Amazon SES

High-volume SMTP/API email from AWS. Cheap and integrable; console and IAM complexity; US cloud sovereignty exposure even in EU regions.

Proprietary · https://aws.amazon.com/ses

Transactional email

Amazon SES

Hosting: Global SaaS Reviewed

Use EU AWS regions for data residency; control plane and vendor remain US.

  • Fair 1.7
  • Easy 4.0
  • Secure 3.3
FES Scores 9
Pillar Criterion Score Evidence
Easy Day-one UX Can non-technical staff use it without a project? 3 Amazon SES provides a simple API and SMTP interface for sending emails on day one. Source
Easy Operate Admin burden, updates, backups and language coverage. 4 Rule baseline (rubric_v1): vendor-operated SaaS — low ongoing ops burden for a small NGO. Source
Easy Integrate SSO, mail/CalDAV, APIs and common NGO connectors. 5 Amazon SES integrates with AWS services like Lambda, S3, and CloudWatch for workflow automation. Source
Fair Lock-in / exit Can you leave with your data in open formats, at known cost? 2 Rule baseline (rubric_v1): global SaaS APIs/export exist, but suite gravity and remapping remain. Source
Fair Sovereignty EU legal entity, EU hosting, and exposure to extra-EU lawful access? 1 Rule baseline (rubric_v1): non-EU legal entity + global SaaS — high extra-EU lawful-access exposure. Source
Fair Openness Open source or open standards? Are independent implementations possible? 2 Rule baseline (rubric_v1): proprietary / non-OSI license — openness capped unless open standards dominate. Source
Secure IT security Authentication, encryption, patch cadence and independent audit. 4 Amazon SES supports TLS encryption for email transmission and DKIM, SPF, and DMARC for authentication. Source
Secure User security 2FA, roles, phishing resistance and safe defaults. 3 Amazon SES requires IAM credentials for API access but does not enforce MFA by default. Source
Secure Personal data GDPR fit: DPA, residency, sub-processors and Schrems II posture. 3 Rule baseline (rubric_v1): usable DPA URL found — residency/transfers still need human review. Source

Indicative scores from public information — how we score.

Subprocessors 1
Name Role Residency Verification date Source
Amazon Web Services Hosting EU + abroad Source

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