AWS bill line item
AWSSecretsManagerAPIRequest
Billing for API calls to Secrets Manager (retrieving, describing, writing, and listing secrets) at a small per-10,000-requests rate; every operation counts, not just retrievals.
Secrets Manager API request charge
Verified against official AWS documentation last checked
Why it shows up
This spikes when application code fetches a secret on every invocation instead of caching it: a function calling the retrieval API on every cold and warm invocation, or a container re-reading a secret on every request rather than once at startup.
High-frequency polling patterns (health checks, config-refresh loops) can also drive this up even though no secret value changed.
How to cut it
- Cache secret values client-side (in memory, or via a caching library) so repeated calls don't hit the API each time.
- Fetch secrets once per process/container lifecycle rather than per invocation.
- Reduce polling frequency for rotation-check or config-refresh loops; react to rotation events instead of repeatedly polling.
- Group by usage type and API operation to find which call type and caller is driving volume.
How to read a usage type
AWSSecretsManagerAPIRequest carries no region or direction token, so there's nothing to break down here.
Source
Source: AWS docs →Found AWSSecretsManagerAPIRequest on your own bill?
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