Use an API when your app needs to fetch or change information on demand. Use a webhook when you want a service to notify your app after a particular event. Many useful integrations use both: a webhook signals that something changed, and an API supplies the details or performs the next action.
How webhooks and APIs differ
An API interaction usually follows a request-and-response pattern: your application initiates a request, and the service responds. A webhook is an event-triggered HTTP delivery: after an event you selected occurs, the service sends information to a URL you configured.
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In short, an API is commonly used to ask a service for information or an action; a webhook lets a service tell your application that something happened. A webhook is not simply an API endpoint that your app calls whenever it wants.
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Which should you use for your integration?
| Situation | Good starting point | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Fetch one customer record when you open a screen | API | The information is needed on demand. |
| Check a small set of records occasionally | API | For intermittent access or a small number of resources, repeated monitoring may not be worth setting up. |
| React when an email bounces or a repository receives a push | Webhook | The service can notify your app after the event instead of waiting for your app to check repeatedly. |
| Receive an event, then retrieve more detail or take another action | Both | The webhook signals a change; an API can provide a separate lookup or operation. |
When an API is the simpler choice
Choose an API when a person or process needs information at a specific moment, such as loading a customer record when someone opens a dashboard. It also suits occasional checks of a small set of records. GitHub recommends API access for one-off or intermittent information and for a small number of resources when there is no plan to scale monitoring.
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An API can also be used to detect changes by polling: your app asks repeatedly whether anything has changed. That may be manageable for a small, low-frequency check, but it creates recurring requests and work even when there is nothing new.
When a webhook is the better fit
Choose a webhook when the workflow should respond to a specific event, such as a repository push or email bounce. Instead of repeatedly asking whether the event happened, your app subscribes to the event and provides a destination URL for notifications. GitHub describes webhooks as requiring less effort and resources than polling, scaling better when monitoring many resources, and providing near-real-time updates.
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“Near-real-time” is not a promise of instantaneous delivery. Timing depends on the provider and on the system receiving the notification. Check the provider’s instructions for the events it supports and its delivery behavior.
What running a webhook involves
A webhook shifts some operational responsibility to you: the sending service needs a configured destination URL, and your application needs to be able to receive requests there. You also select which events should trigger a delivery. For example, GitHub’s webhook documentation describes a sender making an HTTP request to the specified URL when a subscribed event occurs.
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Before choosing this pattern, consider whether you can keep that receiving endpoint available and handle its incoming requests reliably. Follow the specific provider’s setup guidance; subscription, delivery, and retry behavior are not identical across services.
Why many integrations use both
A webhook notification and an API lookup solve different parts of a workflow. The event tells your app that a change occurred; a follow-up API request can retrieve more information or support an operation that should happen next.
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Stripe is one example: it creates Event objects when resource state changes and supports event notifications as well as retrieving or listing events through its API. This is a useful pattern when a notification alone is not enough for the work your integration needs to do.
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Make retries safe where the provider supports it
When an integration performs a side effect, such as creating or updating a resource, a connection error can leave the caller unsure whether the request completed. Some providers offer idempotency mechanisms to make eligible retries safer. Stripe documents idempotency keys for eligible POST requests; its documentation says a key can be pruned after at least 24 hours, after which reusing it can create a new request. That is a Stripe-specific API behavior, not a guarantee about every API or about webhook delivery.
Quick Recap
A practical decision checklist
- Use an API if a person or process needs a lookup or action on demand.
- Use an API for occasional checks of a small resource set when repeated monitoring is acceptable.
- Use a webhook if the integration should react after a subscribed event and you can maintain a receiving URL.
- Use both if an event should trigger a separate lookup or API action.
- Before relying on a webhook, read the provider’s instructions for subscriptions, endpoint configuration, delivery timing, and retries.
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