A webhook in Zoho Billing is an HTTP callback that the system sends to a URL you specify when a defined event occurs in your billing account. Instead of repeatedly polling the Zoho Billing API to check for changes, webhooks push event data to your system the moment something happens, enabling real-time integration without continuous polling overhead.
Zoho Billing supports webhooks for a wide range of events, including: subscription created, subscription activated, plan changed, payment succeeded, payment failed, subscription cancelled, subscription paused, subscription resumed, invoice generated, invoice paid, credit note created, and trial ended. Your external application receives a JSON payload describing the event and the affected subscription or customer record.
Webhooks enable real-time automation: when a payment fails, immediately flag the account in your CRM; when a subscription is activated, trigger user provisioning in your product; when a subscription is cancelled, initiate an offboarding workflow; when a trial ends without converting, trigger a win-back email sequence in your marketing platform. These real-time responses are faster and more reliable than polling-based integrations.
Zoho Billing includes a webhook signature or secret token with each outgoing webhook request. Your endpoint should validate this signature before processing the payload, ensuring the request genuinely originated from Zoho Billing and not from a spoofed request. The validation process and expected signature format are documented in Zoho Billing’s webhook documentation.
Zoho Billing retries failed webhook deliveries for a defined period if the endpoint returns a non-2xx response or times out. Retry intervals increase over time (exponential backoff). If the endpoint remains unavailable beyond the retry window, the webhook delivery is abandoned. You can view failed webhook deliveries and manually replay them from the Zoho Billing webhook logs once your endpoint is back online.
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