Choose serverless when your bot can receive updates through a webhook and you want an on-demand, stateless handler. Choose a VPS when you prefer long polling, an always-running process, persistent local state, or broader control over the runtime. A VPS can also serve a webhook, so the real decision is the update-delivery method and the operational control you need—not a claim that one hosting model is always cheaper or faster.
What the hosting choice actually changes
Telegram gives a bot two mutually exclusive ways to receive updates:
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|---|---|---|
| Webhook | Telegram sends each update to your HTTPS URL as soon as it is generated. | You need a publicly reachable HTTPS endpoint on an allowed port. A serverless function is a natural fit; a VPS works as well. |
| Long polling | Your bot calls getUpdates. Telegram keeps the request open until updates arrive or the request timeout expires, then the client repeats it. |
You need a process that remains active and can make outbound requests. No inbound port or public domain is required. |
The methods cannot run together for one bot. Telegram’s Bots FAQ states that getUpdates cannot fetch updates while a webhook is configured. Before moving from webhook delivery to polling, remove the webhook; otherwise polling requests fail. The method names and current parameter definitions are maintained in Telegram’s Bot API reference.
How Telegram webhooks work
The request path
Your application exposes an HTTPS route, such as /telegram/update. You register that route as the bot’s webhook. Telegram then makes an HTTP request to it for each update. Your handler should authenticate the request, parse the update, perform the required work, and return a successful HTTP response promptly.
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A webhook is a push mechanism: your code does not need to keep asking Telegram whether anything happened. That makes it well suited to an event-driven function that starts for a request and stops when the request is complete.
Allowed ports
Telegram accepts webhook URLs on these ports:
| Port | URL notation |
|---|---|
| 443 | Default HTTPS port; normally omitted from the URL. |
| 80 | Write the port explicitly when your endpoint uses it. |
| 88 | Write the port explicitly when your endpoint uses it. |
| 8443 | Write the port explicitly when your endpoint uses it. |
A random platform-assigned port will not work merely because it is reachable from the internet. Put the approved port in the registered URL when it is not 443.
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Network and certificate checks
- The endpoint must be publicly reachable by Telegram; a private LAN address or a URL accessible only through your VPN cannot receive webhooks.
- Use a certificate whose hostname matches the webhook hostname and plan for TLS 1.2 or newer. Confirm certificate details against the current Bot API reference before deployment.
- Telegram webhook traffic originates from the subnets
149.154.160.0/20and91.108.4.0/22. If your firewall supports source allow-lists, these ranges can be permitted while other inbound traffic remains restricted.
Authenticate every webhook
When you register a webhook, you can supply an optional secret_token. Telegram then includes that value in the X-Telegram-Bot-Api-Secret-Token header on webhook requests. Check the header before parsing or acting on the body. Keep the token outside source control and rotate it by registering a new value if it is exposed.
Inspect delivery health
The getWebhookInfo method reports the number of updates waiting for delivery and the most recent delivery error. Use it when a function appears healthy but messages are not arriving. A growing waiting count points to an endpoint, authentication, response-time, or application-processing problem rather than a Telegram client-side issue.
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How long polling works
The polling loop
With long polling, a worker calls getUpdates and waits. If no update is immediately available, Telegram holds the request until an update arrives or the chosen timeout expires. The worker then calls the method again. The process therefore needs reliable outbound internet access and a supervisor that restarts it after a crash.
Why polling does not need a public URL
Polling is initiated by your bot, not by Telegram. The worker makes outbound HTTPS connections, so it does not need an inbound firewall rule, a public domain, or a webhook certificate. This is an architectural consequence of the pull mechanism, not a separate Telegram hosting product.
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Before starting a polling worker, delete the bot’s webhook. If a webhook remains configured, getUpdates is unavailable for that bot. Likewise, do not leave a polling worker running after switching the bot to a webhook. One bot should have one active update-consumption strategy.
When serverless is the better fit
Use serverless for webhook-driven, request-shaped work
A function invoked once per incoming webhook request maps directly to Telegram’s push model. The function can start when an update arrives and stop after handling it, so you do not pay the operational cost of keeping an idle worker alive. This is an architectural fit, not a promise of lower bills or lower latency; those depend on the platform, invocation pattern, dependencies, and workload.
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Serverless is particularly convenient when:
- The bot is idle for long periods and then receives bursts of commands.
- Your logic can finish within one request and does not require a resident process.
- You are comfortable storing conversation state, job records, and locks in an external database or cache rather than relying on local process memory.
- You want deployment to be an HTTPS endpoint plus a small handler instead of a continuously managed machine.
