API Design · Senior · Question 51 of 75

How do you choose between webhooks, SSE, WebSockets and polling for delivering updates?

1Always polling
2Always WebSockets
✓Correct answer: Webhooks for server-to-server events, SSE for one-way updates to browsers, WebSockets for two-way interaction, polling when simplicity matters and delays are fine

Explanation

Consider infrastructure too: SSE works through most proxies as plain HTTP; WebSockets need connection-aware load balancing.

Further reading

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