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A cron job is a scheduled task that runs automatically at defined intervals. Common uses include running maintenance scripts, sending queued emails, processing imports, and triggering application schedulers (such as WordPress’s wp-cron or Laravel’s scheduler).

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Creating a cron job in cPanel

  1. Log in to cPanel.
  2. In the Advanced section, click Cron Jobs.
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  1. Under Add New Cron Job, set the schedule. You can pick a common preset from the Common Settings dropdown (for example, “Once Per Day”) or set the five schedule fields manually:
    • Minute (0-59)
    • Hour (0-23)
    • Day (1-31)
    • Month (1-12)
    • Weekday (0-6, Sunday = 0)
  2. In the Command field, enter the command to run.
  3. Click Add New Cron Job.

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Example commands

Run a PHP script:
Fetch a URL (for example, to trigger wp-cron):
Run a script and discard all output:
Replace username with your cPanel username and adjust paths to match your account.

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Email output

By default, cron sends any command output to your account’s email address. Set the email in the Cron Email section of the Cron Jobs page, or append > /dev/null 2>&1 to a command to silence its output.

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Tips

  • Don’t schedule jobs too frequently. Very frequent jobs (every minute) that run heavy scripts can consume your account’s resources. Choose the longest interval that meets your needs.
  • Replace wp-cron with a real cron job. WordPress’s built-in wp-cron runs on page visits, which is unreliable on low-traffic sites and wasteful on busy ones. Disable it in wp-config.php with define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true); and schedule the wget command above every 10-15 minutes instead.
  • Use full paths in commands — cron runs with a minimal environment and may not find binaries otherwise.
If you need help setting up a cron job, contact our support team.