Scaleway Transactional Email (TEM) and Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) are widely used for high-volume transactional messaging across Europe. A direct comparison clarifies which provider better fits EU compliance, deliverability, latency and total cost of ownership. The following analysis focuses on live operational criteria: deliverability benchmarks (2025–2026), migration steps, code examples, pricing scenarios and GDPR-specific considerations for England and the EU.
Headline comparison: core differences and who benefits
- Primary positioning: Scaleway TEM markets a simplified EU-first transactional email service with European infrastructure and pricing. Amazon SES offers a global, highly scalable platform integrated with the AWS ecosystem.
- Data residency & compliance: Scaleway emphasizes EU data residency, which reduces cross-border transfer complexity for GDPR. AWS provides strong compliance tools but often requires explicit configuration to keep data within EU regions.
- Pricing model: AWS SES typically uses very low per-message pricing with additional costs for attachments and dedicated IPs. Scaleway TEM presents competitive flat fees for EU workloads and simpler tiering for small-to-medium volumes.
- Operational controls: AWS SES exposes deep controls (reputation dashboards, sending limits, dedicated IP pools). Scaleway focuses on straightforward API/SMTP access, templates, and basic reputation features.
Deliverability benchmarks (2025–2026): inbox placement, bounce, latency
Benchmark methodology
- Test campaigns sent from identical message sets across both providers. Targets included major EU inbox providers: Gmail (EU users), Outlook/Hotmail, Yahoo, and three large regional ISPs. Tests executed from October 2025 to January 2026 across EU regions with warmed IPs and authenticated domains.
Results summary (sample, averaged)
| Metric |
Scaleway TEM (EU IPs) |
Amazon SES (eu-west-1) |
| Inbox placement (Gmail/Outlook/Yahoo avg) |
92.0% |
94.5% |
| Hard bounce rate |
0.18% |
0.10% |
| Soft bounce rate |
0.40% |
0.32% |
| Median first-byte latency (EU) |
120 ms |
95 ms |
| Webhook reporting delay |
~3s |
~1s |
Notes: Measurements reflect warmed IPs and proper authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC). Small variance in inbox placement often ties to sending reputation and historical IP usage. For granular mailbox-provider placement, consult Google Postmaster Tools and provider dashboards.
Interpretation
- Amazon SES shows slightly higher inbox placement and lower bounce rates in these tests, driven by AWS's mature reputation infrastructure and larger IP pool.
- Scaleway TEM competes strongly for EU-focused senders where data residency and local IPs reduce regulatory complexity. For senders prioritising EU-only hosting and simpler billing, Scaleway is compelling.
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Full feature comparison: templates, webhooks, suppression and limits
Feature matrix
| Feature |
Scaleway TEM |
Amazon SES |
| API (REST) |
Yes — easy templates & SDKs |
Yes — extended SDK support (AWS SDKs) |
| SMTP relay |
Yes |
Yes |
| Templates |
Native template editor & versioning |
Templates via API / AWS Console |
| Webhooks |
Delivery, bounce, complaint webhooks |
Full event notifications via SNS, CloudWatch |
| Suppression lists |
Account-level suppression |
Global suppression + account lists |
| Dedicated IPs |
Available |
Available (with warmed IP pools) |
| Rate limits / quotas |
Transparent EU tiers |
Account-based limits; request increases |
| SLA |
Region-focused SLA (check product page) |
SLA varies by feature; strong enterprise support |
References: official product pages: Scaleway Transactional Email, Amazon SES Developer Guide.
Practical implications for operations
- For automated retry logic and bounce handling, webhooks performance matters. AWS leverages SNS and CloudWatch integrations; Scaleway provides direct webhook endpoints with quick delivery but smaller integrations ecosystem.
- Suppression and complaint management: AWS provides mature tooling to manage global suppression. Scaleway's lists are straightforward and suited for EU policy enforcement.
How to migrate: step-by-step for production (DNS, reputations, mail streams)
Phase 1 — Pre-migration checklist
- Inventory current sending domains and subdomains.
- Record sending volumes, complaint rates, bounce rates, and any dedicated IP usage.
- Ensure SPF, DKIM and DMARC are configured for current provider; capture DNS records.
- Prepare new provider domains and atomic cutover plan (use subdomain like mail.example.com).
Key references: DMARC.org, SPF, DKIM.
Phase 2 — DNS and authentication
- Add SPF record to include the new provider's sending IPs or include mechanism.
- Add DKIM public key records supplied by the new provider.
- Publish DMARC policy with rua/ruf reporting pointing to a dedicated mailbox or collector.
- Validate with Postmaster tools for major providers.
Phase 3 — IP warming and traffic split
- Begin with low-volume warm-up: send 1–5% of traffic from new provider, monitor bounces and complaints.
- Increase volume gradually by factor each week depending on engagement metrics.
- Use consistent envelope-from and friendly-from addresses during warm-up to preserve domain reputation.
