The VPS way
You run the server. Forever.
- Size, secure and pay for a server
- PHP and MySQL, or Docker and Postgres
- Cron jobs, queues and SSL renewals
- Patches and backups on your weekends
The self-hosted Mailchimp alternative
Self-hosted email marketing, without the server.
The complete email platform, installed in your own AWS account in ten minutes. Runs on Amazon SES, with no server to patch and no per-contact bill.
- One-time license
- Unlimited contacts
- $0.10 per 1,000 emails
- No surprise bills
mail.yourbrand.com/campaigns/october-update
Your AWS accountus-east-1
YYourbrand
- Home
- Campaigns
- Automations
- Contacts48.2k
- Inbox3
- Forms
- Pages
- API
Amazon SESHealthyBounces 0.6% · Complaints 0.02%
Campaigns/October product update
October product updateSentDuplicateView report
Delivered99.3%47,872 people
Opened46.8%22,404 people
Clicked9.1%4,356 people
Cost of this send$4.82Amazon SES postage
Unique opens, first 24 hoursOpensClicks
11,122 opened by 12:00
Live activityReal time
- MLMaya Linopened
- JWJonas Weberclicked
- PSPriya Shahreplied
- ATAiko Tanakaopened
- LMLeo Martinsclicked
- SNSara Novakopened
- OHOmar Haddadopened
- ERElena Rossiclicked
- MLMaya Linopened
- JWJonas Weberclicked
- PSPriya Shahreplied
- ATAiko Tanakaopened
- LMLeo Martinsclicked
- SNSara Novakopened
- OHOmar Haddadopened
- ERElena Rossiclicked
Installs as one stack in your own AWS account, built on
- Amazon SES
- CloudFormation
- DynamoDB
- Amazon S3
- CloudFront
01Why serverless
Self-hosting used to mean babysitting a server.
Sendy and Listmonk cut the bill, then hand you a Linux box to patch, back up and scale before every big send. SendBunny keeps the savings and drops the server.
The SendBunny way
Amazon runs it. You own it.
- One CloudFormation stack in your account
- Serverless, so it scales with your SES quota
- One-click updates that never take you down
- Nothing to patch, size or restart
02Setup
Installed in ten minutes. No terminal.
If you can click a button, you can install SendBunny. This is the whole process.
-
Step 01
Click “Deploy to AWS”
Check out with your email. Your order page opens your own AWS console with everything filled in.
-
Step 02
Click “Create stack”
The only thing you do in AWS. Six readable CloudFormation resources, which you can audit first, build SendBunny inside your account.
-
Step 03
Open your email
A magic link signs you in to your dashboard at your own address. It’s yours from that moment.
New to AWS? Creating an account is free. New accounts start in Amazon’s SES sandbox, so the app shows your status and links straight to Amazon’s production-access form. Stuck anywhere? support@sendbunny.co will help you get set up.
03The platform
Not a sending script. The whole platform.
Self-hosted used to mean bare-bones. SendBunny ships the features SaaS tools sell as upgrades, in every license, with no tiers to climb.
Campaigns
Write it like a doc. Watch it land live.
A Notion-style editor with slash commands, or raw HTML. Delivered, opened and clicked stream in as they happen, down to each recipient’s timeline.
Automations
Onboarding that sends itself.
Start on a list join, a date or an event from your app. Branch with If / else and A/B tests. No higher tier to unlock.
Team inbox
Replies land where you’ll read them.
Every reply threads into a shared inbox at your domain, checked for spam and viruses.
Transactional API
Receipts and resets, same place.
One POST sends a stored template with your data, from the same domain and suppression list.
Segments
Segments that stay current.
Combine fields, lists, tags and engagement. People move in and out as they change.
Deliverability
Built to reach the inbox.
DKIM, SPF and DMARC set up, one-click unsubscribe, bounces suppressed and Gradual Send to warm new domains.
Import
Bring your whole list.
Drop your old tool’s export as it came. Anyone who said no stays a no.
Landing pages and forms
Your pages and forms, on your own domain.
Build landing pages and sign-up forms in SendBunny, then publish them at an address you own, like go.yourbrand.com. Any page can be your home page, and everything is served from your own AWS account.
- Views and sign-ups for every page
- Bot checks and confirm emails on every form
- Flat-price hosting with no overage charges
Also in every license
- Sign-up forms with bot checks
- Surveys and quizzes
- Subscription topics
- Unlimited domains
- Webhooks
- A/B tests
- Scheduled sending
- Team roles
- Audit log
- Image library
04Built-in MCP server
Let your AI agent run the email.
