A European alternative to Amazon SES
Yes. 2Mail is a European alternative to Amazon SES for teams that want to send transactional and bulk email over SMTP or a REST API without adopting a whole cloud platform: one account, own servers in Belgium, signed webhooks and a fixed price per sending domain. If your entire stack runs on AWS and email has to flow through the same roles, regions and event pipelines, SES is where it belongs.
Amazon SES is the email service inside Amazon Web Services. According to its own documentation it is a building block you combine with other parts of the platform: authentication, bounce handling, events and reporting are things you assemble yourself. For a small team that just wants the order confirmation to arrive and someone to call when it does not, that is a lot of moving parts for one job.
Then there is data residency. Picking a European region is one thing; explaining to a DPO or a customer which entity is the processor and where today's logs will be in three months is another. 2Mail runs on its own servers in Belgium, processes and stores inside the EU, and charges per volume tier and per sending domain instead of per email sent — an invoice you know in advance.
Why companies switch from Amazon SES to 2Mail
One service instead of a kit of parts
SMTP relay, REST API, signed webhooks, automatic bounce handling, logging and a real-time dashboard per domain all live in one account. No additional services needed to see a bounce or receive a webhook.
Own servers in Belgium, processing inside the EU
No region to pick: sending, storage and statistics stay on JAAN bv's own infrastructure in Belgium. GDPR-compliant, data processing agreement on request.
Personal follow-up and IP warm-up included
A new domain is warmed up with guidance, on a randomised IP pool with per-domain rate limiting and automatic retries on greylisting or throttling. Support in English, Dutch and French; 99.99% availability SLA.
Fixed price per sending domain
Per volume tier (1,000 to 250,000 emails per month) and per sending domain, no price per email, no setup fee. Shared volume across several domains is available on request.
Amazon SES and 2Mail side by side
Amazon SES is a cloud email service inside the AWS platform based in United States (part of Amazon Web Services). Below are the points on which an email platform really differs in practice. The Amazon SES column only reflects what the brand publishes itself; always check the current terms on its own website.
| Criterion | Amazon SES | 2Mail |
|---|---|---|
| Location and data residency | United States; available in AWS regions of your choice, including European ones, according to their documentation | JAAN bv, Belgium; own servers in Belgium, processing and storage inside the EU |
| Pricing model | Per email sent (pay-as-you-go) according to their website | Per volume tier and per sending domain, no price per email, no setup fee; 12-month minimum term |
| Sending channel (SMTP, API, campaigns) | SMTP interface and API through the AWS SDKs according to their documentation | SMTP (587 STARTTLS), REST API and campaign management with a drag-and-drop template builder in one account |
| Support and language | Through the AWS support plans, generally in English, according to their website | Personal follow-up in English, Dutch and French, IP warm-up included |
| Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) | DKIM and SPF records you publish yourself following their instructions | SPF, DKIM and DMARC in one click from the dashboard |
| Per-message insight | Events routed to other AWS services according to their documentation | Logging of deliveries, bounces and rejections per domain, real-time dashboard and signed webhooks |
Information about Amazon SES is general and may change; 2Mail is not affiliated with this brand. Brand names belong to their respective owners.
Switching from Amazon SES to 2Mail
A migration is not a big bang. These three steps keep your deliverability intact while you move.
SPF, DKIM and DMARC on the new channel
Add 2Mail to your SPF record and publish the DKIM key from the dashboard alongside the existing SES records. Check your DMARC reports to confirm both channels pass before you remove the old records.
Swap the SMTP credentials or the API call
If your application uses the SES SMTP interface, replace host, port and login with per-application 2Mail credentials. If you send through the SDK, that becomes an HTTPS call to the REST API with a dedicated API key — or you switch to SMTP, which most frameworks support out of the box.
Re-point events and ramp up volume
Replace the event pipeline with a single webhook endpoint that receives 2Mail's signed delivery, bounce and open events. Then move traffic in steps: one application or one domain first, the rest after, while IP warm-up builds the reputation.
Who is 2Mail the better choice for — and who isn't it for?
2Mail suits you if…
- Companies that want a finished email service — relay, API, webhooks, logging and dashboard — without building an event pipeline themselves
- Organisations that want to name a processor inside the EU, with own servers in Belgium and a data processing agreement on request
- Web shops, ERP users and SaaS teams that send campaigns as well as transactional email and prefer one platform for both
Stay with Amazon SES if…
- Anyone whose entire infrastructure runs on AWS and wants email integrated through the same roles, regions and event services
- Anyone who only wants to pay per email sent at a very small or highly variable volume, without a minimum term
Other comparisons
Looking for an alternative to another platform? Same exercise, always with the facts side by side.