How to migrate off of SES

Migrating off Amazon SES is mostly about replacing sending, receiving, and any email-related DNS/authentication you currently rely on.

1) Inventory what you use SES for

Before switching, identify:

• Transactional sending: password resets, receipts, alerts, verification emails
• Bulk/marketing sending
• Inbound email: SES receipt rules, Lambda/S3/SNS integrations
• Suppression list / bounce handling
• Templates
• Dedicated IPs / reputation management
• DNS/authentication: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, custom MAIL FROM
• Region-specific setup: SES is regional, so check every app/region using it

2) Choose your replacement

Common SES alternatives:

• SendGrid: popular API-based email provider
• Mailgun: good for developer workflows and inbound routing
• Postmark: strong for transactional email
• Amazon Pinpoint: if you want to stay in AWS
• SparkPost / Brevo / Resend: depending on use case

Pick based on:

• transactional vs marketing
• inbound email needs
• API vs SMTP support
• deliverability tooling
• webhooks/bounce handling
• cost and support

3) Build an abstraction layer

If you directly call SES throughout your code, create a small email adapter, e.g.:

• sendEmail(to, subject, html, text, headers)
• sendTemplate(templateName, data)
• handleBounce(event)

Then implement:

• SesEmailProvider
• NewProviderEmailProvider

This lets you switch providers with minimal code changes.

4) Recreate authentication and DNS

For the new provider, set up:

• SPF
• DKIM
• DMARC
• optional custom tracking domain or MAIL FROM equivalent

Important:

• Update DNS records carefully
• Keep SES records in place until traffic is fully cut over
• Make sure your “From” domain aligns with your DMARC policy

5) Migrate templates and metadata

If you use SES templates:

• export/copy subject lines and HTML/text templates
• move variables/placeholders to the new provider’s format
• test all templates for rendering differences

If you use custom headers or tags:

• map them to the new provider’s metadata system

6) Rewire event handling

If you currently consume SES events via SNS/Kinesis/CloudWatch:

• replace with the new provider’s webhooks
• handle:
  • delivered
  • bounced
  • complained
  • opened/clicked if needed
  • unsubscribed/blocked

Update your database/state machine if you track email status.

7) Migrate inbound email, if applicable

If you use SES for receiving:

• set up inbound routing in the new system
• recreate rules for parsing attachments, forwarding, and automation
• if the new provider doesn’t support inbound mail well, consider:
  • keeping SES only for inbound
  • using a separate inbound service

8) Run in parallel

Do a phased cutover:

1. Send non-critical emails via the new provider in staging
2. Send a small percentage of production traffic
3. Compare:
   • delivery rates
   • bounce rates
   • spam complaints
   • rendering
   • latency
4. Ramp up to 100%

For a while, keep SES as fallback.

9) Update application config and secrets

Replace:

• SES credentials / IAM auth
• AWS SDK calls to SES
• region-specific configuration
• SMTP endpoints if you use SMTP mode

Store the new provider’s API keys in your secret manager.

10) Monitor carefully after cutover

Watch:

• delivery success
• bounces and complaints
• webhook failures
• domain reputation
• inbox placement
• missing templates or broken links

11) Clean up SES

Once you’re confident:

• remove SES sending permissions from IAM
• delete SES identities and configuration sets if no longer used
• remove SNS topics/rules/receipts
• remove SES-related DNS records only after you no longer need them

If you want a practical migration plan

A good sequence is:

1. Create abstraction layer
2. Set up new provider and verify domain
3. Port templates and webhooks
4. Test in staging
5. Dual-send or phased send
6. Switch production
7. Monitor and decommission SES

If you tell me:

• which SES features you use,
• what language/framework your app uses,
• and which provider you’re moving to,

I can give you a concrete step-by-step migration checklist and example code.