How to Setup AWS SES SMTP Credentials

Summary

When setting up AWS Simple Email Service (SES) for SMTP, you must not use a regular IAM access key.
Instead, SES requires a special SMTP credential pair that’s created through the SES console.

Applies To

Administrators integrating AWS SES for outbound email through SMTP.

Before You Begin

Ensure you have:

• Access to the AWS Management Console

• The correct SES region selected

• Admin permissions to create IAM users and SMTP credentials

Steps

1. Go to the AWS SES Console
   Sign in to your AWS account and open the SES service.

2. Navigate to SMTP Settings
   In the left-hand menu, select “SMTP Settings.”

3. Click “Create SMTP Credentials”
   This will launch a guided process that:

   • Creates a new IAM user with the appropriate Amazon SES sending policy

   • Generates a valid SMTP username and password

4. Copy and Save Your SMTP Credentials
   The SMTP username will look like:
   AKIAxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
   The SMTP password will be a long encoded string, not your AWS secret key.

Important Notes

Do not use regular AWS Access Keys (created under IAM → Security Credentials).
Only credentials created via “Create SMTP Credentials” in SES will work for SMTP.

How to Test

1. In your application’s email settings, enter:

   • SMTP Host: email-smtp.<region>.amazonaws.com

   • SMTP Port: 587 (or 465 for SSL)

   • Encryption: TLS

   • Username: Your SES SMTP username

   • Password: Your SES SMTP password

2. Send a test email to verify configuration.

See images for visual reference