Supermetrics for SFTP
Connect Facebook Ads to SFTP — Universal File Delivery
Export your Facebook Ads data as structured files to any SFTP server. Feed legacy systems, on-premise databases, custom ETL pipelines, or proprietary platforms that consume file drops. SFTP works everywhere — no cloud vendor lock-in, no API integration required on the receiving end.
Why Connect Facebook Ads to SFTP?
Deliver Facebook Ads data as files to any server, any system, anywhere. SFTP is the universal connector — if your system can read a file, Supermetrics can feed it.
- Legacy ERPs, on-premise databases, proprietary BI tools, mainframe batch systems, custom Python scripts — they all read files. SFTP delivery means your Facebook Ads data reaches systems that have no API connector, no cloud access, and no modern integration capabilities. Drop a CSV in a directory; the system picks it up. Done.
- Your SFTP server sits inside your network. Supermetrics pushes files to it from the outside. Your internal systems never make outbound connections to cloud services — they just read files from a local directory. This satisfies IT security teams who restrict outbound traffic and require all data to arrive through controlled channels.
- Supermetrics handles the complex part — Facebook Ads API authentication, pagination, rate limiting, and data extraction. You get clean CSV or JSON files on your server. From there, a simple Python script, a bash cron job, or an Airflow task loads the data into your database, applies transformations, and triggers downstream processes. You control every step after the file lands.
- Unlike cloud-specific storage (S3, GCS, Azure Blob) that ties you to a vendor, SFTP runs on any Linux server, any hosting provider, any cloud VM, or your own hardware. CSV and JSON are universal formats. There is zero migration effort if you change your analytics stack — just point the new tool at the same directory.
- Set Supermetrics to deliver at 6 AM daily. Your import script runs at 7 AM, picks up the file, loads it into your database, and triggers report generation. No webhooks, no streaming, no real-time complexity. Batch processing is the workhorse of enterprise data — and SFTP is how batch data has been delivered for decades.
- Unlike plain FTP, SFTP runs over an SSH tunnel. All data is encrypted in transit. Use SSH key authentication for password-free, certificate-based access. Restrict the SFTP user to a chroot directory so Supermetrics can only write to a specific folder. Combined with Supermetrics' SOC 2 Type II certification, the full chain from API to file is encrypted and auditable.
How to Connect Facebook Ads to SFTP
Three steps. Under two minutes. Zero code.
- 1
Create a data transfer
Log into Supermetrics, select Facebook Ads as your source and SFTP as your destination.
- 2
Configure your SFTP server
Enter your SFTP hostname, port, username, and password or SSH key. Choose the remote directory and file format for your data deliveries.
- 3
Set schedule and start transfer
Choose your delivery frequency (hourly, daily, or weekly) and click Start. Your Facebook Ads data begins arriving as structured files on your SFTP server.
Facebook Ads Data Format in SFTP
Supermetrics delivers your Facebook Ads data in clean, structured files ready for downstream processing.
Comma-separated values — the universal file format. Parseable by every programming language, every database import tool, every spreadsheet, and every legacy system ever built.
Structured key-value format — ideal for programmatic consumption. Each record is a self-describing object, making it easy to parse with Python, Node.js, or any language with a JSON library.
Tab-separated values — preferred by some legacy systems and database bulk import tools (e.g., MySQL LOAD DATA INFILE). Avoids escaping issues with commas in field values.
What to Build with Facebook Ads Data in SFTP
Once your Facebook Ads data lands in SFTP, here's what becomes possible.
Database bulk import
Use LOAD DATA INFILE (MySQL), COPY (PostgreSQL), or bcp (SQL Server) to bulk-load Facebook Ads CSV files from your SFTP directory into your database. A cron job or scheduled task handles the import automatically each day.
Airflow DAG processing
Build an Apache Airflow DAG with an SFTPSensor that waits for new Facebook Ads files, then triggers downstream tasks: validation, transformation, warehouse loading, and report generation — all orchestrated automatically.
Legacy ERP or BI integration
Drop Facebook Ads files into the import directory of your ERP, legacy BI tool, or proprietary analytics platform. Any system that watches a folder for new files can consume Supermetrics deliveries without modification.
Custom Python/R analysis scripts
Read Facebook Ads CSV files with pandas (Python) or readr (R) for custom analysis, statistical modeling, or visualization. The files arrive clean and structured — just pd.read_csv() and start analyzing.
Compliance archiving
Use SFTP delivery as a compliance archive. Keep a dated copy of every Facebook Ads data delivery in a secure, access-controlled directory. Immutable file copies satisfy audit requirements for data lineage and historical record-keeping.
What Facebook Ads Data Can You Pull into SFTP?
Supermetrics gives SFTP access to your full Facebook Ads reporting data — metrics and dimensions you already know from the Facebook Ads interface.
Key Metrics
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Spend
- ROAS
- CPA
- CTR
- CPM
- Conversions
- Reach
- Frequency
- Video views
- Link clicks
- Cost per action
- Purchase value
- Add to cart
Key Dimensions
- Campaign name
- Ad set name
- Ad name
- Age
- Gender
- Placement
- Device
- Country
- Region
- Platform (Facebook / Instagram / Audience Network)
- Objective
- Delivery status
- Instagram placement (Feed / Stories / Reels / Explore)
Resources & Guides
How to optimize your Facebook ad campaigns
Facebook Ads report templates
PPC reporting: extract insights from paid campaigns
Why Supermetrics for SFTP?
