[alexashka]

This may be off topic but how hard is it to setup amazon simple email service and send out emails for close to 0$/mo by comparison?

Are these websites doing something other than a pretty UI for AWS SES for non technical folks?

[manishsharan]

This. I have been searching for SES on this discussion and nobody seems to be using it except perhaps you and I. My email marketing costs are a fraction of all the providers listed in the article thanks to AWS SES. And building a small custom solution with AWS SES APIs is almost trivial.

[tester457]

Pretty UI with automations are all these websites seem to be.

I'm leaning towards using AWS SES and Mautic for automation. Mautic is open source and can replace these overpriced UIs.