Quick Answer
Last verified:
Medium confidence

AWS Secrets Manager costs Free to $0.40 per secret/month as of July 2026, with 2 plans available including a free tier. Plans: Free Plan (free), and Per-Secret Pricing at $0.4/secret/month. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

  • Free tier: Yes

AWS Secrets Manager offers 2 pricing tiers: Free Plan, Per-Secret Pricing. A free plan is available. Paid plans include Per-Secret Pricing at $0.4/user/month. The Per-Secret Pricing plan is all secrets management needs.

Last verified: | Sources: 2 pricing pages and reviews
Know Before You Buy — See AWS Secrets Manager Plans

AWS Secrets Manager lists $0-$0.4/secret/month, but hidden costs like implementation and support add to the total as of July 2026. Key hidden costs: aws key management service (kms) for cmk, kms cmk automatic key rotation, aws lambda for secret rotation. Verified from 2 sources by CostBench.

Hidden Costs Breakdown

1

AWS Key Management Service (KMS) for CMK

medium addon

Using a customer-managed key (CMK) for encryption costs $1.00 per month per key, plus $0.03 per 10,000 KMS API calls.

industry

However, if a customer-managed key (CMK) is used for compliance or cross-account access, it costs $1.00 per month per key, plus $0.03 per 10,000 KMS API calls

2

KMS CMK Automatic Key Rotation

low addon

Enabling automatic key rotation for a customer-managed key (CMK) costs an additional $1.00 per month per newly generated backing key.

industry

Enabling automatic key rotation for a CMK also costs an additional $1.00 per month per newly generated backing key

3

AWS Lambda for Secret Rotation

low addon

Automatic secret rotation uses Lambda functions, which are charged at current Lambda rates, typically less than $0.01 per month for most rotation schedules.

industry

Typical costs for Lambda rotation functions are negligible, often less than $0.01 per month for most rotation schedules, even for daily rotations of 100 secrets

4

CloudWatch Logs for Rotation Functions

low addon

Logging for rotation functions incurs CloudWatch Logs costs, typically less than $0.10 per month for rotation logs.

industry

CloudWatch Logs: Logging for rotation functions incurs CloudWatch Logs costs, typically less than $0.10 per month for rotation logs (ingestion at $0.50/GB, storage at $0.03/GB/month)

5

Data Transfer Out of AWS/Between Regions

medium overage

Data transfer out of AWS or between regions can incur costs, though cross-region replication for Secrets Manager itself has no additional charge beyond the cost of each replica secret.

industry

However, cross-region replication for Secrets Manager itself has no additional charge beyond the cost of each replica secret

6

API Call Charges

high overage

API requests are charged at $0.05 per 10,000 requests, which can quickly add up with frequent secret reads without client-side caching.

industry

These costs can quickly add up, especially with frequent secret reads in microservices or without client-side caching

7

Environment and Team Sprawl

high implementation

Requiring separate secrets for different environments and teams directly increases storage costs, potentially leading to a monthly cost of approximately $180 for 400 secrets.

industry

For instance, 100 production secrets could become 400 across four environments, leading to a monthly cost of approximately $180 (assuming $0.40/secret and $5/month for API calls)

8

Developer Productivity Impact

high implementation

Teams have reported spending 15-20 hours per month on manual credential management, representing an indirect engineering cost.

industry

Developer Productivity Impact: Teams using AWS Secrets Manager have reported spending 15-20 hours per month on manual credential management, including navigating the console, updating local environments, and coordinating access requests, which represents an indirect engineering cost

9

Vendor Lock-in

critical migration

Deep integration with AWS services can lead to vendor lock-in, making migration to alternative solutions a significant engineering effort reported as 3-6 months.

industry

Vendor Lock-in: Deep integration with AWS services (IAM, SDK, CloudFormation/CDK) can lead to vendor lock-in, making migration to alternative solutions a significant engineering effort (reported as 3-6 months) if multi-cloud strategies or acquisitions necessitate a change

10

Security Anti-patterns due to Pricing

critical compliance

The per-secret pricing can inadvertently incentivize teams to minimize secret counts, leading to anti-patterns like combining multiple credentials or reusing secrets, which increases security risks.

industry

Security Anti-patterns due to Pricing: The per-secret pricing of $0.40/month can inadvertently incentivize teams to minimize secret counts, leading to anti-patterns like combining multiple credentials into single JSON secrets (defeating granular access control), reusing secrets across environments, or delaying key rotation, which increases security risks

Frequently Asked Questions

01 What hidden costs should I budget for with AWS Secrets Manager?

Beyond the license fee, budget for: AWS Key Management Service (KMS) for CMK ($1.00 per month per key, plus $0.03 per 10,000 KMS API calls); KMS CMK Automatic Key Rotation ($1.00 per month per newly generated backing key); AWS Lambda for Secret Rotation (less than $0.01 per month); CloudWatch Logs for Rotation Functions (less than $0.10 per month); API Call Charges ($0.05 per 10,000 requests); Environment and Team Sprawl (approximately $180); Developer Productivity Impact (15-20 hours per month); Vendor Lock-in (3-6 months). Exact totals depend on your deployment size and negotiated terms.

02 Does AWS Secrets Manager charge for implementation?

AWS Secrets Manager implementation is not included in the license cost. Requiring separate secrets for different environments and teams directly increases storage costs, potentially leading to a monthly cost of approximately $180 for 400 secrets.. Estimated impact: approximately $180.

03 How much does AWS Secrets Manager support cost?

Premium support pricing for AWS Secrets Manager depends on your tier and contract terms. See the sourced cost breakdown above for any verified figures we have.

04 Are there overage or storage costs with AWS Secrets Manager?

Data transfer out of AWS or between regions can incur costs, though cross-region replication for Secrets Manager itself has no additional charge beyond the cost of each replica secret..

05 What add-ons cost extra with AWS Secrets Manager?

Add-on pricing for AWS Secrets Manager varies by feature. The sourced cost breakdown above lists any verified add-on costs we have.

Now You Know the Real Cost — See AWS Secrets Manager Plans

Check current AWS Secrets Manager pricing

Prices and terms change; verify against the live pricing page.

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