Transactional email API
Both platforms can handle mission-critical transactional traffic.
First-class transactional API with real-time events and dashboards.
Powerful email API and SMTP interface built for large scale sending.
Marketing campaigns and newsletters UI
SES is infrastructure only, Bento provides marketer friendly tooling.
Native campaign builder with scheduling, segmentation, and A/B testing.
No built-in marketing campaigns UI, you must build this in your app or use another tool.
Visual automation workflows
Most lifecycle flows that sit on top of SES need to be rebuilt in code.
Drag-and-drop workflow builder for onboarding, win-backs, and more.
No native workflow builder, automations require custom code or other AWS services.
Built-in CRM and contact profiles
SES focuses on sending and deliverability, not contact management.
Full contact timelines, attributes, events, and revenue tracking.
No CRM, contacts live in your own database or another system.
Anonymous event tracking before signup
This helps you understand pre-signup behavior without extra tools.
Tracks anonymous visitors and joins history when they become contacts.
Not available, you must implement your own tracking stack.
Deliverability tools included
Bento ships opinionated defaults so operators do less AWS plumbing.
Authentication setup, reputation monitoring, batching and pausing built in.
Deliverability dashboard and reputation metrics exist but are separate AWS services and require configuration.
Free email validation
Cleaner lists mean better inbox placement and lower bounce rates.
Built-in validation to keep lists clean at no extra cost.
No native free validation, you rely on third party services or custom checks.
Live chat and shared inbox
Bento centralizes customer conversations with your email programs.
Shared inbox, live chat, and team collaboration tools included.
Not provided, you must integrate a separate support or chat platform.
Multi-channel messaging
SES does not aim to be a multi-channel marketing platform.
Email, on-site experiences, and other channels from one platform.
Focused on email sending only.
Audience segmentation and tags
Bento lets marketers target customers without developer help.
Powerful segments based on behavior, traits, and revenue.
No native segments, you compute audiences in your app.
Pre-built ecommerce and SaaS flows
Teams using SES typically hand roll all of this logic.
Templates for cart recovery, post-purchase, onboarding, and more.
No pre-built flows, everything is custom.
Granular user-level analytics
SES exposes data, but Bento turns it into operator friendly insight.
Per-contact engagement, attribution, and revenue reporting.
Aggregate metrics via CloudWatch or event destinations, not user friendly reporting.
Developer SDKs and API ergonomics
Bento is easier to adopt outside a heavy AWS footprint.
Modern REST API and SDKs focused on product and marketing use cases.
Rich AWS SDK support, but tied into broader AWS auth and configuration.
Template management
Both support templates, Bento optimizes for marketers and product teams.
Visual editor, versioning, and shared partials for product and marketing email.
Basic template support in the console or via APIs, with limited versioning and collaboration.
Event webhooks and integrations
SES is very flexible for engineers, Bento is simpler out of the box.
Webhooks and integrations into data warehouses and tools you already use.
Events fan out through Amazon SNS, Kinesis, or Firehose and need configuration.
Support and onboarding help
Bento is built for operators who want direct help with email.
Fast support, Discord community, and open office hours with the team.
Enterprise-grade support depends on your AWS support plan and ticket SLAs.
Batched and paused sending controls
Bento gives non-technical users safe levers for high volume sends.
Built-in controls to batch, slow, or pause mailings from the UI.
Send rate management is handled with sending limits, configuration sets, and custom logic.