SendiventvsAWSSNS+SES

Sendivent vs AWS SNS + SES: primitives vs products

AWS SES handles email delivery. AWS SNS handles SMS and push. They're powerful, reliable, and cheap at scale.

But they're primitives, not products. To build a notification system on AWS, you need to:

• Build an API layer on top of SES/SNS
• Handle template management
• Build a dashboard for your team
• Implement multi-language support
• Create analytics and logging
• Handle failures and retries
• Add Slack integration (AWS doesn't provide this out of the box)

That's significant engineering work.

The AWS appeal

AWS makes sense if:

• You want everything in one cloud
• You have engineers to build the layer
• You're at massive scale where AWS pricing wins
• You need deep AWS integration

The product appeal

Sendivent makes sense if:

• You want to ship notifications, not build infrastructure
• You need your team to manage messages without engineering
• You value time over maximum control
• You want Slack and other channels AWS doesn't cover

Cost comparison

AWS is cheap per message. But the cost of building and maintaining the product layer can dwarf the per-message savings.

Sendivent's pricing is simple: based on people notified. No complex AWS cost calculation, no engineering time to budget.

The honest tradeoff

AWS gives you maximum control and potential cost savings at scale. Sendivent gives you a finished product immediately. For most teams, the product wins.

When to use AWS directly

• Massive scale (millions of notifications daily)
• Deep AWS investment already
• Team with time to build and maintain
• Specific AWS compliance requirements

When to use Sendivent

• Want to ship now, not build infrastructure
• Need non-developer team access
• Value simplicity over maximum control
• Don't want to maintain notification infrastructure

Code Comparison

With AWS SES + SNS directly

// Email via SES
import { SESClient, SendEmailCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-ses';
const ses = new SESClient({ region: 'us-east-1' });

await ses.send(new SendEmailCommand({
  Source: 'noreply@example.com',
  Destination: { ToAddresses: [user.email] },
  Message: {
    Subject: { Data: 'Order Confirmed' },
    Body: { Html: { Data: compiledTemplate } }  // You build the template system
  }
}));

// SMS via SNS (separate call, separate SDK)
import { SNSClient, PublishCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-sns';
const sns = new SNSClient({ region: 'us-east-1' });

await sns.send(new PublishCommand({
  PhoneNumber: user.phone,
  Message: 'Your order is confirmed!'  // Another template system
}));

// Slack? Build it yourself with webhooks
// Bounce handling? Build it yourself with SES event destinations
// Multi-language? Build it yourself
// Dashboard for your team? Build it yourself

With Sendivent

await sendivent
  .event('order.confirmed')
  .to({ email: user.email, phone: user.phone })
  .payload({ orderId, items, total })
  .send();

// Templates: managed in dashboard
// Channels: configured per event
// Language: resolved from user profile
// Bounce handling: automatic
// Your team: can edit templates without code

Same notification, fraction of the code. The difference is what you're not building.

Ready to stop wiring SES and SNS by hand? Create a free account and send your first multi-channel notification in minutes. Same AWS-grade infrastructure, none of the SES/SNS glue code.