Amazon SES alternative
An Amazon SES alternative with a permanent free plan and business mailboxes
Rovela is a transactional email API for developers who do not want to learn AWS to send mail. Unlike Amazon SES, Rovela ships a permanent free tier, business mailboxes on your own domain, idempotency keys, and HMAC-signed webhooks behind a plain REST endpoint — no IAM policies, no SNS topics, no region juggling. Free plan, no card required.
How Rovela compares
| Rovela | Amazon SES | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 62k/month on EC2 (first year) | |
| Send from your own domain | ||
| Business mailboxes included | ||
| Receive inbound email | ||
| Signed delivery webhooks | ||
| Idempotency keys | ||
| Single REST endpoint | AWS SDK, IAM, SNS, multiple regions | |
| DKIM / SPF / DMARC on every send | ||
| 100 emails/month + 5 mailboxes, no card | 62k/month on EC2 (first year) |
Why developers switch
No AWS account or IAM to manage
Amazon SES requires an AWS account, IAM policies, region selection, and SNS topic configuration before the first send. Rovela takes an API key and a single POST endpoint — the entire setup is under a minute.
A permanent free tier, not an EC2 perk
SES's free tier is 62,000 emails per month — but only from EC2, and only in your first year. Rovela's free plan is permanent, works from any host, and includes 5 mailboxes alongside the 100 monthly sends.
Webhooks without SNS plumbing
SES delivers events through SNS topics you configure and subscribe to. Rovela posts HMAC-signed webhooks to your URL directly — verify the signature, read the event, done.
Common questions
- How long does it take to migrate to Rovela?
- Most teams are sending through Rovela within 30 minutes. You add a sending domain, update one DNS record for DKIM, swap the API endpoint and key in your code, and you are live. Business mailboxes take a few minutes more to set up DNS and verify.
- Do I need to change my DNS records when switching?
- Yes, but usually only two: the DKIM TXT record and the SPF TXT record. Rovela's dashboard shows the exact values, and suggests a DMARC record only if your domain has none. If your domain is on Cloudflare, Aliyun, or DNSPod, Rovela can apply the records in one click.
- Can I keep the same sending domain I use today?
- Yes. Rovela sends from any domain you own. You verify it by adding one DKIM TXT record and one SPF TXT record, and all messages go out signed and aligned with that domain. You can migrate gradually by sending some traffic through Rovela while keeping the existing provider for the rest.
- What is the difference between the free plan and a paid plan?
- The free plan includes 100 emails per month and 5 business mailboxes with no card required and no expiry. Paid plans raise the email and mailbox limits. Every plan, including free, gets DKIM signing, delivery webhooks, idempotency keys, inbound mail, and full delivery logs.