publish the SPF/DKIM records it generates.
  4. Import your list via CSV/XLSX and create your segments.
  5. Build and send your campaign — AcelleMail sends through SES and tracks opens, clicks, and bounces.

Amazon SES + AcelleMail — frequently asked questions

Amazon SES itself is a sending API — it has no campaign builder, list management, or open/click reporting. AcelleMail is a self-hosted GUI/dashboard that sits on top of SES: you connect your SES credentials and get a drag-and-drop email builder, lists and segments, automation, and full engagement analytics. SES handles delivery; AcelleMail is the application you actually run campaigns in.

The right frontend depends on what you need beyond raw sending. AcelleMail is a strong pick when you want to own the software: it ships full PHP source, runs on your own server, costs $80 one-time (no per-subscriber fee), and adds a visual builder, automation, segmentation, A/B testing, and a multi-tenant SaaS layer on top of SES. Try the live demo before you decide.

Yes — SES is built for high-volume sending and is one of the cheapest delivery backends at roughly $0.10 per 1,000 emails. What SES does not give you is the marketing layer: campaigns, lists, templates, scheduling, and reporting. AcelleMail provides that layer and sends through your SES account, so you get marketing features at SES delivery prices.

AcelleMail is a one-time license ($80 Regular / $199 Extended) with no recurring software fee. On top of that you pay SES at ~$0.10 per 1,000 emails plus a small VPS. For example, 500,000 emails/month is roughly $50/month of SES on a modest server — versus the hundreds of dollars a month a hosted ESP would charge at that volume. There is no per-subscriber pricing.

Yes. AcelleMail ships a built-in webhook handler for Amazon SES bounce and complaint notifications (via SNS), so hard bounces and complaints are recorded and suppressed automatically — protecting your sender reputation. The handler lives in app/SendingServers/Webhooks/ in the source. Suppression keeps you from re-sending to addresses that already bounced or complained.

Yes — new SES accounts start in the sandbox (you can only send to verified addresses, with low limits). Request production access from the SES console (usually approved within a day), verify your sending domain, and publish the SPF/DKIM records AcelleMail generates. After that you can send to any recipient at your account's rate limit. The setup guide walks through it.

Yes — that is the AcelleMail Extended License ($199). It adds a multi-tenant layer on top of one SES backend: customer accounts, subscription plans, 6 payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Razorpay, Paystack, Offline), prorated upgrades, dunning, and white-label branding. You run one install, your clients log in to their own accounts, and all sending flows through your SES account. See For Developers.

Yes — both are self-hosted PHP apps that send through Amazon SES on a one-time license. AcelleMail adds more on top: 8 sending drivers (so you are not locked to SES), a visual branching automation builder, A/B testing, a plugin SDK, full unencrypted source, and a deeper multi-tenant billing layer. See the full AcelleMail vs Sendy comparison.

Run Amazon SES with a real marketing dashboard

AcelleMail Regular is $80, one-time — full PHP source, unlimited subscribers, lifetime updates. Try the live demo before you buy.

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Run your email marketing on your own server, your own terms

Join thousands of companies that have taken control of their email marketing with full source code, no recurring fees, and unlimited sending. One-time $80 license, lifetime updates.

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