Connect Claude, Codex or Cursor over MCP. 158 tools cover everything in the dashboard, and you decide what each agent may touch.
You set the limitsSend mail, Inbox or Full access, per domain. Disconnect any time.
It checks before deletingEvery tool says whether it reads, changes or deletes.
Nothing off the recordEach change shows up in your dashboard and activity log.
$ claude mcp add --transport http sendbunny \
https://YOUR-INSTALL/api/mcp
05Ownership
Built so you never depend on us.
SendBunny runs entirely inside your AWS account. That changes who’s in control.
Your data stays with you
Contacts and history live in DynamoDB and S3 in your account. Nothing phones home.
We never hold your keys
Install and updates run inside your account. Your AWS credentials never leave it.
If we disappear, it keeps sending
Your platform needs nothing from our servers to send, show your dashboard or store data.
Stop paying, keep working
The license is for life. Skip the maintenance plan and you only miss new updates.
Updates can’t take you down
Backend first, dashboard last. If a step fails, your current version stays live, mid-send included.
It leaves your AWS alone
SendBunny installs as its own stack and never touches anything it didn’t create.
The fine print: Amazon’s sending rules still apply to your account. Keep bounces and complaints low, and the dashboard shows exactly where you stand.
06Compare
The savings of self-hosting. The ease of SaaS.
How SendBunny stacks up against running your own server and renting by the contact.
| Question | SendBunnyIn your AWS account | Self-hosted on a VPSSendy, Listmonk, Mautic | Per-contact SaaSMailchimp, Kit, Loops |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay | $199 once, then Amazon SES | Software, a server and Amazon SES | A monthly plan sized by contacts |
| At 50,000 contacts | About $20 a month | SES, the server and your time | $450 a month on Mailchimp Standard |
| Servers to maintain | None, it’s serverless | OS, database, SSL and backups | None |
| Where your list lives | Your AWS account | Your server | The vendor’s database |
| Team inbox for replies | Included | Not included | Replies go to your mail client |
| AI agents over MCP | Built in, scoped per domain | Not built in | Varies by vendor |
| Setup | About ten minutes, no terminal | SSH, a database, cron and SSL | Sign up and import |
Is SendBunny right for you?
A great fit if
- You have an opted-in list of a few thousand or more, and the bill grows faster than your revenue.
- You run product email and marketing email in separate tools and want one.
- You can click through the AWS console, or don’t mind learning in ten minutes.
- You want Claude, Codex or Cursor doing the email busywork.
Not a fit if
- You send cold email or bought lists. Amazon will stop you, and it should.
- You won’t open an AWS account, full stop.
- Your revenue depends on Shopify-native flows and SMS. Klaviyo does that better.
- You need paid subscriptions or a recommendation network. Stay on beehiiv or Substack.
07The math
Pay per email, not per contact.
Per-contact pricing charges rent on every subscriber, every month, including the ones who never open. SendBunny costs $199 once, and Amazon charges $0.10 per 1,000 emails you actually send.
Contacts on your list
Monthly cost, emailing every contact four times a month
First year
Mailchimp$1,620$3,720$5,400
SendBunny$346$418$538
You keep$1,274$3,302$4,862
Mailchimp Standard list prices, billed monthly, checked March 2026. SendBunny’s first year counts the $199 license, the optional $99 maintenance plan and Amazon SES at $0.10 per 1,000 emails. New AWS accounts start on Amazon’s $0.16 Essentials rate; the app switches you in one click.
08Cost control
No surprise bills. You set the budget.
Sending costs exactly what you send. The traffic you don’t control, from bots on your forms to a flood of clicks, runs on a monthly budget you set.
Every 5 minutes
Unusual traffic gets flagged
Pick what counts as unusual: 3, 5 or 10 times your normal traffic. You see the top addresses behind it and a suggested fix.
At 50% and 80%
You get an email
Plenty of warning to raise the budget or look into what’s happening.
At 100%
Safe mode switches on
Sign-up forms, new app connections, mail sorting and open and click counting pause until the month ends or you raise the budget.
In Safe mode
The essentials keep running
Your dashboard, campaigns, API sending, inbox and unsubscribe links carry on as normal.
Sending costs what you sendAmazon charges $0.10 per 1,000 emails, and only for mail you choose to send.
Pages at a flat monthly priceLanding pages run on Amazon CloudFront’s flat-rate plans: free for pages, $15 a month once a page has a form. Amazon charges no overages, even if a page goes viral.
09Pricing
Pay once. Own it for good.
One license with every feature. Unlimited contacts, emails and domains. Amazon bills your sending directly, at cost.
