API Polling vs Webhook Call Budget Calculator
Polling is simple but spends calls on checks that find nothing. Webhooks spend calls only when something changes, but need an endpoint and failure handling. This calculator puts numbers on the trade-off.
Your numbers
Calls needed to read changes since last poll.
Many webhooks send only an ID and require a follow-up read.
Your results
Webhook delivery is typically near real time but needs a public or relayed endpoint, signature checks and retry handling that polling does not.
Polling calls per day by interval
Sweeps Polling interval from 1 to 60, holding your other inputs fixed.
Integration pattern advice
Tell us your ERP and change volumes and we will suggest a pattern. Optional.
Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.
How to use it
Enter your polling interval, how many API calls each poll needs, and how many real changes happen per day. Add your daily quota and, for the webhook route, how many follow-up reads each event triggers. The calculator shows polls per day, total calls for both approaches, the share of polls that find nothing and how much of your quota polling consumes. Slide the interval to see the tension between freshness and cost; the chart plots both approaches across one to sixty minutes.
Formulas
Polls per day equal polling hours times 60 divided by the interval. Polling calls are polls times calls per poll. Webhook calls are events times detail fetches per event. The empty poll share is one minus events divided by polls, floored at zero, which assumes an even spread. Average delay for polling is half the interval, because a change lands on average halfway between polls.
- Short intervals multiply cost with little added value.
- Webhooks need idempotent receivers and replay.
- Hybrid works: webhooks plus a slow reconciliation poll.
Choosing in practice
If the ERP exposes reliable events, use them and add an occasional reconciliation poll to catch missed deliveries. If it does not, poll with a modified-since filter and the longest interval the business tolerates. Many on-prem ERPs lack outbound webhooks, in which case a database trigger, change table or message queue may be the practical event source. Keep polling read-only and avoid peak transaction hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is polling the better choice?
When the source has no webhooks, when events are rare but reliability matters, or when you need a simple setup behind a firewall with no inbound endpoint. A modest interval with a modified-since filter is often enough.
Do webhooks guarantee delivery?
No. Senders retry for a limited window, and events can be dropped or arrive out of order. Pair webhooks with idempotent handling and a periodic reconciliation poll to catch gaps.
What interval should I use?
Start from the business tolerance for delay. If a five minute lag is fine, polling every five or ten minutes is reasonable. Anything shorter than the tolerance mainly burns quota.
Does this matter for AI agents?
Yes. Agents answering questions can read live on demand, so they rarely need polling. Background sync that keeps an index or cache fresh is where polling and webhooks compete.
Netray builds ERP integrations that use events where the system supports them and careful polling where it does not. We can review your options.
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