{
  "slug": "sftp-csv-feeds",
  "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/sftp-csv-feeds/",
  "name": "SFTP and CSV vendor feeds",
  "vendor": "Any vendor that exports files",
  "aliases": [
    "SFTP feed",
    "CSV feed",
    "flat file integration",
    "file drop integration",
    "custodial file feed",
    "iCapital file feed",
    "APEX file feed"
  ],
  "website": "https://sectorgrowth.com/services/custom-integrations",
  "category": {
    "slug": "data-and-sync-platforms",
    "name": "Data and sync platforms",
    "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/categories/data-and-sync-platforms/"
  },
  "summary": "A nightly CSV on an SFTP server is all some ERPs, payroll platforms, carriers, 3PLs and custodians will ever give you, with no endpoint to call.",
  "answer": "No. Each vendor's file feed is specific to the vendor sending it, so the HubSpot App Marketplace has nothing generic to list, as of September 2026. When a vendor's only export is a scheduled CSV drop, the route is a pipeline you own, and we have built one. Budget 10 to 20 hours of discovery and 70 to 150 hours of build.",
  "nativeApp": {
    "status": "none",
    "verifiedAt": "2026-09-22"
  },
  "api": {
    "style": "file",
    "auth": "sftp",
    "webhooks": "no",
    "changedSince": "no",
    "sandbox": "yes",
    "rateLimit": "None on the file side. HubSpot's per-app limits govern the load.",
    "docsUrl": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transfer/latest/userguide/what-is-aws-transfer-family.html"
  },
  "objects": [
    {
      "source": "Customer or account row",
      "hubspot": "contact",
      "direction": "to_hubspot",
      "key": "Vendor account number in a unique property on the contact",
      "notes": "Never the name. The same customer is spelled two ways across two files."
    },
    {
      "source": "Company or parent account row",
      "hubspot": "company",
      "direction": "to_hubspot",
      "key": "Vendor company id, associated to each of its contacts"
    },
    {
      "source": "Order or transaction row",
      "hubspot": "custom",
      "direction": "to_hubspot",
      "key": "Vendor order or transaction id, associated to the contact"
    },
    {
      "source": "Balance or stock-level snapshot row",
      "hubspot": "custom",
      "direction": "to_hubspot",
      "key": "Account number plus item identifier",
      "notes": "A missing row usually means the record closed. Confirm it before acting."
    },
    {
      "source": "Product or item detail row",
      "hubspot": "product",
      "direction": "to_hubspot",
      "key": "Vendor product code or SKU"
    },
    {
      "source": "Activity or event row",
      "hubspot": "engagement",
      "direction": "to_hubspot",
      "key": "Vendor activity id, associated to the contact"
    }
  ],
  "approaches": [
    {
      "kind": "custom",
      "fit": "recommended",
      "why": "A managed transfer endpoint, object storage and a state machine give you the run history, the retry behaviour and the failed-file quarantine that a money feed needs. The validation rules live in code you can read."
    },
    {
      "kind": "ipaas",
      "fit": "possible",
      "why": "A file-aware integration platform can watch a folder and map columns with no code. It fits a single small file landing in a standard object, and stops fitting when several files must load in a fixed order."
    },
    {
      "kind": "data-sync",
      "fit": "avoid",
      "why": "HubSpot Data Sync connects to applications, not to a folder of files. There is no connector to point at an SFTP server, so this route does not start."
    }
  ],
  "effort": {
    "discoveryHours": [
      10,
      20
    ],
    "buildHours": [
      70,
      150
    ],
    "buildBand": "70 to 150 hours",
    "typicalElapsed": "4 to 8 weeks"
  },
  "pattern": "sftp-etl",
  "faqs": [
    {
      "q": "Is there a HubSpot app that imports a vendor's SFTP file feed?",
      "a": "Searching the HubSpot Marketplace for this finds nothing to install, which is expected. A file feed is an integration shape rather than a product, so no vendor publishes an app for it. The connection is always something built around the specific files a vendor sends."
    },
    {
      "q": "Why not use the HubSpot import tool for a recurring CSV?",
      "a": "The import tool is built for one-time loads by a person. It has no schedule, no validation rules of your own, no retry, and no record of what happened last night. A recurring vendor feed needs all four, and it needs them to run at 2am without anyone logged in."
    },
    {
      "q": "What happens when a vendor changes a column in the CSV?",
      "a": "The validator refuses the file rather than loading part of it. Matching happens on header names instead of column position, so a renamed or added column is detected before any write. The run reports which headers were expected and which arrived, and the file moves to a failed prefix where it can be replayed after the mapping is updated."
