Webhooks vs Polling

Developers should learn and use webhooks when building applications that require real-time updates or integrations, such as notifying users of events (e meets developers should use polling when building applications that need to monitor state changes, fetch updates from apis without websocket support, or in embedded systems where hardware constraints limit push-based methods. Here's our take.

Webhooks

Nice Pick

Developers should learn and use webhooks when building applications that require real-time updates or integrations, such as notifying users of events (e

Pros

• g
• Related to: http-requests, rest-apis

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Polling

Developers should use polling when building applications that need to monitor state changes, fetch updates from APIs without WebSocket support, or in embedded systems where hardware constraints limit push-based methods

Pros

• It is particularly useful for simple monitoring tasks, such as checking for new messages in a chat app, tracking file upload progress, or querying sensor data in IoT devices, where low-frequency updates are acceptable and implementation simplicity is prioritized over efficiency
• Related to: long-polling, webhooks

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

Use Webhooks if: You want g and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.

Use Polling if: You prioritize it is particularly useful for simple monitoring tasks, such as checking for new messages in a chat app, tracking file upload progress, or querying sensor data in iot devices, where low-frequency updates are acceptable and implementation simplicity is prioritized over efficiency over what Webhooks offers.

The Bottom Line

Webhooks wins

Developers should learn and use webhooks when building applications that require real-time updates or integrations, such as notifying users of events (e