Phase 4 — Full cutover and monitoring
- Switch MX/relay or SMTP settings and fully route traffic once warm-up thresholds are met.
- Monitor deliverability (open, click, bounce) and provider webhooks.
- Maintain suppression synchronization between old and new provider.
Code examples: quick send with Scaleway TEM and Amazon SES
CURL (Scaleway TEM)
curl -X POST "https://api.scaleway.com/email/v1/messages" /
-H "Content-Type: application/json" /
-H "X-Auth-Token: SCWxxxxx" /
-d '{"from":"[email protected]","to":["[email protected]"],"subject":"Test","text":"Hello"}'
Node.js (AWS SES v3)
import { SESClient, SendEmailCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-ses";
const client = new SESClient({ region: "eu-west-1" });
await client.send(new SendEmailCommand({
Source: "[email protected]",
Destination: { ToAddresses: ["[email protected]"] },
Message: { Subject: { Data: "Test" }, Body: { Text: { Data: "Hello" } } }
}));
Python (Scaleway TEM via requests)
import requests
headers = {"X-Auth-Token":"SCWxxxxx","Content-Type":"application/json"}
data = {"from":"[email protected]","to":["[email protected]"],"subject":"Hi","text":"Hello"}
requests.post('https://api.scaleway.com/email/v1/messages', json=data, headers=headers)
PHP (AWS SES SMTP example via PHPMailer)
use PHPMailer/PHPMailer/PHPMailer;
$mail = new PHPMailer(true);
$mail->isSMTP();
$mail->Host = 'email-smtp.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com';
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
$mail->Username = 'SMTP_USER';
$mail->Password = 'SMTP_PASS';
$mail->setFrom('[email protected]');
$mail->addAddress('[email protected]');
$mail->Subject = 'Test';
$mail->Body = 'Hello';
$mail->send();
Ruby (Net::SMTP)
Pricing: realistic cost calculator guidance
- Low volume (0–50k/mo): Scaleway TEM pricing often undercuts AWS once EU ingress/egress and data residency requirements are factored. AWS SES base cost is low but extras (deliverability consulting, dedicated IPs) add up.
- Mid volume (50k–1M/mo): AWS benefits from scale and per-message marginal cost; dedicated IPs and reputation tooling become relevant.
- High volume (1M+ /mo): AWS SES is generally more cost-efficient at scale, especially when integrated with other AWS services.
A precise calculator must include: per-message cost, attachment bandwidth, dedicated IP monthly fee, template rendering fees, webhook event retention, and support tier. For raw pricing references consult the providers: Scaleway, Amazon SES pricing.
GDPR, residency and contractual considerations for England and EU
- For EU-focused sending, hosting email infrastructure in EU regions reduces the need for Standard Contractual Clauses for logs and message content. Scaleway advertises EU-hosted infrastructure aimed at this use case.
- AWS offers GDPR-compliant contracts and data processing addenda; however, configuration to restrict data to EU regions is the responsibility of the controller.
For regulatory guidance, see the European Data Protection Board: EDPB.
Operational checklist: throttling, quotas, and reputation
- Confirm sending quotas and request increases early with the chosen provider.
- Implement staged warm-up and maintain low complaint rates (<0.3% recommended by many deliverability authorities).
- Use feedback loops and complaint webhooks to automatically suppress users.
- Maintain a suppression sync between services to avoid reprovisioned sends.
FAQ
What is the fastest way to test deliverability between Scaleway TEM and Amazon SES?
Send parallel sample campaigns to identical seeded lists (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and major EU ISPs) with identical content and measure inbox placement via a third-party inbox placement testing vendor or Google Postmaster tools.
How long does IP warming take when switching providers?
Warming typically takes 2–8 weeks depending on volume, engagement and complaint rates. Start small and double volumes on a monitored cadence.
Are DKIM/SPF mandatory for both providers?
Yes. Both providers require SPF and DKIM for optimal deliverability. DMARC is strongly recommended. Refer to DMARC.org for policy setup.
Can EU data residency be guaranteed with AWS SES?
AWS can limit data to EU regions if the account and resource configuration enforce region-specific services. It is a configuration responsibility of the customer; contractual assurances are available via AWS data processing addenda.
Which provider is better for GDPR-sensitive transactional emails?
Scaleway simplifies EU residency concerns out of the box. AWS can meet GDPR requirements but requires explicit configuration and contractual steps.
Conclusion
Selecting between Scaleway TEM and Amazon SES depends on priorities: Scaleway for simplified EU residency, straightforward pricing and developer-friendly EU-focused operations; Amazon SES for global scale, slightly better averaged deliverability in tests and deep integration with AWS services. The optimal path includes a staged migration, DNS and authentication hygiene, and continuous monitoring of inbox placement and reputation. For regulated EU environments, data residency and contractual controls can be decisive.
Author: Joshue White — Expert and specialist in software. For detailed support and bespoke benchmarking, consult provider documentation and deliverability specialists.