    },
    {
      "q": "How do you avoid duplicate contacts when the same file is delivered twice?",
      "a": "Every write is a batch upsert keyed on the vendor's account number held in a unique HubSpot property, so loading the same file again updates the same records. The pipeline also moves each file between processing, processed and failed prefixes, so a retry cannot pick up an object that is already in flight."
    },
    {
      "q": "Where should transactions from a vendor feed live in HubSpot?",
      "a": "On custom objects associated to the contact, not on the contact itself. One customer can have many orders and thousands of transactions, and flattening them into contact properties destroys the history and hits property limits fast. Custom objects keep each row addressable and let a list or workflow filter on them directly."
    },
    {
      "q": "How often can an SFTP feed load into HubSpot?",
      "a": "As often as the vendor publishes, because the load starts when a file lands rather than on a clock. Most vendor feeds are nightly, and some are weekly. The pipeline reacts within seconds of the upload completing, so the practical limit is the vendor's schedule rather than anything on the HubSpot side."
    },
    {
      "q": "What does the pipeline do with a file that fails validation?",
      "a": "It quarantines it. The file moves to a failed prefix, the state machine execution ends in a failed state, and an alert goes to the delivery channel with the reason. Nothing partial is written to HubSpot. Once the mapping is corrected, the same file is replayed from the failed prefix and loads normally."
    },
    {
      "q": "How many hours does an SFTP to HubSpot pipeline take to build?",
      "a": "A feed of several files landing in contacts plus custom objects with associations runs 10 to 20 hours of discovery and 70 to 150 hours of build. A single file into a single standard object sits well below that. Most of the range is validation rules, association ordering and the operational pieces."
    }
  ],
  "sections": [
    {
      "depth": 2,
      "text": "Why teams connect SFTP and CSV vendor feeds to HubSpot",
      "anchor": "#why-teams-connect-sftp-and-csv-vendor-feeds-to-hubspot",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/sftp-csv-feeds/#why-teams-connect-sftp-and-csv-vendor-feeds-to-hubspot"
    },
    {
      "depth": 2,
      "text": "What syncs",
      "anchor": "#what-syncs",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/sftp-csv-feeds/#what-syncs"
    },
    {
      "depth": 2,
      "text": "Architecture",
      "anchor": "#architecture",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/sftp-csv-feeds/#architecture"
    },
    {
      "depth": 2,
      "text": "Three ways to connect",
      "anchor": "#three-ways-to-connect",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/sftp-csv-feeds/#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/sftp-csv-feeds/#what-breaks-and-how-we-prevent-it"
    },
    {
      "depth": 3,
      "text": "A file that never arrives",
      "anchor": "#a-file-that-never-arrives",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/sftp-csv-feeds/#a-file-that-never-arrives"
    },
    {
      "depth": 3,
      "text": "Column drift between releases",
      "anchor": "#column-drift-between-releases",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/sftp-csv-feeds/#column-drift-between-releases"
    },
    {
      "depth": 3,
      "text": "The same file arriving twice",
      "anchor": "#the-same-file-arriving-twice",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/sftp-csv-feeds/#the-same-file-arriving-twice"
    },
    {
      "depth": 3,
      "text": "A load that fails partway",
      "anchor": "#a-load-that-fails-partway",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/sftp-csv-feeds/#a-load-that-fails-partway"
    },
    {
      "depth": 2,
      "text": "Our approach",
      "anchor": "#our-approach",
      "url": "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/integrations/sftp-csv-feeds/#our-approach"
    }
  ],
  "caseStudies": [
    "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/case-studies/sftp-vendor-feeds-hubspot-aws/"
  ],
  "guides": [
    "https://apps.sectorgrowth.com/guides/choose-a-hubspot-integration-approach/"
  ],
  "builtBySectorGrowth": true,
  "status": "published",
  "verifiedAt": "2026-09-22",
  "updatedAt": "2026-09-25",
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Prash",
      "role": "Lead of Technical Integrations and AI Solutions"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "What is AWS Transfer Family?",
      "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transfer/latest/userguide/what-is-aws-transfer-family.html"
    },
    {
      "title": "What is Step Functions?",
      "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/step-functions/latest/dg/welcome.html"
    },
    {
      "title": "Custom object records API guide",
      "url": "https://developers.hubspot.com/docs/api-reference/legacy/crm/objects/custom-objects/guide"
    }
  ]
}