title: Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) - Should I use SMTP Interface or SES API?
body: <p>I'm new to Amazon SES and I see that there are two ways to programmatically send emails: </p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>SES API (<a href="http://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/DeveloperGuide/send-email-api.html">http://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/DeveloperGuide/send-email-api.html</a>)</li>
  <li>SES SMTP Interface (<a href="http://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/DeveloperGuide/send-using-smtp-java.html">http://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/DeveloperGuide/send-using-smtp-java.html</a>)</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p><strong>What are the pros and cons of each method?</strong> They seem interchangeable to me, but I'd like to hear from folks who have had experience with SES. </p>
  
  <p>In terms of my own requirements, I'll be sending transactional emails (i.e. receipts, account confirmation, etc.) and notification emails (i.e. "you have a new message", status change, etc.) to my users as they interact with my web and mobile app. If possible, I'd like to keep a history of all these outgoing emails. </p>