Webhook meaning: how apps tell each other something happened
2026-11-10
Definition
A webhook is an automatic message that one app sends to a web address you choose the moment something happens, such as a payment arriving or a form being submitted.
How it differs from an API
With an API your system asks, "Anything new?" again and again. With a webhook the other app speaks up the instant there is news. That makes webhooks faster and lighter, and it is the usual trigger for workflow automation. Tools like Zapier, Make and n8n can provide a web address that receives the message and starts a workflow.
Webhooks need care. Messages can arrive twice, arrive late or fail, so a well-built automation checks for duplicates and logs what it received. Anyone who knows the address could send fake messages, so good setups verify the sender with a shared secret. The answer on what is n8n shows one tool that receives them.
A hypothetical example
Imagine an online homewares store. When Stripe records a successful payment, it sends a webhook. That message starts an automation which creates the order in the warehouse system, emails the customer and adds the sale to the accounting package.
Reliable triggers like this are part of what we build in workflow automation.