Hosting a Telegram bot can be accomplished in two primary ways: Webhook and Long Polling. Each approach has its own advantages, use cases, and conside

Mastering Telegram Bot Hosting: Webhook vs. Long Polling Explained

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2025-01-05 20:00:06

Hosting a Telegram bot can be accomplished in two primary ways: Webhook and Long Polling. Each approach has its own advantages, use cases, and considerations. Let’s dive deeper into these methods and provide practical examples using python-telegram-bot (PTB) version 20+.

The webhook method enables Telegram to send updates to your bot directly by making HTTP requests to a specified URL. This approach is efficient and ideal for production bots hosted on servers.

Long polling involves the bot repeatedly requesting updates from Telegram’s servers using the getUpdates method. This is simpler to set up and works without a public URL.

Both methods are fully supported by python-telegram-bot and can be seamlessly integrated into your bot projects. With PTB’s rich feature set, implementing either approach is straightforward and efficient. Whichever method you choose, building Telegram bots with PTB is a rewarding experience.