Webhook endpoint monitoring

Q: What is webhook endpoint monitoring?

Webhook endpoint monitoring is monitoring the HTTP endpoint that receives webhooks. UpDog can check that the endpoint is reachable, responds quickly, and returns expected content or status codes.

Q: How do I get webhook failure alerts?

A practical approach is to monitor the receiver endpoint with website monitoring (HTTP checks) and add keyword monitoring for error pages or unexpected responses. If your webhook processing pipeline has a scheduled job, add a heartbeat monitor to detect stalled processing.

Q: Can UpDog monitor third-party webhook delivery attempts?

UpDog monitors your endpoints and jobs. If you need provider-specific delivery logs (like retries from a third party), combine UpDog’s endpoint and heartbeat monitoring with the provider’s built-in delivery dashboards.

Q: What should I alert on for webhook receivers?

Alert on downtime (non-2xx or timeouts), latency spikes, and unexpected content (like a maintenance page or auth error) using keyword monitoring.

Q: How do I avoid false positives for webhook monitoring?

Use a dedicated health endpoint for the receiver when possible, and avoid monitoring endpoints that require complex authentication or change content frequently.

When a webhook receiver breaks, the rest of your system breaks downstream—payments don’t reconcile, automations stop, and customer data drifts. UpDog helps you monitor webhook receivers like any other critical endpoint: uptime, latency, and “is it returning the right thing?”

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Webhook receiver monitoring using UpDog uptime checks

What you can do with UpDog for webhook failure alerts

“Webhook monitoring” can mean a few things. UpDog focuses on the parts you control and can act on quickly: your receiver endpoint and your processing pipeline.

Monitor the receiver endpoint (reachable, correct status codes, predictable response).
Monitor receiver latency so you catch slowdowns before providers start retrying.
Monitor content changes with keyword monitoring (maintenance page, auth error, unexpected HTML).
Monitor processing pipelines with heartbeat checks if you have scheduled jobs that process webhook events.

How to set it up (step-by-step)

Identify an endpoint you can safely monitor:
- Your webhook receiver URL (only if it can respond predictably to GET/HEAD), or
- A dedicated health endpoint for the webhook service (recommended).
Create a website monitor in UpDog for the endpoint and pick an interval.
Optionally add keyword monitoring to detect unexpected pages (for example: “maintenance”, “forbidden”, “error”).
If you process webhooks asynchronously, add a heartbeat monitor to the scheduled job that drains/processes the queue.
Route alerts to the right channel: email baseline, chat for coordination, on-call/SMS for critical receivers.

Best practices

Prefer a health endpoint

Many webhook receivers only accept POSTs and may reject GET requests. A lightweight health URL for the receiver service makes monitoring more reliable and less intrusive.

Monitor the “right failure”

A receiver can return 200 but still be broken (wrong environment, wrong secret, wrong routing). Use keyword monitoring to detect unexpected content and consider monitoring a downstream health check if you have one.

Keep alert routes tight

Webhook receivers are often critical. Route them to responders with a clear escalation path, but avoid paging for non-prod endpoints.

Troubleshooting

Monitoring the receiver causes 405/403: use a health endpoint instead of the raw webhook URL.
Unexpected content alerts: check WAF/bot protection or a misconfigured reverse proxy returning HTML instead of your service.
Latency alerts: investigate DB latency, queue backlog, and third-party dependencies used during signature verification.
Provider retries but UpDog shows green: the receiver might be reachable but rejecting requests (auth/signature). Add provider-side dashboards and internal metrics for deeper visibility.

FAQ

What is webhook endpoint monitoring?

Monitoring the HTTP endpoint that receives webhooks for uptime, latency, and correct responses.

How do I get webhook failure alerts?

Monitor the receiver/health endpoint with HTTP checks, add keyword monitoring for error content, and add a heartbeat monitor for the processing job if applicable.

Can UpDog monitor third-party webhook delivery attempts?

UpDog monitors your endpoints and jobs. Use provider dashboards for delivery-specific details and pair them with UpDog for early alerting.

What should I alert on for webhook receivers?

Non-2xx/timeouts, latency spikes, and unexpected content.

How do I avoid false positives for webhook monitoring?

Monitor a stable health URL and avoid endpoints that require complex auth or change content frequently.

Related features

Related use cases

Heartbeat monitoring – Monitor webhook processing jobs
Out-of-stock alerts – E-commerce content monitoring
All use cases

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