Kintone Zapier integrationAutomate Kintone with Zapier.
The Kintone Zapier integration gives you 1 trigger and 5 actions, with no search step. It works on the free plan, it notices new records on a timer rather than instantly, and it is strongest at writing back into your Kintone apps.
Verified Trustpilot reviews · AI, automation & growth agency
What the Kintone Zapier integration actually does for you
Kintone is a platform where teams build their own business apps: a deal pipeline, a ticket log, a purchase register. Connecting it to Zapier means one thing in practice. When a record appears in one of those apps, something else can happen without anyone copying data by hand, and other tools can push records or updates into Kintone.
Three results people usually want from it. First, a record that announces itself: a sales rep logs a new deal, and the New Record trigger lets the Zap react, for example by leaving a comment on that deal with Add Comment. Second, records that arrive on their own: a form submission, a signed quote or a support email becomes a Kintone entry through Create Record, with the fields already filled. Third, records that stay current: when a deal closes in another tool, Update Record by Update Key finds the matching row through its unique key and rewrites it, and Update Status moves it one step along your process.
Now the part the official app page leaves out. There is no search step, so a Zap cannot look up an existing Kintone record by name or email before acting on it. To edit a record, you must already carry its record number or its update key from an earlier step. There is also only one trigger: no event for an edited record, a changed status or a new comment. And that trigger checks on a timer, so a sales team expecting a ping the second a deal is saved will wait for the next check.
If you are weighing tools, the same app is covered on our Kintone Make integration page, and the Make vs Zapier comparison lays out the criteria side by side.
Zapier vocabulary in one minute
Eight words carry this whole page. Each one is defined once here and used as is afterwards.
- Zap
- The automation you build in Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that run every time that trigger event happens.
- Trigger
- The event in an app that starts the Zap. Once the Zap is switched on, Zapier sits and waits for that event to show up.
- Action
- What the Zap does after it starts: the step that writes, sends or moves something for you, like creating a Kintone record.
- Task
- The unit Zapier bills you for. One task is one action your Zap completes successfully, and your plan counts those.
- Polling vs instant
- A polling trigger is checked on a timer for new items. An instant trigger is reported by the app the moment it happens. Kintone's is polling.
- Filter
- A step that lets the Zap continue only when the incoming data meets a condition you set, and stops it quietly otherwise.
- Search step
- A step that looks up something that already exists in an app, so later steps can use it. Kintone offers none on Zapier.
- Connection
- Your Kintone account linked to Zapier once, then reused by every step in every Zap that touches Kintone.
What a Kintone Zap really costs
Kintone is not a premium app on Zapier, so it runs on the free plan. The bill is counted in tasks, not in checks.
- Free plan100 tasks per month, unlimited Zaps
- Trigger checksNever billed
- Failed actionNot counted
- Filter or second actionPaid plan required
The New Record trigger never costs a task, however often Zapier looks for new records. Each action that succeeds counts once, so a Zap that creates a record and then adds a comment uses two tasks per run. A failed action is not counted. The free plan gives you 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps, but each Zap stops at two steps: one trigger, one action. Add a filter or a second action and it becomes a multi-step Zap, which needs a paid plan.
Connect your Kintone account in three steps
- 01
Open your connections
In Zapier, go to the Apps page of your account and click + Add connection. Type Kintone in the dialog and pick it from the list. You need a Kintone account first, obviously.
- 02
Sign in to Kintone
Click Add connection. A new tab opens on Kintone's side: sign in there with the account whose apps you want the Zap to read and write. Use the account that actually has rights on those apps, not a personal one with read-only access.
- 03
Grant access and check
Approve the access Zapier asks for. The connection then appears in your list and every future Kintone step reuses it. If a Zap must touch apps someone else owns, make sure that account has read or write rights on them.
Your first Kintone Zap: comment on every big deal
GoalEach new deal above a threshold gets an automatic comment asking the sales manager to review it.
- 01
Create the Zap
Start a new Zap, pick Kintone as the app that starts it and choose New Record as the event. Select your Kintone connection and the deals app it should watch.
- 02
Test the trigger
Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent records of that app, so you pick a real deal to build on instead of guessing what the fields look like.
- 03
Add the filter
Click the plus icon, add Filter, then pick the amount field, a number rule and your threshold. Use a number rule: a text rule on an amount never passes. This step makes the Zap multi-step.
- 04
Add the comment
Add a Kintone action, choose Add Comment, point it at the same deals app and map the record number from the trigger. Write the comment that asks the sales manager to review the deal.
- 05
Test, then publish
Test the action and open the deal in Kintone to see the comment. When it looks right, click Publish to switch the Zap on. Only deals created from now on will go through it.
The Kintone trigger
1 event starts a Zap when something happens in Kintone. Zapier checks for them at the interval your plan allows.
New Record
Polling triggerIn Zapier“Triggers when a new record is created.”
Starts your Zap each time someone adds a record to the Kintone app you pick, and hands every field of that record to the next steps. It is the only door into Zapier from Kintone, so every Zap on this page begins here.
The 5 Kintone actions, grouped by what they do
Kintone gives you 5 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.
Add Comment
ActionIn Zapier“Adds a new comment into 1 record of an app.”
Posts a comment on one existing record, the way a colleague would in the record's thread. Handy for leaving a trace without touching any field.
Create Record
ActionIn Zapier“Creates a new record.”
Adds a brand new record to the Kintone app you choose, filling its fields with data from earlier steps. This is how outside data lands in Kintone.
Update Record by Record ID
ActionIn Zapier“Updates details of 1 record of an app by specifying its record number.”
Rewrites fields on one record that you point to by its record number. Fast and exact when an earlier step already carries that number.
Update Record by Update Key
ActionIn Zapier“Updates details of 1 record in an app by specifying a unique key.”
Edits one record that you identify through a unique key field, such as an order reference or a customer email, rather than Kintone's own number.
Update Status
ActionIn Zapier“Updates the Status of 1 record of an app.”
Moves one record along the process status of its app, the same as clicking the next step of the workflow in Kintone.
When a Kintone Zap breaks
Zapier attaches no help article to Kintone, so the known failure points are the general ones. They still catch most people.
Four cases come back again and again on Kintone Zaps. Read them before you publish, and keep our Zapier troubleshooting page handy for the day one of them hits.
Old records are never picked up
A Zap only reacts to what happens after you switch it on. Records already in Kintone stay put; migrating them is a separate job.A Zap that triggers itself
Create Record into the app your New Record trigger watches, and every new row starts the Zap again. Tasks vanish fast.A bulk import gets held back
Import a large batch of records at once and the trigger suddenly returns a flood. Zapier's flood protection can hold that batch back.No duplicates, by design
Zapier remembers which records it has already seen, so the same record never starts the Zap twice.
Need help automating Kintone with Zapier?
A person reads every message.
