topic multiple environments (staging, development, production) in APIs & Integrations

multiple environments (staging, development, production)

tomas1 — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 11:09:16 GMT

My company is using the HobSpot API just for contact & company sync of our account.

I'm able to get API key for production environment data and integrate it with our BE. But we also have Staging and Development environments with copletly different data.

I want to ask what is the recommended flow. Shoud I create 3 independent HobSpot accounts and import different data

Or is there way to have one account with different data for different enviroments.

Note: I do understannd there is Testing Account option but from playing around it seems the Testing Account works with real data => not good for my case

Note 2: I think I don't need to create an App all I need is the API key to pull/push contacts/companies. Unless I'm wrong

Re: multiple environments (staging, development, production)

WendyGoh — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 06:53:00 GMT

Hey @tomas1,

Currently, while we do not have a sandbox environment in which the data replicates the real environment data, the test account that you mentioned is the best workaround.

Test portals created from the developer account would also have access to the CRM tool, so if you’re looking for a completely separate environment, you could use a test portal to create dummy CRM data.

Re: multiple environments (staging, development, production)

khamer — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 15:59:55 GMT

How are others solving this when they need to replicate production data? This seems like a big miss as HubSpot takes on enterprises with staging and real sandbox environments for testing integrations.

Re: multiple environments (staging, development, production)

dennisedson — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 16:31:23 GMT

@khamer ,

Totally understand and agree. We are working on it 😉

Re: multiple environments (staging, development, production)

br6 — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 04:22:48 GMT

@dennisedson Hubspot has any timeline for this feature? Until then any workround to replicate production setup in test portal?

Re: multiple environments (staging, development, production)

dennisedson — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 15:48:17 GMT

@br6

Reducing friction for the developers is very important to us. I don't have any timeline available at this point, but I want to reiterate that we are actively working to improve the development workflow.

@dbeau79 , what does your team do now to make this as efficient as possible?

Re: multiple environments (staging, development, production)

br6 — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 04:32:57 GMT

Thanks for the reply. I would like to know if Hubspot has any suggested approach(workaround) to fulfil this at the moment?

Re: multiple environments (staging, development, production)

dennisedson — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 18:36:23 GMT

@br6 ,

HubSpot does not have any suggested solutions for this presently. There are apps on the marketplace such as portal replicator that can get the CRM data into another portal. If you are using a local dev workflow for the CMS, you should be keeping portability in mind which will allow you to move your files where needed as detailed here

Re: multiple environments (staging, development, production)

dbeau79 — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 17:39:17 GMT

@dennisedson and @br6 , sorry for chiming in so late here. On our dev team we each have our own sandbox that we import dummy content into to test things out. We all develop locally so it's easy to collaborate once the data set is in place.

Re: multiple environments (staging, development, production)

silvacarl — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 01:15:47 GMT

is there a way to take an existing site in production, move it to staging, do a bunch of changes, etc. and then QA it. when done, flip it back to production?

Re: multiple environments (staging, development, production)

chrbradley — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 17:26:03 GMT

@dennisedson plus 1Xing this. As a director of engineering I would not ever choose an enterprise product that doesn't seamlessly support transitions between development / staging / production environments. Unfortunately I arrived after this decision was made and am stuck with it for now.

Stripe and Intercom are great examples to look at. Each provides development and production keys which winds up being one line of code in our system. Our engineers don't need to jusmp through any hoops and can focus on develping features without any worry of either environment polluting the other.

We are very hopeful that Hubspot can make this happen soon, but we are also acttivel shopping other solutions.

Re: multiple environments (staging, development, production)

ericwatchexch — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 21:25:02 GMT

Hello! Any updates on this at all? This would be such a godsend for us.

Even something like Stripe (which generates a second API token) to differentiate "test data" from real data would be hugely interesting and powerful for us — rather than breaking it out into multiple envs.

Re: multiple environments (staging, development, production)

AMatthies — Sat, 29 Nov 2025 09:22:23 GMT

Three years later and still no reply and update from Hubspot. Is there any timeline planned for this feature?

Re: multiple environments (staging, development, production)

BérangèreL — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 11:21:12 GMT

Hi @AMatthies and welcome, we are so glad to have you here!

Thanks for reaching out to the HubSpot Community!

To reply to @tomas1's questions: Yes, you should create 3 independent HubSpot accounts for your staging, development, and production environments.

HubSpot doesn't support multiple data environments within a single account for your use case.

The recommended approach is:

- 3 separate standard HubSpot accounts with different API keys/authentication for each environment
- Each account maintains completely isolated data
- Use different API keys to connect your backend to each environment

Note on Testing Accounts: You're correct that HubSpot's testing accounts (developer test accounts) work with real production data and aren't suitable for isolated staging/dev environments.

About creating an App: For simple contact/company sync, you don't need to create a full App. You can use API keys or private app access tokens directly for authentication.

Here are some resources for you:

- Test your HubSpot apps with configurable test accounts
- HubSpot Account Types
- Authentication overview

Which test would you like to perform on multiple environments @AMatthies, please?

Thanks and have a lovely day!
Bérangère

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