{"id":814119,"date":"2022-06-28T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/how-to-disable-wp-cron-in-wordpress-and-set-up-proper-cron-jobs\/"},"modified":"2022-07-26T02:15:36","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T02:15:36","slug":"how-to-disable-wp-cron-in-wordpress-and-set-up-proper-cron-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/en\/how-to-disable-wp-cron-in-wordpress-and-set-up-proper-cron-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Disable wp-cron in WordPress and Set Up Proper Cron Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Are you having problems with scheduled actions not working in WordPress?<\/p>\n<p>WordPress has a scheduling system called wp-cron, but it sometimes misses a scheduled task like publishing scheduled posts, sending triggered emails, etc. Proper cron jobs run by your server\u2019s operating system are often more reliable.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, we\u2019ll show you how to disable wp-cron in WordPress, and cover two ways you can set up proper cron jobs.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-130793\" title=\"How to Disable wp-cron in WordPress and Set Up Proper Cron Jobs\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"How to Disable wp-cron in WordPress and Set Up Proper Cron Jobs\" width=\"680\" height=\"385\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"How to Disable wp-cron in WordPress and Set Up Proper Cron Jobs\" width=\"680\" height=\"385\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"How to Disable wp-cron in WordPress and Set Up Proper Cron Jobs\" class=\"wp-image-130793\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<h4>Why Disable wp-cron?<\/h4>\n<p>Your WordPress website has a built-in scheduling system called wp-cron. It performs time-sensitive tasks such as checking for updates, publishing scheduled posts, automatically creating regular backups, sending triggered emails, etc.<\/p>\n<p>You can learn more in our guide on how to view and control WordPress cron jobs.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-129743\" title=\"Viewing Scheduled Tasks in WordPress\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411940_791_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Viewing Scheduled Tasks in WordPress\" width=\"680\" height=\"177\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Viewing Scheduled Tasks in WordPress\" width=\"680\" height=\"177\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411940_791_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Viewing Scheduled Tasks in WordPress\" class=\"wp-image-129743\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>The problem is that WordPress is only prompted to check for scheduled jobs when someone visits your website. This works well enough for most sites, but sometimes it can cause problems for smaller ones.<\/p>\n<p>For example, if your site has low traffic, then your scheduled posts may not be published on time. And if your website gets a lot of traffic, then wp-cron will be checked frequently, which may impact your website\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n<p>Now if you just want to fix the missing scheduled posts error, then you can use the free plugin Missed Scheduled Publisher, but if you want to solve all scheduled action issues, then you need a real cron job.<\/p>\n<p>A real cron job is run by your web hosting server\u2019s operating system, not by WordPress. You can set it up to check for scheduled tasks morereliably. By default, WordPress doesn\u2019t have access to set this up on the server level, but you can easily do it by following our tutorial.<\/p>\n<p>With that being said, let\u2019s take a look at how to disable wp-cron and set up a proper cron job. Here\u2019s what we\u2019ll cover in this tutorial:<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"Disabling-wp-cron-in-WordPress\">Disabling wp-cron in WordPress<\/h4>\n<p>To disable wp-cron, you need to edit wp-config.php, which is a core WordPress configuration file. It\u2019s located in your WordPress site\u2019s root folder, and you will need to use an FTP client or the file manager in your web hosting control panel.<\/p>\n<p>This file contains a lot of sensitive information, and making the wrong changes can break your WordPress site. We recommended making a backup of the file first, just in case. You can learn how by following our guide on how to edit wp-config.php in WordPress.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll need to paste the following code into the wp-config.php file just before the line that says \u2018That\u2019s all, stop editing! Happy blogging.\u2019<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-syntaxhighlighter-code \">\n<pre class=\"brush: php; gutter: false; title: ; notranslate\" title=\"\">define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-129706\" title=\"Pasting Code into wp-config\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411940_775_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Pasting Code into wp-config\" width=\"680\" height=\"238\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Pasting Code into wp-config\" width=\"680\" height=\"238\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411940_775_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Pasting Code into wp-config\" class=\"wp-image-129706\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>After that, you need to save the file and upload it back to your website.<\/p>\n<p>WordPress will no longer trigger wp-cron when someone visits your website.<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"Setting-Up-Proper-Cron-Jobs-on-Your-WordPress-Host\">Setting Up a Proper Cron Job on Your WordPress Host<\/h4>\n<p>Now you\u2019ll need to set up a proper cron job to run your scheduled tasks. The way you do this will vary depending on the tools provided by your WordPress hosting provider.<\/p>\n<p>The easiest way to set up cron jobs is using cPanel, a popular website control panel included with many web hosting plans, including Bluehost. We\u2019ll use the Bluehost cPanel in this tutorial.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wpb-alert style-yellow\">\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Some web hosts don\u2019t use cPanel and some may not even allow you to create cron jobs. If in doubt, you should contact your hosting provider or consult their support documentation. You can always use a third party cron service (below).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Once you log into your hosting account and navigate to cPanel, you should scroll down until you find \u2018Cron Jobs\u2019 and then click on it.<\/p>\n<p>You may find it in the \u2018Advanced\u2019 section, but this can vary depending on your hosting provider.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-129707\" title=\"Find 'Cron Jobs' in cPanel\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411940_998_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Find 'Cron Jobs' in cPanel\" width=\"680\" height=\"342\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Find 'Cron Jobs' in cPanel\" width=\"680\" height=\"342\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411940_998_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Find 'Cron Jobs' in cPanel\" class=\"wp-image-129707\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>This will take you to a new page where you can create new cron jobs.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t worry about the warning you\u2019ll see about needing a good knowledge of Linux commands. Only one command is necessary, and we\u2019ll show you exactly what it is below.