What is an API? An explanation for business owners, webhooks and what is worth connecting
What an API is and what a webhook is, without code: how business systems talk, 4 real examples, what to ask before you buy, and why a key is a password.
What is an API? In short, it is the way two systems talk to each other, without anyone copying data between them by hand. Every time a lead from your website lands in your customer management system on its own, or an invoice goes out the moment a payment clears, an API is working behind the scenes. In this article we explain the idea without a single line of code, and separate it from a webhook. We compare four ways of connecting systems in a table, give four examples from businesses in Israel, and set out the questions to ask before you buy a new system. At the end we explain why an API key is really a password.
What is an API? The explanation without code
API stands for Application Programming Interface. Wikipedia defines it as a ready-made set of commands and functions that programmers use to work with information from another system, instead of writing everything themselves.
In a business owner's language: an API is a system's permanent service desk. Another system walks up to it with a request in a defined format — "give me all of today's orders", say, or "create a new contact" — and gets an answer in that same format. Nobody opens a screen, types anything or copies anything.
Three terms come up in every conversation about APIs:
- Documentation. The document that sets out which requests the system accepts and what it returns. No open documentation? Connecting will be hard.
- An API key. A code that identifies who is asking and what they are allowed to do. More on it below.
- Usage limits. How many requests you may send per minute or per day, and sometimes which subscription plan the API is available on at all.
So when a supplier says "we have an API", that is only the beginning. The real question is what you can do through it, and at what price.
What is a webhook, and how does it differ from an API
An API answers when you ask it something. A webhook works the other way round: the system announces by itself the moment something has happened. Zapier defines webhooks as automated messages sent from apps when something happens, and describes them as similar to APIs but simpler.
The difference is very practical. Say you want to know about every new lead immediately. Without a webhook, another system has to check every few minutes: "anything new?". With a webhook, by contrast, the form sends the lead the moment it is submitted. Make's help centre puts it this way: webhooks usually act as instant triggers, as opposed to scheduled triggers, which periodically ask a service whether there is new data.
So when you are evaluating a system, ask about both. An API lets you read and update data. A webhook lets you react immediately to an event: a form submitted, a payment approved, an appointment cancelled.
4 ways to connect systems: a comparison table
Not every connection needs a developer. In practice there are four routes, from the simplest to the most flexible:
| The route | What it is | Who sets it up | When it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| A built-in connection | A "connect" button inside the system itself | You, in a few clicks | When the two systems already know each other |
| Make or Zapier | A tool that connects many systems with no code | You or an automation specialist | A process with several steps and conditions |
| A webhook | An automatic message when an event happens | You set a destination address, usually in an automation tool | When an immediate reaction is needed |
| A direct API | A connection written in code, following the documentation | A developer | High volume, unusual logic, or when no ready-made connection exists |
Our decision rule: start with the built-in connection. If there isn't one, look at Make or Zapier. A developer only enters the picture when those two are not enough. Which processes are worth automating first, and in what order, we set out in automations for businesses.
4 examples of connections that save work in a business
- A website form that lands in the CRM on its own. A visitor fills in a form. A webhook sends the details to an automation tool, which creates a contact in the customer management system, with the source of the lead attached. At the same time a message goes to the business owner. The CRM here is only an example: the same principle works with a spreadsheet or a calendar.
- A lead from a Facebook form straight to the salesperson's WhatsApp. When the lead arrives, the automation tool sends the name and phone number to their mobile. That way you can get back to the customer within minutes rather than at the end of the day.
- A payment on the site and an automatic invoice. The payment provider approves the payment, and the invoicing system issues and sends an invoice to the customer. It is worth checking that connection while you are still choosing a provider, as we explained in our website payment processing guide.
- Service messages on WhatsApp. An order confirmation or an appointment reminder is sent automatically through the WhatsApp Business Platform, WhatsApp's business API. The platform's page lists order confirmations and appointment reminders among its uses, along with connecting to systems such as a CRM. What you are allowed to send customers is covered in WhatsApp marketing for businesses.
Before you buy a system: 6 questions about its API
When you are choosing a booking system, a CRM, a store or an invoicing system, ask the supplier:
- Is there an API with open documentation? Ask for a link to the documentation, not just "yes, there is".
- Are there webhooks, and for which events? A new lead, a payment, a cancellation.
- Is the API included in your plan, or only in a more expensive one?
- Is there a ready-made connection to Make or Zapier? That can spare you a developer altogether.
- Can you export all your data if you decide to leave?
- Does Hebrew come through intact? Send a Hebrew name as a test, and check it arrives readable rather than as scrambled characters.
Our rule: a system with no API and no data export is a system that is hard to leave. So even if you are not planning to connect anything today, those questions are worth five minutes before you sign.
An API key is a password: 5 rules for a business owner
An API key grants access to your business's data, and sometimes the ability to change it. In its guide to managing API keys, Google recommends not putting keys in code that runs in a browser or an app and not in your code repository, deleting keys that are not in use, replacing keys from time to time, and restricting what each key is able to do. In a business owner's language, that means:
- Never send a key over WhatsApp or by email. What is sent in a chat stays in that chat, long after the supplier has gone.
- A separate key for every supplier. Google recommends a separate key for each team member, and the same logic applies to suppliers.
- Minimum permissions. A key that only needs to read leads does not need permission to delete them.
- Revoke a key the day a supplier finishes. And a key nobody remembers creating gets deleted.
- Keys are created in the business's account. Not in the freelancer's personal account.
One question worth putting to your developer or automation specialist today: which keys exist, where are they stored, and what permissions does each one have.
What Simple Web does about it
Simple Web is an AI-first marketing agency from Bnei Brak, certified Meta partners and Google advertising experts, working with 200+ businesses and holding 35 five-star Google reviews. Connecting systems is part of most of what we build. The chatbot we build answers on WhatsApp, on your site and in Messenger from the same brain, filters enquiries, books meetings and saves leads to your CRM. A basic bot is ready within about a week, and a tailored bot with full training within two to three weeks.
The AI agents for business we build connect to your CRM, calendar, email, bookkeeping, WhatsApp and the Google and Meta advertising platforms. They work with defined permissions, a full log of every action and human approval for sensitive ones. Among the tools we work with are Make, Zapier, Monday and HubSpot. The price is set in a quote based on scope, and there is usually a small monthly operating cost as well.
Summary
An API is how systems request and update data with one another, and a webhook is the message that gets sent by itself when something happens. Before you commission a developer, check whether there is a built-in connection or one in Make. Before you buy a system, ask about its API, its webhooks and data export. And treat every API key like a password belonging to your business. Want to find out which connections would save your business the most work? Get in touch for a free diagnostic call.
Sources
- Wikipedia: application programming interface: the definition of an API and what the initials stand for
- Zapier: What are webhooks?: webhooks as automated messages apps send when something happens, and their similarity to APIs
- Make Help Center: Webhooks: a webhook as an instant trigger versus a scheduled trigger
- WhatsApp Business Platform: uses such as order confirmations and reminders, and connecting to systems such as a CRM
- Google Cloud: Best practices for managing API keys: rules for managing keys: not in code, deleting, rotating, restricting and a key per person
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