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Use polling to actively check whether an endpoint is responding; use webhooks to receive notice that a health-data source has recorded an event or update. They answer different questions: a webhook is not an uptime check. If you need fast event alerts and a dependable way to recover missed events, use both—provided the source supports polling or cursor-based backfill.
“Health monitoring” can mean either endpoint availability monitoring or notifications about health data. Decide which one you need before choosing a communication pattern.
Polling vs. webhooks: what each one tells you
| Question | Polling | Webhook |
|---|---|---|
| Who starts communication? | Your monitor or application requests a status or checks for new data on a schedule. | The provider sends an HTTP notification when an event occurs. |
| What does it establish? | Whether the endpoint returned the response or met the threshold you chose at the time of the probe. | That the provider reported an event or update. It does not, by itself, establish that an endpoint is currently available. |
| How quickly do you find out? | Detection depends partly on the interval and provider behavior. | Potentially sooner, but delivery is asynchronous and provider-specific; do not assume a real-time guarantee. |
| What work does it create? | Repeated requests, plus scheduling, pacing, and rate-limit handling. | A reachable, secured callback endpoint, plus duplicate-safe processing. Some notifications also require a follow-up data fetch. |
When polling is the better choice
For active endpoint availability checks
If you need to know whether a URL or service responds, polling is the probe: your monitoring system sends a request and evaluates the response. Set the interval and failure threshold according to how quickly you need to detect a problem, the load the endpoint can tolerate, and how much protection you want against transient failures.
Intervals can create more traffic than their label suggests. Amazon Route 53 says its distributed health checkers do not coordinate: with a configured 30-second interval, the endpoint receives requests about every two seconds on average; at a 10-second interval, it may receive more than one request per second. These are Route 53-specific figures from documentation verified in 2026, not a general polling rule. Check whether the monitoring service lets you change an interval after setup and whether faster checks affect cost. Amazon Route 53 health checks.
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When the provider has no webhook or offers reliable backfill
Polling is also appropriate when a source does not offer subscriptions, when an integration is low-volume and simplicity matters more than near-immediate updates, or when the provider exposes a reliable cursor or backfill API. Poll only as often as the provider permits, request only the data you need, and use conditional requests where supported. Follow documented polling headers and rate limits.
When webhooks are the better choice
For event-driven health-data updates
If the source supports subscriptions and your goal is to learn when new data exists, a webhook avoids repeatedly asking whether anything has changed. Google Health advises using its Subscription API rather than polling endpoints for new user data; GitHub likewise recommends webhook events instead of polling API data to help stay within rate limits. Google Health API subscription guidance and GitHub REST API best practices.
Count any fetch that follows the notification
A webhook may be only a signal, not the data itself. Withings, for example, documents sending a notification POST after a measurement; the receiving application then fetches the measurement through its Data API. Compare total request volume—including these follow-up fetches—rather than comparing webhook deliveries with polling calls alone. Withings notification overview.
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How to make webhook handling dependable
- Receive and acknowledge promptly. Keep callback work lightweight and move longer processing to a queue. Google Health requires an immediate
204 No Contentresponse and recommends queuing notifications for separate processing. Google Health webhook guidance. - Verify the sender using the provider’s documented method. Google Health documents a signature on the raw JSON payload and a public keyset; Withings recommends restricting source IPs and using a shared secret. Do not assume a webhook payload is trustworthy just because it reached your URL. Google Health webhook guidance and Withings notification overview.
- Make processing idempotent. A retry can deliver an event more than once. Record event identifiers or otherwise ensure duplicate notifications do not create duplicate work or data.
- Know the source’s recovery policy. Retry duration, retention, and backfill differ by provider. Google Health documents pending-message retries with exponential backoff for up to seven days, after which older notifications are discarded. Withings documents five retry cycles over approximately five hours, with two HTTP attempts per cycle (10 attempts total), and says typical delivery is under two minutes; it does not promise real-time delivery or redeliver missed notifications. Its documentation directs clients to backfill through the Data API using
lastupdate. These are provider-specific policies, verified in 2026, not universal webhook guarantees. Google Health webhook guidance and Withings notification overview.
When to combine webhooks and polling
Use a hybrid when a quick reaction matters but missing an event would leave your application’s state incomplete. Handle webhooks for low-latency notification, then periodically reconcile against the source using a saved cursor or watermark if one is available. Make the reconciliation schedule fit the source’s retention and your recovery needs; a webhook retry window alone may not cover a long receiver outage.
Increase documents one example of this pattern: webhooks for prompt reaction, with periodic polling to recover missed deliveries. Its documentation describes an approximately 72-hour webhook retry window and 30-day event history available through cursor-based polling. For integrations that need certainty of receiving every event, it recommends continuous polling. Those values and recommendations apply to Increase’s service, not to webhooks generally. Increase webhook and event-list guidance.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How often should you poll a health check?
There is no universally correct interval. Choose one by balancing acceptable detection delay against request load, rate limits, cost, and transient-failure tolerance. For endpoint probes, select a failure threshold as well as an interval so a single temporary error does not automatically become a service outage in your monitoring results. For data APIs, use the provider’s documented polling interval or headers and avoid requesting unchanged data unnecessarily.
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- SAFETY FEATURES—A smartwatch that puts your safety first. Series 11 can detect a hard fall or severe car crash, automatically help connect you with emergency services, and notify your emergency contacts.* Check In can automatically notify a loved one when you’ve arrived at your destination.
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Route 53’s distributed checks illustrate why you should verify the monitoring provider’s actual behavior rather than assuming one request exactly at each configured interval: its documented average endpoint request rate is about every two seconds with a 30-second setting. That is specific to Route 53, not a recommended interval for other services. Amazon Route 53 health checks.
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Yes, if the source exposes a way to retrieve missed events or current state—such as a cursor, timestamp watermark, or backfill endpoint. Save the cursor or watermark as events are processed, and reconcile from the last confirmed position after an outage. A plain status poll may show current state but cannot necessarily reconstruct every intermediate event. Check the provider’s event-retention period and retry policy before relying on polling as recovery.
Provider policies differ: Google Health documents up to seven days of pending-message retries; Withings says missed notifications are not redelivered and directs clients to Data API backfill with lastupdate; Increase documents cursor-based event retrieval. Choose recovery logic for the source you actually use rather than assuming another provider’s guarantees apply. Google Health webhook guidance, Withings notification overview, and Increase webhook and event-list guidance.
A practical decision checklist
- Need to test whether a service or endpoint responds? Use polling-based health checks.
- Need to know when a source records new health data? Use its webhook or subscription API when available.
- Need both fast notification and recovery from missed events? Combine webhooks with cursor-based reconciliation or backfill.
- Before adopting webhooks, confirm callback reachability, authentication, acknowledgement requirements, duplicate handling, retries, and recovery options.
- Before adopting polling, confirm permitted intervals, rate limits, conditional-request support, request volume, and whether the endpoint’s behavior matches the health signal you need.
Provider documentation does not establish a universal winner, best polling interval, or general webhook latency guarantee. Treat published retry windows and request rates as provider- and product-specific, and verify them against the service you integrate.
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