In cPanel, open Advanced → Cron Jobs, choose how often the task should run, type the command and click Add New Cron Job.
- Log in to cPanel and open Advanced → Cron Jobs.
- Under Cron Email, enter an address if you want each run’s output emailed to you. This is useful while testing.
- Under Add New Cron Job, choose a timing from Common Settings, such as Once Per Hour, or fill in the Minute, Hour, Day, Month and Weekday boxes yourself.
- Type the command (examples below). Replace
USERNAMEwith your cPanel username, shown in the General Information panel on cPanel’s home page. - Click Add New Cron Job. It appears under Current Cron Jobs, where you can edit or delete it.
Example commands
| To | Command |
|---|---|
| Run a PHP script | /usr/local/bin/php /home/USERNAME/public_html/cron.php |
| Open a web address | curl -s https://yourdomain.com/cron.php |
| Run WordPress scheduled tasks | cd /home/USERNAME/public_html && /usr/local/bin/php wp-cron.php |
Add >/dev/null 2>&1 to the end of a command once it works, so you stop getting an email every time it runs.
Timing examples
| Minute Hour Day Month Weekday | Runs |
|---|---|
*/15 * * * * | Every 15 minutes |
0 2 * * * | Every day at 02:00, server time |
0 6 * * 1 | Every Monday at 06:00, server time |
The times follow the server’s clock, which may not be Central Africa Time: our shared servers are in Europe and the USA. Check the time of the first run in the cron email, or ask us which time zone your server uses.
Tip: Run jobs only as often as you need. A heavy job every minute uses your account’s CPU and memory allowance and can slow your website.
WordPress: a real cron instead of WP-Cron
WordPress normally runs scheduled tasks when someone visits. On a quiet site, scheduled posts and backups can run late. Add define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true); to wp-config.php, above the line that says to stop editing, then add the WordPress command above to run every 15 minutes.
Still stuck? Open a support ticket with the command and what happens when it runs, or message us on WhatsApp.
Updated 6 November 2026. Something here out of date? Tell us.