Hosted SFTP for developers

Every developer who has been handed “the partner needs SFTP” knows where it goes: a VM, an SSH daemon, an OS to keep patched, an authorized_keys file to manage, a cron job to sweep the inbox, and a script to push each file into whatever your application actually wants. That is a small fleet of moving parts standing between a file landing and your code seeing it. Hosted SFTP collapses that into an endpoint someone else operates — and FTPasHTTPS takes it one step further by making that endpoint API-native, so the upload arrives at your application as an HTTP request rather than a file on a volume you now have to guard.

How hosted SFTP works on FTPasHTTPS

1. Provision a server in the dashboard with a small JSON config — no VM, container or SSH daemon to stand up.
2. Register your partners' SSH public keys against named users; key management lives in the dashboard, not an authorized_keys file.
3. A client connects over SFTP with key auth and runs STOR (upload) or RETR (download) exactly as it would against any SFTP server.
4. On upload, the file bytes stream straight into the body of an HTTPS POST to your endpoint — or into S3, GCS, Azure Blob or another SFTP server — never touching disk.
5. On download, FTPasHTTPS calls your API and streams the returned bytes back to the client.
6. Your API's status maps to the client's transfer result: 200 becomes 226 Transfer complete, a 5xx becomes 451 Action aborted so the client retries.

Configuration + example

A hosted SFTP server is declared as a compact, IaC-friendly JSON document. You set the protocol, the SSH-key auth mode, the users with their public keys, and a forward target for where uploads should go:

# Hosted SFTP server with an HTTP POST forward
{
  "protocol": "sftp",
  "domain": "files.example.com",
  "auth": { "type": "ssh-key" },
  "users": [
    {
      "username": "acme-partner",
      "ssh_keys": [
        "ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAI..."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "forward": {
    "type": "http",
    "url": "https://api.example.com/v1/ingest",
    "method": "POST",
    "sign_with": "hmac-sha256"
  }
}

Your partner — or you, while testing — then connects with a normal SFTP client and puts a file. Nothing about the client side is special:

# Connect to your hosted SFTP endpoint and upload
sftp -i acme_key [email protected]
sftp> put orders-2026-06-20.csv
Uploading orders-2026-06-20.csv  100%   42KB
226 Transfer complete

# Behind the scenes, the bytes streamed into a signed
# POST to https://api.example.com/v1/ingest — no disk involved

FTPasHTTPS hosted SFTP vs. a DIY SFTP box

Concern	DIY: self-hosted SFTP box (+cron+script)	FTPasHTTPS hosted SFTP
OS patching & uptime	You own the VM, daemon and kernel CVEs	Managed for you — nothing to patch
Key management	Edit authorized_keys by hand	SSH keys managed per user in the dashboard
Where files go	Land on a disk, then a script moves them	Stream to your API, cloud or SFTP — no disk
Transforms	Extra script and dependencies	Inline CSV/JSON/XML, schema validation, PGP
Retries & DLQ	Hand-rolled, often missing	Exponential backoff + dead-letter queue
Audit trail	Scattered across syslog	Full audit log per transfer
Protocols	Usually SFTP only	FTP, FTPS and SFTP, IPv4/IPv6

When to use it (and the limits)

Hosted SFTP is the right call when a partner mandates SFTP but you would rather not own an internet-facing SSH daemon, when you want uploads to arrive as HTTP requests or land directly in cloud storage, and when you want SSH keys, transforms and retries managed for you. SFTP (SSH key auth), custom domains, inline transforms and schema validation begin on the Professional plan (€49/server/month: 10,000 transfers, 50GB). The Free and Starter tiers are FTP/FTPS only, so you can prototype the same forwarding contract over FTPS before a partner cuts over to SFTP.

A few limits worth knowing up front: forwarding happens per file at transfer time, so this is not a batch tool for re-syncing files you already have somewhere. Object keys and request shapes are derived from the upload, not from arbitrary client paths. And throughput is bounded by each plan's monthly transfer and size caps — 10,000 transfers / 50GB on Professional, 50,000 / 250GB on Enterprise. FTPasHTTPS is GDPR-aligned and EU-hosted.

Plans for hosted SFTP

Pricing is per server per month, so a hosted SFTP endpoint costs the same whether one partner or one team uses it. Free (€0) is FTP-only with 100 transfers, 1GB and a single user, needs no credit card, and is the fastest way to prove a forwarding flow end to end. Starter (€19) adds FTPS on top of FTP with 1,000 transfers and 5GB, which is enough to run a real low-volume integration over TLS. Neither of these tiers includes SFTP, but the forward target you configure on them behaves identically once you upgrade, so nothing you build is throwaway.

SFTP itself begins on Professional (€49), which unlocks SSH-key SFTP, a custom domain, inline transforms (CSV↔JSON↔XML, compression) and schema validation, with 10,000 transfers and 50GB. Enterprise (€99) is for partners that demand more controls: it adds SSO/SAML, a dedicated IP you can hand to a partner's allow-list, PGP encryption and unlimited users, with 50,000 transfers and 250GB. Because every tier shares the same streaming, signing, retry and audit machinery, moving up a plan is a configuration change, not a re-architecture.

Frequently asked questions