Everything, in every license
- Unlimited emails, contacts and domains
- Campaigns, templates and automations
- Segments and subscription topics
- Landing pages and forms on your domain
- Surveys and quizzes
- Team inbox to send and receive
- Transactional API and webhooks
- MCP server for AI agents
- Import from any email tool
- Real-time analytics
- Monthly budget with Safe mode
- One-click deploy into your AWS
SendBunny licenseLifetime
$199one time
The full platform, deployed in your own AWS account and yours for life.
Maintenance plan, optional$99 a year
Updates, bug fixes, security patches and new features, one click from your dashboard. Cancel any time and your install keeps running.Postage, paid to Amazon$0.10 per 1,000 emails
- 10,000 emailsabout $1
- 100,000 emailsabout $10
- 1,000,000 emailsabout $100
Billed by AWS with no markup from us.
10FAQ
Straight answers.
The questions worth asking before you buy. Still deciding? Ask us anything.
Email support@sendbunny.coIs it really self-hosted if there’s no server?
Yes. Self-hosted means it runs on infrastructure you own, and SendBunny runs entirely inside your own AWS account: Amazon SES sends, DynamoDB and S3 store your data, CloudFront serves your dashboard. Serverless just means Amazon runs the machines, so there’s no box for you to patch, size or restart.
Do I need to know AWS?
No. You click one pre-filled “Create stack” button in the AWS console and the installer does the rest. Updates are one click inside your app. You never touch a terminal or write configuration.
What will it cost to run?
Amazon bills you directly: about $0.10 per 1,000 emails, plus a few cents of serverless infrastructure at higher volumes. If you send nothing, you pay about nothing. New AWS accounts start on Amazon’s $0.16 Essentials plan, and the app shows your plan and moves you to the $0.10 rate in one click. Landing pages with a sign-up form add Amazon CloudFront’s $15-a-month flat-rate plan.
Could I get a surprise AWS bill?
SendBunny is built to prevent one. Sending costs exactly what you send, about $0.10 per 1,000 emails. Everything outsiders can trigger, like sign-up forms, opens and clicks, incoming mail and unsubscribe links, runs on a monthly budget you set, anywhere from $1 to $10,000 ($20 unless you change it). You get an email at 50% and 80%. At 100%, Safe mode pauses forms, new app connections, mail sorting and open and click counting until the month ends or you raise the budget, while campaigns, API sending, the inbox and unsubscribes keep working. Landing pages run on Amazon CloudFront’s flat-rate plans, which have no overage charges.
How is this different from Sendy or Listmonk?
The sending costs are the same, because all three use Amazon SES. The difference is the server: Sendy and Listmonk need a VPS you install, secure, back up and scale, so the cheaper software comes with a monthly server and your hours. SendBunny installs as a serverless stack in your AWS account and adds branching automations, a team inbox, a transactional API and an MCP server for AI agents.
Will my emails reach the inbox?
Sending runs on Amazon SES, which is strict about who sends so its addresses stay trusted. SendBunny sets up DKIM, SPF and DMARC, adds one-click unsubscribe, suppresses bounces and complaints automatically, warms up new domains with Gradual Send, and shows your rates against Amazon’s limits.
When can I send my first campaign?
The install takes about ten minutes. New AWS accounts start in Amazon’s SES sandbox, which only delivers to addresses you have verified, so you can set everything up and send tests right away. The app links you to Amazon’s production-access form, which mostly asks about your website and list.
Can I bring my list from Mailchimp, Kit or Loops?
Yes. Drop your old tool’s export as it came: a ZIP, CSVs, an Excel workbook or JSON. Subscribers, unsubscribes, bounces, lists, tags and fields land where they belong, and anyone who said no stays a no. Automations don’t transfer, so plan an afternoon to rebuild your key sequences, or ask your AI agent to do it.
Can I put landing pages and forms on my own domain?
Yes. Connect a domain you own, like yourbrand.com or go.yourbrand.com. Each page lives at its own address, such as go.yourbrand.com/webinar, any page can be your home page, and everything is served from your own AWS account with views and sign-ups tracked per page. Pages without a form run on Amazon CloudFront’s free flat-rate plan. Once a page has a form it needs the $15-a-month Pro plan, which you approve in the dashboard.
What happens if SendBunny shuts down?
Your platform keeps running. It lives entirely in your AWS account and never depends on our servers to send, show your dashboard or store your data. The only thing that would stop is updates.
Stop renting your email list.
Self-hosted email marketing in your own AWS account. No server to babysit, no per-contact bill, no lock-in.
One-time license · No surprise bills · Yours for good