Webhooks vs. Polling: Choosing the Right Sync Strategy

Every FluxCascade sync can be triggered two ways: on a schedule (polling) or by webhook events from the source platform. Both are fully supported, and the right choice depends on your data and your tolerance for delay. Here is how to think about it.

How polling works

On each scheduled run, FluxCascade asks the source platform for records modified since the last successful sync, using the platform's modified-date filters. It is simple, predictable, and works on every platform — no special setup required.

The trade-off is latency: with a 15-minute schedule, a change waits up to 15 minutes to propagate. For most CRM data, that is completely fine.

How webhooks work

With webhooks, the source platform notifies FluxCascade the moment a record changes, and we sync that record within seconds. For workflows where staleness hurts — a new customer who should appear in your field service tool immediately — webhooks are the clear answer.

But webhooks alone are not enough. Deliveries can be dropped, delayed, or arrive out of order, and most platforms make no hard guarantees. Treating webhooks as the sole source of truth is how integrations silently drift.

What we recommend: webhooks plus reconciliation

The strategy FluxCascade uses by default when webhooks are enabled: webhook events drive near-real-time syncs, and a low-frequency scheduled sweep (hourly or daily) reconciles anything that was missed. You get the latency of webhooks with the completeness of polling.

• Choose polling only: simple setups, modest data volumes, latency tolerance of minutes
• Choose webhooks + reconciliation: customer-facing workflows, high-change-volume objects, latency tolerance of seconds
• Avoid webhooks only: there is no good reason to give up the safety net

Platform notes

Webhook support varies by platform. HubSpot and Pipedrive offer robust subscriptions for the common objects; Jobber covers the core operational events; Salesforce offers several eventing mechanisms with different trade-offs. FluxCascade abstracts these differences — enable webhook triggers on a mapping and we handle each platform's registration and verification for you.