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-129708\" title=\"The cPanel Cron Jobs Page\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411940_401_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"The cPanel Cron Jobs Page\" width=\"680\" height=\"391\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"The cPanel Cron Jobs Page\" width=\"680\" height=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411940_401_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"The cPanel Cron Jobs Page\" class=\"wp-image-129708\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>If you need to, you can change the email address where cron job notifications will be sent. The default address is the one you used when you signed up for your web hosting, and this will work fine on most websites.<\/p>\n<p>Now, let\u2019s scroll down to the \u2018Add New Cron Job\u2019 section and set up a cron job.<\/p>\n<p>First, you need to decide how often the cron job will be run. This can be anything you like, but we recommend 30 minutes interval.<\/p>\n<p>You will need to click the \u2018Common Settings\u2019 button and select a time interval from the dropdown. \u2019Twice Per Hour\u2019 is a good choice for most sites if you\u2019re not sure.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-129710\" title=\"Creating a New Cron Job in cPanel\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411941_342_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Creating a New Cron Job in cPanel\" width=\"680\" height=\"356\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Creating a New Cron Job in cPanel\" width=\"680\" height=\"356\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411941_342_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Creating a New Cron Job in cPanel\" class=\"wp-image-129710\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>Now you can enter the command that will ask WordPress to run its scheduled tasks. You need to paste the following code into the \u2018Command\u2019 field:<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-syntaxhighlighter-code \">\n<pre class=\"brush: plain; gutter: false; title: ; notranslate\" title=\"\">wget -q -O - https:\/\/example.com\/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron &gt;\/dev\/null 2&gt;&amp;1\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<p>Make sure you replace \u2018example.com\u2019 with your own website\u2019s URL.<\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve done that, make sure you click the \u2018Add New Cron Job\u2019 button, and you will see the new cron job added to the list below.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-129711\" title=\"Viewing the List of Cron Jobs in cPanel\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411941_168_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Viewing the List of Cron Jobs in cPanel\" width=\"680\" height=\"183\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Viewing the List of Cron Jobs in cPanel\" width=\"680\" height=\"183\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411941_168_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Viewing the List of Cron Jobs in cPanel\" class=\"wp-image-129711\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>WordPress will now check for and run scheduled tasks every 30 minutes instead of when someone visits your website.<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"Setting-Up-Proper-Cron-Jobs-Using-a-Third-Party-Service\">Setting Up a Proper Cron Job Using a Third Party Service<\/h4>\n<p>If your hosting plan doesn\u2019t offer proper cron jobs, or they are difficult to set up, then you can use a third party cron service instead.<\/p>\n<p>These are dedicated services that allow you to set up cron jobs using a simple interface. Here are a few of the better ones:<\/p>\n<p>For this tutorial, we\u2019ll use EasyCron because it is easy to use, and the free plan is suitable for most beginner use cases.<\/p>\n<p>Once you create a free account, you can create a new cron job by clicking the \u2018+ Cron Job\u2019 button on the left.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-129712\" title=\"Creating a New Cron Job in EasyCron\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411941_945_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Creating a New Cron Job in EasyCron\" width=\"680\" height=\"222\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Creating a New Cron Job in EasyCron\" width=\"680\" height=\"222\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411941_945_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Creating a New Cron Job in EasyCron\" class=\"wp-image-129712\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>This will pop up the \u2018Create Cron Job\u2019 screen. First, you need to paste the following URL into the \u2018URL to call\u2019 field.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-syntaxhighlighter-code \">\n<pre class=\"brush: php; gutter: false; title: ; notranslate\" title=\"\">https:\/\/example.com\/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<p>Make sure you replace \u2018example.com\u2019 with your own site\u2019s URL.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-129709\" title=\"Creating a New Cron Job in EasyCron\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411941_879_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Creating a New Cron Job in EasyCron\" width=\"680\" height=\"403\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Creating a New Cron Job in EasyCron\" width=\"680\" height=\"403\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411941_879_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Creating a New Cron Job in EasyCron\" class=\"wp-image-129709\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>After that, you should choose \u2018Every 30 minutes\u2019 from the \u2018When to execute\u2019 drop down. When you\u2019re finished, don\u2019t forget to click the \u2018Create Cron Job\u2019 button to store your settings.<\/p>\n<p>The new cron job will be added to the list, and run wp-cron on your website every 30 minutes.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-129713\" title=\"Viewing the List of Cron Jobs in EasyCron\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411941_630_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Viewing the List of Cron Jobs in EasyCron\" width=\"680\" height=\"238\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Viewing the List of Cron Jobs in EasyCron\" width=\"680\" height=\"238\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656411941_630_How-to-Disable-wp-cron-in-WordPress-and-Set-Up-Proper.png\" alt=\"Viewing the List of Cron Jobs in EasyCron\" class=\"wp-image-129713\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to disable wp-cron in WordPress and set up proper cron jobs. You may also want to see our step by step guide to WordPress SEO, or check out our list of common WordPress errors and how to fix them.<\/p>\n<p>If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our\u00a0YouTube Channel\u00a0for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on\u00a0<a title=\"Follow WPBeginner on Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wpbeginner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and Facebook.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you having problems with scheduled actions not working in WordPress? WordPress has a scheduling system called wp-cron, but it sometimes misses a scheduled task like publishing scheduled posts, sending triggered emails, etc. Proper cron jobs run by your server\u2019s operating system are often more reliable. In this article, we\u2019ll show you how to disable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":814120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-814119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lafactory.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}