Design the handler as a stateless boundary
Treat each webhook invocation as independent. Read the update from the request body, validate the secret header, load any required state, and write durable results before returning. Keep side effects idempotent as a defensive measure: if your platform or application retries a request, processing the same update twice should not create duplicate game-server actions, purchases, or database records.
For slow work—such as generating a large report or waiting on a game server—acknowledge the webhook quickly and hand the job to a durable queue or worker that your design supports. Do not assume that an invocation can remain open indefinitely; exact execution limits vary by provider and are not established here.
Serverless trade-offs
- Public ingress is mandatory: Telegram must reach the function over HTTPS on an approved port.
- Runtime state is temporary: local files and in-memory variables should not be your only copy of user or job state.
- Platform behavior matters: startup delay, request duration, concurrency, logs, and networking differ between providers. No universal cold-start or cost figure applies.
- Webhook debugging is endpoint debugging: inspect function logs and
getWebhookInfotogether so you can separate Telegram delivery errors from application exceptions.
When a VPS is the better fit
Polling is the simplest VPS deployment
An always-on VPS can run one bot process that repeatedly calls getUpdates. You do not need to buy or configure a domain, expose an inbound port, or manage a webhook certificate. A process supervisor should restart the worker after a crash and start it automatically after a reboot.
This arrangement is useful for bots that already have a conventional application server, need local configuration files, or include background loops that are awkward to express as one request per invocation.
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A VPS can use webhooks too
If you want push delivery, place an HTTPS server on the VPS, register its public URL, and apply the same port, certificate, secret-token, and firewall requirements as any other webhook host. The VPS gives you control over the reverse proxy, logs, runtime, and auxiliary services; it does not remove Telegram’s webhook requirements.
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VPS responsibilities
- Apply operating-system and runtime security updates.
- Keep the bot token and webhook secret out of logs and repositories.
- Configure a process supervisor for polling workers and any web server.
- Monitor disk space, memory, CPU, process restarts, and outbound connectivity.
- Back up durable state and test restoration rather than treating the machine as the only copy.
Serverless or VPS: a practical decision matrix
| Question | Prefer serverless webhook | Prefer VPS |
|---|---|---|
| Can Telegram reach a public HTTPS endpoint? | Yes; this is required. | Not required for polling; required if the VPS uses a webhook. |
| Do you want to avoid an always-running process? | Yes. | No; polling needs a continuously available worker. |
| Is polling the desired delivery method? | Usually a poor fit unless the provider supports a continuously running worker. | Natural fit. |
| Do you need resident memory, local files, or background loops? | Move state and jobs to durable external services and adapt the design. | Straightforward, subject to your own maintenance. |
| Are updates bursty or infrequent? | Push invocation handles this pattern without an idle worker. | Polling remains possible, but the worker stays active between updates. |
| Do you need full control of the operating environment? | Limited to the provider’s runtime and networking model. | Greater control over processes, packages, proxies, and logs. |
| What is the deciding factor? | Operational simplicity for a webhook-shaped handler. | Control and persistent process behavior. |
This matrix deliberately avoids a universal price or latency verdict. Provider pricing, invocation volume, machine size, geographic region, database usage, and application behavior determine those outcomes.
Deployment runbook: serverless webhook
- Create the handler. Expose an HTTPS route on port 443, or on port 80, 88, or 8443 with that port written into the URL. Parse Telegram’s update payload and return a success response after the work you can safely complete in the request.
- Protect the route. Configure a
secret_tokenwhen registering the webhook. Reject requests whoseX-Telegram-Bot-Api-Secret-Tokenheader does not match your stored value. - Register the webhook. Call Telegram’s
setWebhookmethod with the complete HTTPS URL and secret token through your Bot API client. - Verify delivery. Call
getWebhookInfo. Confirm that the registered URL is the one you expect, that the pending-update count is not growing, and that the last delivery error is empty or resolved. - Exercise a real update. Send a test command to the bot and correlate the Telegram update with your function log. Remove tokens and personal data from logs.
- Persist state outside the function. Store user preferences, conversation state, and long-running job status in durable services appropriate to your application.
Deployment runbook: VPS with long polling
- Prepare an always-on worker. Install your Telegram client library, place the bot token in a protected environment variable or secret store, and configure a process supervisor.
- Remove any existing webhook. Call
deleteWebhookbefore the worker starts. This is mandatory when switching from webhook delivery. - Start one polling consumer. Have one process call
getUpdates, wait for updates, process them, and repeat. Use your library’s documented update-offset handling so an update is not intentionally consumed again after successful processing. - Keep the process recoverable. Restart it after failure, start it after reboot, and alert on repeated restarts or loss of outbound connectivity.
