How can I prevent excessive SES billing

Question

According to the SES pricing details
"...When an incoming message is addressed to at least one email address that matches an address in an active receipt rule, you pay for that message..."
This indicates if I deactivated all active receipt rules, I could no longer be billed for any further incoming emails. I'm asking this as I would like to prevent large bills in case one of the the email recipients (verified domains, etc) became the target of some SPAM process, etc. Is this assumption correct?

Kidd Ip · Accepted Answer

Yes, Disabling All Active Receipt Rules Stops Billing for Incoming Messages, Amazon SES charges for incoming messages only when they match an address in an active receipt rule. So if you deactivate all receipt rules, SES will:
•	Still receive the email at the MX endpoint
•	But won’t process or store the message
•	And you won’t be billed for that message

Manvitha Potluri · Answer

If you deactivate all active receipt rules, then no incoming emails will be processed or billed, even if your domain is targeted by spam. SES only charges when an incoming message matches a rule with an action (like storing or forwarding). To protect against unexpected charges, simply remove or disable all receipt rules if you’re not expecting any inbound mail.
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To safely prevent unwanted billing:
Option 1: Disable all Receipt Rules
Go to SES > Email Receiving > Rule Sets
Set your active rule set to none, or deactivate/delete rules
SES will drop the messages silently, and you won’t be charged.

Option 2: Add a spam filtering Lambda
If you still want to accept certain mail but discard spam, create a rule with a Lambda action that:
Rejects spam based on headers or sender
Only forwards/stores legitimate messages

This adds a layer of cost control and logic before accepting delivery.

How can I prevent excessive SES billing

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