# Telegram bots: polling or webhook?

> How the two ways of receiving updates differ, which one to use on a free app and which on a paid one, and how to set a webhook on the app's https address.

Source: https://fadehost.com/docs/telegram-polling-vs-webhook/

A Telegram bot receives updates in one of two ways. Both work on FadeHost; which one to pick depends on whether the bot is also a web app.

## Polling

The bot asks Telegram for new updates in a loop (`getUpdates`). Every library does it with one call: `dp.start_polling(bot)` in aiogram, `app.run_polling()` in python-telegram-bot, `bot.start()` in grammY, `bot.launch()` in Telegraf.

- Needs nothing: no port, no address, no certificate.
- Works on the free tier and on any paid tier.
- Handles a restart cleanly: Telegram keeps updates for 24 hours and hands them over when the bot comes back.

For a bot that is only a bot, this is the answer.

## Webhook

Telegram calls your bot at an https URL for every update. The bot is then a web server listening on `0.0.0.0` and the `PORT` the panel sets, and it needs a public https address.

- Hosted apps can have one: `https://name.fadehost.app` from the app's page.
- On the free tier that address sleeps when idle and wakes on the next request, so the first update after a quiet period is slower and Telegram may retry it. A paid app's address stays up.
- Set it once after deploy: `curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/setWebhook?url=https://name.fadehost.app/webhook"`, or with your library's helper.

Use a webhook when the bot is part of a larger web app anyway, or when you need Telegram to reach a route that also serves a site.

## Switching

Telegram allows one mode at a time. Before polling again, delete the webhook (`deleteWebhook`), or polling answers `Conflict: can't use getUpdates method while webhook is active`. The same conflict appears when two copies of the bot poll at once, for example a copy still running on your machine while the hosted one starts.

## Which one, in short

| You have | Use |
| --- | --- |
| A bot, free tier | Polling |
| A bot, paid tier | Polling, unless you want a web page too |
| A bot inside a web app with an address that stays up | Webhook |