- Test from outside the machine. Send commands to the bot and verify that the worker receives them without opening an inbound firewall port.
Run only one polling consumer for a bot unless your framework explicitly provides coordinated consumption. Multiple independent workers can compete for the same update stream and make troubleshooting difficult.
Deployment runbook: VPS with a webhook
- Point a DNS name at the VPS and terminate HTTPS with a certificate matching that name.
- Expose the service on port 443, or use 80, 88, or 8443 and include the chosen port in the webhook URL.
- Allow Telegram’s webhook source ranges if your firewall uses an allow-list:
149.154.160.0/20and91.108.4.0/22. - Configure and validate the
secret_tokenheader before registering the URL. - Call
setWebhook, then usegetWebhookInfoand application logs to confirm delivery. - Disable any polling worker for this bot. Webhook and polling consumption are mutually exclusive.
Switching safely between webhook and polling
Webhook to polling
- Stop the webhook consumer or function deployment if you are retiring it.
- Call
deleteWebhook. - Start exactly one polling worker and verify that
getUpdatessucceeds. - Send a test message and confirm the worker receives it.
Polling to webhook
- Stop the polling worker so it cannot compete with the new consumer.
- Deploy and test the public HTTPS handler, including secret-header validation.
- Call
setWebhookwith the complete URL. - Use
getWebhookInfoand a test command to confirm delivery before removing the old worker permanently.
Troubleshooting by symptom
| Symptom | Checks | Likely correction |
|---|---|---|
getUpdates fails |
Check whether a webhook is still configured. | Call deleteWebhook, then restart one polling worker. |
| No webhook requests arrive | Inspect getWebhookInfo, DNS, certificate hostname, firewall rules, and the registered port. |
Use a public HTTPS URL on 443, 80, 88, or 8443; correct DNS, TLS, or inbound rules. |
| Requests reach the app but are rejected | Compare the received X-Telegram-Bot-Api-Secret-Token header with the configured secret. |
Fix the secret configuration or re-register the webhook with a new token. |
| Pending updates keep increasing | Read the last delivery error and application logs. | Fix response errors, request handling, or downstream work that prevents timely completion. |
| Both deployments appear active | Check for a polling process and a registered webhook at the same time. | Choose one delivery method and shut down the other. |
| Polling receives nothing after migration | Confirm the webhook was deleted and that the worker has outbound HTTPS access. | Delete the webhook and verify the worker’s network and token configuration. |
Cost, reliability, and maintenance without false precision
There is no evidence-based universal answer that serverless costs less, responds faster, or has better uptime for every Telegram bot. A serverless design shifts spending and responsibility toward invocations, execution time, storage, queues, databases, and provider networking. A VPS shifts them toward a recurring machine allocation, backups, monitoring, operating-system maintenance, and the time required to keep the service secure.
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Compare like with like: include the database that holds bot state, logs, outbound API calls, background jobs, and any always-on supporting service. A low-volume command bot may have a very different cost profile from a bot that performs continuous game-server monitoring, regardless of where its webhook handler runs.
Reliability also depends on the complete path: Telegram delivery, DNS, TLS, firewall rules, your handler or worker, and every dependency it calls. A VPS does not automatically provide high availability, and serverless does not eliminate application failures. Measure the signals that matter to your bot—pending webhook updates, delivery errors, process restarts, handler errors, and successful command completion—rather than assuming a hosting label guarantees an outcome.
Examples for game-focused bots
Occasional community commands
A bot that answers game commands, posts patch reminders, or looks up a small amount of player data is a strong webhook candidate. A serverless handler can validate the update, query durable state, send the reply, and finish without maintaining an idle worker.
Continuous game-server monitoring
A bot that maintains a persistent connection to a game server, runs scheduled probes, or coordinates several background tasks may fit a VPS better. Long polling can share the machine with those resident processes, and local supervision is simpler than forcing every loop into request-triggered functions.
Existing web application
If your team already operates a VPS-backed web service with HTTPS, adding a webhook route may be the smallest change. If that machine already runs a reliable worker framework, polling may be simpler still. Choose the method that matches the processes you already monitor rather than adding a second operational model without a reason.
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Bottom line
For a bot that can be expressed as short, stateless request handling, use a serverless function behind a secured Telegram webhook. For a bot that needs an always-running worker, long polling, resident memory, or control over the operating environment, use a VPS. If you choose a VPS but still want push delivery, run a webhook there; if you choose serverless, do not assume polling is available unless the platform supports a continuously running process. Set one update method, verify it with Telegram’s diagnostics, and design the rest of the hosting around your bot’s actual workload.
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