As you might be aware, Magic Pages has been using Amazon SES for email sending since launch. The main reason was pricing – in the beginning, every cent mattered, so investing time to adapt Ghost to send emails through SES was the right choice compared to Mailgun's significantly higher running costs.
Now, 20 months later, the situation has changed. Magic Pages will be moving its entire email infrastructure to Mailgun.
Amazon SES will be turned off at Magic Pages on January 31, 2025, 23:59 UTC. Therefore, you will need to take action until then to ensure your email sending is not interrupted.
Why I am Making This Change
Magic Pages is now a healthy business with a loyal customer base (thank you, everyone 🙏). It has established itself as a serious contender in the Ghost hosting space, and it's time to focus on simplifying operations and reducing technical complexity.
Removing the SES implementation frees up capacities used to maintain it. It means that I am re-implementing a standard that is tested in thousands of Ghost sites – Mailgun.
The direct benefits for you:
- Better alignment with Ghost's core developments
- Standard implementation tested across thousands of Ghost sites
- Full feature parity with Ghost's native email capabilities
What You Need To Do
This is a self-service transition you can complete anytime before January 31, 2025, 23:59 UTC. Let me walk you through the process step by step.
Current Setup (To Be Removed)
Right now, your domain has 3 CNAME records that control the DKIM signature for your outgoing emails. They look something like this:
These can be removed once you've completed the migration to Mailgun.
Setting Up Mailgun
First, head over to your Magic Pages customer portal and navigate to the Domain tab. You'll have two options for sending emails:
- Use the shared .mymagic.page domain
- Set up your own custom sending domain (recommended)
If you choose to use a custom sending domain (which I recommend), you'll need to:
- Enter a subdomain of your root domain (e.g.,
mail.example.com) - Add several DNS records that Mailgun needs
Why a subdomain? Using something like mail.example.com rather than your root domain (example.com) means that any email deliverability issues will only affect that subdomain. This protects your main domain, which you might use for other important things like your website or business email. And yes. You can still send your emails from e.g. newsletter@example.com.
Once you've chosen a subdomain, you will need to set several DNS records:
For the best possible email deliverability, your sending domain should have MX records. If you already have MX records set up, they'll stay as they are. If you don't have any, Magic Pages will show you the necessary Mailgun MX records during setup.
Your Ghost site will restart, once you confirm these new records. This will take 1-2 minutes.
After everything is working, you can remove those old SES records I showed you at the beginning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will there be any downtime during the migration?
Only a brief 1-2 minute restart of your Ghost site when you activate the new email setup. This is comparable to a normal Ghost update that happens on a weekly basis.
Can I still send emails from my root domain (like newsletter@example.com)?
Yes! Even if you use a subdomain like mail.example.com for the technical setup, you can still send emails from any address at your root domain.
What happens if I don't migrate by January 31, 2025?
Email sending through Amazon SES will stop working. To avoid any interruption in your newsletter service, please complete the migration before the deadline.
Will this affect my existing newsletters or subscriber lists?
No, all your subscribers, newsletter settings, and email templates will remain exactly the same. Only the underlying email delivery system changes.
Do I need to update anything in my Ghost admin panel?
No, all changes happen on the Magic Pages side. Your Ghost admin interface and settings stay the same.
What happens to my email statistics and history?
All your historical email data remains accessible. Future email statistics will be available in the same place as before.
I already use Mailgun for something else. Can I use the same subdomain?
It's best to use a different subdomain for Magic Pages to avoid any conflicts. For example, if you use mail.example.com for your business email, you could use newsletter.example.com for Magic Pages.
Why is a custom domain recommended over the shared domain?
Custom domains typically have better deliverability rates and give you more control over your email reputation. However, the shared domain is perfectly fine for smaller newsletters or if you want a simpler setup.
Will you open source your SES integration?
No, not at this moment. The SES integration for Magic Pages isn't upstream compatible with Ghost core. While I might refactor this in the future, I can't make any promises about if or when this might happen.