# SendBunny vs Sendy
Both send through Amazon SES. One needs a PHP server you keep alive; the other needs one click.
Canonical: https://sendbunny.co/compare/sendbunny-vs-sendy
Category: Explainer · Author: Anni Maan (https://sendbunny.co/authors#anni-maan) · Published 2026-07-31 · Updated 2026-09-02

**In short.** Sendy and SendBunny both send email through Amazon SES at Amazon's own rates, and both charge a one-time license rather than a monthly SaaS fee. The difference is what sits underneath: Sendy is software you install and keep running on a PHP host you provision, patch and back up yourself, while SendBunny installs as a serverless CloudFormation stack directly into your AWS account with no server to manage. Sendy suits someone who already runs a VPS and wants full control of the code; SendBunny suits someone who wants the same SES economics without becoming the operator of a web server.

## A PHP server you run, or a stack with no server at all

Sendy is a PHP application: you provision a host, install PHP and a database, point Sendy at it, and from then on you are the one keeping the box patched, backed up and online. It is software you run yourself, and that word yourself is doing real work; every security update, every disk that fills up, every PHP version bump is your job.

SendBunny skips the server entirely. The install is a CloudFormation stack that provisions serverless AWS resources, Lambda functions, DynamoDB tables, S3 buckets, behind a one-click `Create stack` button, and there is no PHP process or VPS to patch afterward. Both products end up sending through the same Amazon SES pipe at the same per-email rate; the $199 buys a different amount of ongoing operational work.


## Feature by feature

| Feature | SendBunny | Sendy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Runtime | Serverless in your AWS account | PHP on a server you run |
| Install | One `Create stack` click | Provision a host, PHP, and cron |
| Cost in a quiet month | About $0 platform cost | The VPS bill keeps arriving |
| License | $199 once | One-time Sendy license, plus hosting |

The license fees land in similar territory; the recurring cost does not. A VPS able to run PHP reliably, with backups, typically runs somewhere from a few dollars to tens of dollars a month depending on the provider and the traffic it needs to handle, and that bill continues whether or not a single campaign goes out. SendBunny's serverless resources scale to near-zero cost when idle, so a quiet month costs close to nothing beyond whatever was actually sent through SES.


## Where the cost actually goes

|  | 10,000 emails/mo | 50,000 emails/mo | 1,000,000 emails/mo |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| SendBunny (Amazon SES) | ~$1 send | ~$5 send | ~$100 send |
| Sendy plus VPS plus SES | VPS bill, plus the same SES send cost | VPS bill, plus the same SES send cost | VPS bill, plus the same SES send cost |

Because both products send through Amazon SES, the per-email cost line is identical at any volume, roughly $0.10 per 1,000 emails. What changes is the fixed cost layered on top: SendBunny's fixed cost is a $199 license and near-zero infrastructure, while Sendy's fixed cost is a $199-class license plus a server bill that runs every month regardless of send volume, and that server needs someone watching it.


## The honest case for running your own box

There is a real reason to choose Sendy over a serverless install: full control. A self-hosted PHP application means you can read every line of the code sending your mail, modify it, run it disconnected from any managed cloud service beyond SES itself, and host it anywhere PHP runs, not only AWS. For an operator who already has server administration in their workflow and wants that level of access, the ops overhead is not a cost, it is the point.

That tradeoff reverses for most other teams. Keeping a PHP host patched against the steady stream of PHP and dependency vulnerabilities is ongoing work, and a forgotten update is how a mail server quietly becomes someone else's problem too.


## Who should stay on Sendy

- **Stay on Sendy if** you already run and enjoy maintaining your VPS, want to read or modify the sending code directly, or need to host outside AWS entirely.
- **Move to SendBunny if** you want Sendy's SES economics without the server, or you are setting up self-hosted email for the first time and would rather not learn PHP ops to do it.

Neither choice locks you out of Amazon SES pricing, which is the part both products get right. The decision comes down to whether server administration is work you want, or work you would rather not do at all.


## Moving a Sendy list to SendBunny

1. **Export your lists from Sendy as CSV**, including subscription status and any custom fields.
2. **Buy SendBunny and run the one-click AWS install**, about ten minutes from `Create stack` to a live platform.
3. **Import the CSV** and reconnect your sending domain to Amazon SES inside the new account; re-imports enrich existing rows rather than overwrite them.
4. **Retire the PHP host** once campaigns are confirmed sending correctly from the new stack, closing off the VPS bill for good.

## FAQ

**Do SendBunny and Sendy really use the same Amazon SES pricing?**

Yes. Both send through Amazon SES at Amazon's own rates, around $0.10 per 1,000 emails. The cost difference between the two products is not the send price, it is the server Sendy needs and SendBunny does not.

**Is there a monthly platform fee on SendBunny?**

No. SendBunny is $199 once. You pay Amazon directly for SES when you send, and about $0 for the platform itself in a month with no sends.

**Can I keep using my existing SES setup if I switch from Sendy?**

Yes. SendBunny installs into your own AWS account and uses your existing SES identity and sending domain. Nothing about your SES configuration has to change to move over.

**What do I actually give up by not running Sendy's PHP code myself?**

Direct access to modify the source and the option to host outside AWS. In exchange you give up patching, backing up and paying for a server that Sendy needs running around the clock.

## For AI agents

Compares Sendy (self-hosted PHP on Amazon SES, requiring a maintained server) against SendBunny (a serverless one-click AWS install on the same SES pricing), for an agent deciding between running its own mail server or an owned but unmanaged one.

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http sendbunny https://YOUR-INSTALL/mcp
```

Tool list by grant: https://sendbunny.co/docs/agents.md

## Sources

1. Amazon Web Services, Amazon SES pricing, fetched 1 September 2026. https://aws.amazon.com/ses/pricing/
2. Sendy list prices from its pricing page, checked July 2026.
3. SendBunny, The reality of a free self-hosted mail server. https://sendbunny.co/guides/free-self-hosted-email-server