CloudWatch Metric Guide
CountAmazon API Gateway CloudWatch metric
Count is the total number of API requests API Gateway received in a given period, across all response codes. AWS represents this metric with the SampleCount statistic.
What it measures
About Count
Count is the total number of API requests API Gateway received in a given period, across all response codes. AWS represents this metric with the SampleCount statistic.
| Namespace | AWS/ApiGateway |
| Metric name | Count |
| Unit | Count |
| AWS docs | Official Amazon API Gateway metrics reference |
Why this metric matters
Count is the denominator behind every other API Gateway rate metric — the 4XXError and 5XXError Average statistics are both this metric's value dividing the error counts, so a broken or missing Count reading (or a Count that's dropped for reasons unrelated to errors) can quietly distort your error-rate alarms. It's also the most direct traffic and cost signal API Gateway exposes: request volume drives both API Gateway's own per-request pricing and, indirectly, load on whatever backend it fronts.
Most teams reach for Count only as a spike alarm (protecting against a DDoS or a runaway retry loop driving up cost), which is reasonable, but a sudden drop to near-zero is frequently the more urgent signal — it usually means traffic isn't reaching API Gateway at all: a DNS misconfiguration, a CloudFront distribution pointed at the wrong origin, or an upstream client-side outage. A drop can be a silent, error-free-looking outage precisely because there's nothing left to generate 4xx/5xx errors from.
Recommended alarm threshold for Count
Recommended threshold
Count drops below 50% of its trailing same-hour-of-week baseline for 10 consecutive minutes
AWS does not publish a target request volume — the right number is entirely workload-specific, so a static Count threshold (Nuberio recommendation) is fragile against normal daily/weekly traffic patterns. A baseline-relative drop alarm (ideally via CloudWatch Anomaly Detection rather than a fixed percentage) is more robust; pair it with a separate upper-bound spike alarm sized to your expected peak plus headroom if cost or downstream capacity protection is also a goal.
Is your Count alarm already set up correctly?
The free Nuberio Audit scans your CloudWatch setup and flags missing or misconfigured alarms — including Count — in 5 minutes.
Common failures that show up in Count
When Count reaches an alarm threshold, these are the most common root causes — in order of how often Nuberio sees them across customer AWS accounts.
Upstream DNS or CDN misconfiguration — a Route 53 record or CloudFront distribution change stops routing client traffic to the API Gateway custom domain
Client-side outage unrelated to your infrastructure — the calling application, mobile app release, or third-party integration stops sending requests
Certificate expiration on a custom domain — an expired ACM certificate causes clients to fail TLS handshakes before a request ever reaches API Gateway, so it never shows up as a 4xx/5xx
Runaway retry loop or bot traffic — a client-side bug or scraper drives Count far above baseline, inflating cost and load on the backend
Regional failover or deployment cutover — traffic that used to hit this API's stage is now routed to a different region, stage, or API entirely
How the Nuberio Audit checks Count
The free Audit scans every Amazon API Gateway resource in your account and checks whether a Count alarm exists, whether its threshold and evaluation period are configured sensibly, and flags it if it's missing entirely. Every finding comes with the exact CLI command to fix it — read-only access, no credit card, results in about 5 minutes.
Nuberio Audit
Scans your CloudWatch setup for missing or misconfigured Count alarms. Free, 5-minute read-only scan.
Related Amazon API Gateway metrics
Count rarely fails in isolation. These metrics tend to correlate — monitor them together for complete Amazon API Gateway coverage.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Count
Common questions about setting up CloudWatch alarms for Count in Amazon API Gateway.
What is the recommended CloudWatch alarm threshold for Count?+
Count drops below 50% of its trailing same-hour-of-week baseline for 10 consecutive minutes. AWS does not publish a target request volume — the right number is entirely workload-specific, so a static Count threshold (Nuberio recommendation) is fragile against normal daily/weekly traffic patterns. A baseline-relative drop alarm (ideally via CloudWatch Anomaly Detection rather than a fixed percentage) is more robust; pair it with a separate upper-bound spike alarm sized to your expected peak plus headroom if cost or downstream capacity protection is also a goal.
Which CloudWatch namespace does Count belong to?+
Count is published in the AWS/ApiGateway namespace with a unit of Count. You can find it in the CloudWatch console under "Metrics" → "AWS/ApiGateway". See the Amazon API Gateway CloudWatch metrics reference in the AWS documentation.
Does Nuberio automatically create CloudWatch alarms for Count?+
No — the free Nuberio Audit does not create alarms for you. It scans your CloudWatch setup and tells you which Amazon API Gateway resources are missing a Count alarm, then gives you the exact CLI command to create it yourself.
Can I use Nuberio without already having a Count alarm set up?+
Yes. The free Audit works whether or not you have any Count alarm configured — it reads the resource directly from CloudWatch and tells you which resources need one, plus the copy-paste AWS CLI command to create it.
This page is part of the CloudWatch metric guide — thresholds and debugging guidance for every metric across RDS, Lambda, ECS, ALB, EC2, and DynamoDB. To find which Amazon API Gateway alarms your account is missing — including Count — run the free CloudWatch alarm audit. The scan takes under 5 minutes and requires no account.