Webhooks 101: What They Are and Why Your Integration Needs Them

If your integration checks a third-party API every five minutes to see if anything changed, you're using more resources than necessary and still introducing delay. Webhooks solve this by flipping the model entirely.

Polling vs webhooks

Polling means your system repeatedly asks "did anything change?" Webhooks mean the other system tells you the moment something changes, by sending a request to a URL you provide. No wasted requests, no delay waiting for the next poll cycle.

Setting up a webhook endpoint correctly

A webhook endpoint needs to do three things reliably: verify the request actually came from the expected source, process the payload quickly, and respond with a success status so the sender doesn't retry unnecessarily. Skipping verification is a common security gap — anyone who finds your webhook URL could send fake events if you don't check a signature or secret.

Respond fast, process later

Most webhook providers expect a response within a few seconds, or they'll consider the delivery failed and retry. If your processing takes longer than that — sending emails, updating multiple systems — acknowledge receipt immediately and process the actual work in a background queue.

Handle duplicate deliveries

Webhooks can and do get delivered more than once, especially during network issues. A well-built webhook handler is idempotent — receiving the same event twice shouldn't cause duplicate orders, duplicate emails, or duplicate charges.

When polling still makes sense

Not every system supports webhooks, and for very simple or infrequent checks, polling is sometimes still the pragmatic choice. But whenever real-time sync matters and the provider supports webhooks, they're almost always the more efficient and reliable option.