Purpose-built for marketing data since 2009. 200,000+ companies trust Supermetrics to move 15% of global ad spend into reporting and analytics destinations.
No Vendor Lock-In
Your data lands in SFTP — infrastructure you own and control. Use any BI tool, any transformation layer, any ML platform. If you ever switch providers, your data and dashboards stay with you.
170+ Marketing Data Sources
Purpose-built for marketing data — not a generic ETL tool. Supermetrics covers 99% of metrics and dimensions from each source, with pre-structured tables ready for analysis. No transformation layer required.
Flexible File Formats
Export your Facebook Ads data as CSV, JSON, or Parquet. Choose the format that fits your downstream tools — whether that's a query engine, ML pipeline, or custom ETL.
Your Data, Your Infrastructure
Supermetrics moves data directly to your destination — nothing is stored on our servers. SOC 2 Type II certified, GDPR and CCPA compliant. Your data stays in infrastructure you control, simplifying privacy and compliance reviews.
Flat-Rate, Predictable Pricing
Fixed annual pricing regardless of data volume — no per-row charges, no surprise bills during peak campaign seasons. Transfer as much Facebook Ads data as you need without worrying about cost spikes.
No Data Limits
Query any date range, any number of campaigns, any level of granularity. No row limits, no sampling, no restrictions on the data you can pull.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Log into the Supermetrics Hub, create a new data transfer, select Facebook Ads as the source and SFTP as the destination. Enter your SFTP host, port, username, and password (or SSH key). Choose the remote directory, file format, and naming convention. Select your metrics and dimensions, set a schedule, and start the transfer. Supermetrics uploads structured files directly to your SFTP server on each scheduled run. Because SFTP is a standard protocol supported on every operating system — Linux, Windows, macOS, and any cloud VM — you can receive data on any server you already manage, with no proprietary agent or vendor SDK to install.
- SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) encrypts both the authentication handshake and the entire data payload over an SSH tunnel, meaning your Facebook Ads data is never exposed in plain text during transit. Combined with Supermetrics' SOC 2 Type II certification and GDPR compliance, your data is protected end-to-end. For hardened security, use SSH key authentication instead of passwords, restrict the SFTP user to a chroot jail directory, disable password login entirely, and configure your firewall to allow connections only from Supermetrics' published IP ranges. Unlike cloud-proprietary transfer methods, SSH encryption is an open standard with decades of security auditing behind it.
- Yes. You can set up multiple Supermetrics transfers delivering Facebook Ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and any other source to the same SFTP directory or organized into separate subdirectories on the same server. Because SFTP delivers plain files, your downstream workflow is entirely up to you: cron-scheduled shell scripts, Python or R pipelines, database LOAD DATA commands, or enterprise ETL tools can all pick up the files for unified processing. This file-based approach means zero vendor lock-in — if you ever change analytics platforms, your data is already in an open format. Supermetrics supports 170+ data sources, all deliverable to SFTP.
- All standard Facebook Ads reporting metrics and dimensions are available, including Impressions, Clicks, Spend, ROAS, CPA, CTR, and more. You select exactly which fields to include during setup. Data arrives as structured files (CSV or JSON) in the directory you specify, ready for processing by any tool that reads files — no API client libraries or cloud SDKs needed. This makes SFTP the most universal delivery method: whether your downstream system is a MySQL LOAD DATA INFILE, an on-premise SAS installation, a legacy ERP file import, or a custom Python script, the data just works.
- Transfers can run hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. Daily delivery is the most common setup. Each run uploads fresh files to your SFTP server, and you can match the delivery cadence with a cron job on your side: for example, schedule Supermetrics to deliver at 6 AM and your import script to run at 6:30 AM, so fresh Facebook Ads data is in your database before the team's morning standup. Because SFTP works with any server and any OS, you can run this workflow on a $5/month VPS or an enterprise data center — Supermetrics handles all the API complexity, and your server just receives clean, ready-to-process files.
- Supermetrics delivers data to SFTP in CSV and JSON formats. CSV is the most common choice for SFTP destinations because virtually every system can parse comma-separated values. JSON is better for applications that consume structured data programmatically. Choose the format that matches your downstream import process.
- Yes. You can configure the file name pattern to include date stamps, data source identifiers, and custom prefixes. For example, facebook_ads_2024-01-15.csv or daily_fb_performance_{date}.json. Consistent naming makes it easy for your scripts to identify and process new files.
- This depends on your configuration. You can set the transfer to create a new file with a unique name for each delivery (e.g., including a date stamp) or overwrite the same file path each time. New files per delivery are best for historical archiving; overwriting is best for "latest data" use cases where your system always reads the same file path.
- Yes. Supermetrics supports both password authentication and SSH key-based authentication for SFTP connections. SSH keys are more secure and recommended for production use — they eliminate password-based brute force risks and can be rotated without changing the Supermetrics configuration.
- Any standard SFTP server works — OpenSSH on Linux (the most common), any commercial SFTP server, or managed SFTP services like AWS Transfer Family or Azure Blob Storage SFTP endpoint. Supermetrics needs the hostname, port (default 22), credentials, and write access to the target directory. No special server-side software or plugins are required.
- Yes, though it adds a step. Many teams use SFTP as a landing zone and then run a script or scheduled job to load files into BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift, or another warehouse. If your warehouse supports native cloud storage (S3, GCS, Azure Blob), delivering directly to that storage is more efficient. SFTP is best when you need files on a server you control or when the destination system only accepts file-based imports.
Also Connect to SFTP
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