The full platform,
not just delivery.
Amazon SES is raw email infrastructure — no contacts, no campaigns, no dashboard. Plunk is the complete email platform built on top of SES. Open-source, self-hostable, and available managed at $0.001 per email.
The Real Cost Comparison
SES is cheap per email — but you still have to build everything else yourself
Complete platform, managed
Everything included. Or self-host and pay SES rates directly.
- ✓Contact management, campaigns, automation
- ✓Bounce & complaint handling built in
- ✓Self-host for near-SES pricing
Delivery infrastructure only
Cheap delivery — but everything else is your problem to build.
- No contacts, no campaigns, no dashboard
- You must handle bounces and complaints yourself
- Significant engineering cost to build the rest
What Plunk Provides
Everything SES doesn't — ready to use, not to build
Contact Management
Store and manage your subscribers. Track events, manage unsubscribes, and build dynamic segments. SES has no concept of contacts.
Marketing Campaigns
Send one-time broadcasts, schedule campaigns, track opens and clicks. SES delivers bytes — Plunk runs your entire email program.
Workflow Automation
Multi-step sequences triggered by events. Onboarding flows, drip campaigns, re-engagement. None of this exists in SES — you'd build it yourself.
Open Source
AGPL-3.0 licensed. Inspect the code, contribute, and self-host. You get all the benefits of SES deliverability with full control over the platform layer.
Self-Hostable
Run Plunk on your own infrastructure. Your SES account handles delivery — you get full-platform functionality at SES prices, nothing more.
Bounce & Complaint Handling
Automatic processing of SES bounce and complaint notifications. Plunk keeps your sender reputation clean without any code on your end.
Feature comparison
1,000 emails/month free. No credit card required. Add marketing and automation when you need it.