{
  "slug": "census",
  "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/census/",
  "name": "Census",
  "vendor": "Fivetran",
  "aliases": [
    "Fivetran Activations",
    "Census reverse ETL",
    "getcensus",
    "Census data activation"
  ],
  "website": "https://www.fivetran.com/data-movement/activations",
  "category": {
    "slug": "data-and-sync-platforms",
    "name": "Data and sync platforms",
    "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/categories/data-and-sync-platforms/"
  },
  "summary": "Census, now sold as Fivetran Activations, syncs warehouse tables into HubSpot. What its app writes, how it is billed, and where a keyed build wins.",
  "answer": "Yes. Census, now owned by Fivetran and sold as Fivetran Activations, publishes its own app in the HubSpot App Marketplace as of September 2026, and it fits warehouse tables that map cleanly onto HubSpot objects on a schedule. It stops being enough when a record needs branching rules, a write back into another system, or a reaction in seconds.",
  "nativeApp": {
    "status": "vendor-built",
    "name": "Census",
    "developer": "Census",
    "verifiedAt": "2026-09-25"
  },
  "api": {
    "style": "rest",
    "auth": "oauth2",
    "webhooks": "no",
    "changedSince": "yes",
    "sandbox": "unknown",
    "rateLimit": "110 requests every 10 seconds per HubSpot account, HubSpot's limit for a marketplace app",
    "docsUrl": "https://fivetran.com/docs/activations/destinations/available-destinations/hubspot"
  },
  "objects": [
    {
      "source": "Account table",
      "hubspot": "company",
      "direction": "to_hubspot",
      "key": "Warehouse account key in a unique single-line text property",
      "notes": "Object ID and domain also work as keys, but domain is not an identity."
    },
    {
      "source": "Person table",
      "hubspot": "contact",
      "direction": "to_hubspot",
      "key": "Email, with the HubSpot object ID where the warehouse holds it",
      "notes": "The only object with a delete behaviour, including GDPR delete."
    },
    {
      "source": "Order or subscription table",
      "hubspot": "deal",
      "direction": "to_hubspot",
      "key": "Source order identifier in a unique custom property",
      "notes": "A one-to-many association is set from the child side only."
    },
    {
      "source": "Order line table",
      "hubspot": "line_item",
      "direction": "to_hubspot",
      "key": "Order identifier plus line number, held in a unique property"
    },
    {
      "source": "Custom object table",
      "hubspot": "custom",
      "direction": "to_hubspot",
      "key": "A property registered in the object's searchable properties",
      "notes": "The registration is made through HubSpot's API, not in settings."
    },
    {
      "source": "Product event table",
      "hubspot": "engagement",
      "direction": "to_hubspot",
      "key": "Unique event ID",
      "notes": "Custom behavioural events, defined in HubSpot with their properties first."
    }
  ],
  "approaches": [
    {
      "kind": "native",
      "fit": "recommended",
      "why": "The Census app, now Fivetran Activations, syncs warehouse tables into HubSpot objects, events and lists incrementally, and bills on rows counted once per sync key each month. It suits keyed, modelled tables."
    },
    {
      "kind": "custom",
      "fit": "possible",
      "why": "A service we build is the better answer when each record needs a decision, when the same change must also reach an operational system, or when HubSpot has to reflect it within seconds."
    },
    {
      "kind": "ipaas",
      "fit": "avoid",
      "why": "Per-event automation tools have no idea of a warehouse table's previous state, so they cannot tell a changed row from an unchanged one or notice that a row has gone."
    }
  ],
  "effort": {
    "discoveryHours": [
      4,
      8
    ],
    "buildHours": [
      15,
      30
    ],
    "buildBand": "15 to 30 hours",
    "typicalElapsed": "1 to 2 weeks"
  },
  "pattern": "polling-watermark",
  "faqs": [
    {
      "q": "Is Census now part of Fivetran?",
      "a": "Yes. Fivetran agreed to acquire Census in 2025, and Census now runs inside Fivetran as Fivetran Activations. The Census website redirects to Fivetran, and its documentation sits in Fivetran's Activations docs. The HubSpot App Marketplace listing is still named Census and published by Census, so that is the name to search for when you install it."
    },
    {
      "q": "How is a Census sync into HubSpot billed today?",
      "a": "In monthly active rows: the unique rows a sync sends from the warehouse to HubSpot in a month, counted once per sync key however often they change. Each new activation carries a 14 day free trial, and Fivetran's Free plan includes 3,500 of those rows. Customers on an annual Census plan keep it until the term ends."
    },
    {
      "q": "Which HubSpot objects can a Census sync write to?",
      "a": "Companies, contacts, deals, leads, line items, products, appointments, tickets, custom objects, static lists, subscription preferences, custom behavioural events and email sends. Anything else can go through a generic HTTP request to a HubSpot API endpoint over the same connection. Custom objects need a HubSpot Enterprise plan, which is HubSpot's rule rather than Census's."
    },
    {
      "q": "How fresh is HubSpot data synced by Census?",
      "a": "As fresh as the schedule and the warehouse. Syncs run on a schedule or a cron expression, through the API, or after a dbt Cloud job, and each run sends only what changed since the last one. Census documents up to 10,000 contacts a second with the right configuration, and custom objects at about a third of standard speed."
