Webhooks vs APIs: Polling vs Event-Driven Push Notifications Explained
Webhooks vs APIs: Compare polling with reverse APIs. Learn when to use webhooks for real-time payment confirmations, GitHub commits, and order updates.
While standard http api requests rely on client polling ("Is the payment done yet? Is it done now?"), webhooks invert the paradigm. A webhook is a "reverse API" where the provider pushes an HTTP POST payload to your server the instant an event happens.
Polling vs Webhook Architecture
POLLING (Inefficient HTTP API):
Client ──[GET /order/123/status]──> Server ("Pending")
Client ──[GET /order/123/status]──> Server ("Pending")
Client ──[GET /order/123/status]──> Server ("Completed!")
* Result: 90% of requests waste bandwidth and server CPU.
WEBHOOK (Instant Event Push):
Stripe / GitHub ──[POST https://my-app.com/webhooks/stripe]──> Your App
Payload: { "event": "charge.succeeded", "amount": 4900 }
* Result: 0 wasted requests; instant sub-second notification.