    },
    {
      "q": "Does a Census mirror sync delete HubSpot records?",
      "a": "It archives them. When a row leaves the source, a mirror sync removes the matching HubSpot record with a soft delete, which puts the record in HubSpot's recycling bin, restorable for 90 days. A permanent GDPR delete exists only for contacts, behind its own toggle. A delete sync removes whatever IDs you give it, so a wrong list of IDs loses data. We leave mirror off and flag rows that leave the model for review."
    },
    {
      "q": "What does Census need from the HubSpot user who connects it?",
      "a": "Super Admin permissions, so it can reach every supported object, and an OAuth approval from inside HubSpot. The connection then works within HubSpot's limit for a marketplace app, 110 requests every 10 seconds per account. Uninstalling the app later stops new syncs and leaves every record already written unchanged."
    },
    {
      "q": "How much work is a Census to HubSpot setup?",
      "a": "Usually 4 to 8 hours of discovery and 15 to 30 hours to build, assuming the warehouse tables are already modelled. Most of it goes on unique key properties, custom object keys, a behaviour per object and a validation run in a HubSpot sandbox portal. Moving an account off a legacy Census plan is a check of its own."
    }
  ],
  "sections": [
    {
      "depth": 2,
      "text": "Why teams connect Census to HubSpot",
      "anchor": "#why-teams-connect-census-to-hubspot",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/census/#why-teams-connect-census-to-hubspot"
    },
    {
      "depth": 2,
      "text": "What syncs",
      "anchor": "#what-syncs",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/census/#what-syncs"
    },
    {
      "depth": 2,
      "text": "Architecture",
      "anchor": "#architecture",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/census/#architecture"
    },
    {
      "depth": 2,
      "text": "Three ways to connect",
      "anchor": "#three-ways-to-connect",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/census/#three-ways-to-connect"
    },
    {
      "depth": 2,
      "text": "What breaks and how we prevent it",
      "anchor": "#what-breaks-and-how-we-prevent-it",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/census/#what-breaks-and-how-we-prevent-it"
    },
    {
      "depth": 3,
      "text": "A sync key HubSpot cannot look up quickly",
      "anchor": "#a-sync-key-hubspot-cannot-look-up-quickly",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/census/#a-sync-key-hubspot-cannot-look-up-quickly"
    },
    {
      "depth": 3,
      "text": "Custom objects at a third of the speed",
      "anchor": "#custom-objects-at-a-third-of-the-speed",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/census/#custom-objects-at-a-third-of-the-speed"
    },
    {
      "depth": 3,
      "text": "Labels that leave default associations behind",
      "anchor": "#labels-that-leave-default-associations-behind",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/census/#labels-that-leave-default-associations-behind"
    },
    {
      "depth": 3,
      "text": "An email already held by another contact",
      "anchor": "#an-email-already-held-by-another-contact",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/census/#an-email-already-held-by-another-contact"
    },
    {
      "depth": 3,
      "text": "Mirror syncs that archive records",
      "anchor": "#mirror-syncs-that-archive-records",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/census/#mirror-syncs-that-archive-records"
    },
    {
      "depth": 2,
      "text": "Our approach",
      "anchor": "#our-approach",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/census/#our-approach"
    }
  ],
  "caseStudies": [],
  "guides": [
    "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/guides/reverse-etl-warehouse-to-hubspot/",
    "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/guides/choose-a-hubspot-integration-approach/"
  ],
  "builtBySectorGrowth": false,
  "status": "published",
  "verifiedAt": "2026-09-25",
  "updatedAt": "2026-09-25",
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Prash",
      "role": "Lead of Technical Integrations and AI Solutions"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "HubSpot | Activations Docs",
      "url": "https://fivetran.com/docs/activations/destinations/available-destinations/hubspot"
    },
    {
      "title": "Syncs | Activations Docs",
      "url": "https://fivetran.com/docs/activations/syncs"
    },
    {
      "title": "Activation Sources | Activations Docs",
      "url": "https://fivetran.com/docs/activations/sources"
    },
    {
      "title": "Available Sources | Activations Docs",
      "url": "https://fivetran.com/docs/activations/sources/available-sources"
    },
    {
      "title": "Census Migration Frequently Asked Questions",
      "url": "https://fivetran.com/docs/activations/census-migration-faq"
    },
    {
      "title": "Fivetran Signs Agreement to Acquire Census, Delivering the First End-to-End Data Movement Platform for the AI Era | Press | Fivetran",
      "url": "https://www.fivetran.com/press/fivetran-signs-agreement-to-acquire-census-delivering-the-first-end-to-end-data-movement-platform-for-the-ai-era"
    },
    {
      "title": "Fivetran Pricing: Calculating MAR, Plans & Cost Examples 2026",
      "url": "https://www.fivetran.com/pricing"
    },
    {
      "title": "Restore deleted records",
      "url": "https://knowledge.hubspot.com/records/restore-deleted-records"
    },
    {
      "title": "API usage guidelines and limits - HubSpot docs",
      "url": "https://developers.hubspot.com/docs/developer-tooling/platform/usage-guidelines"
    }
  ]
}