Make Sure the WordPress Cron Works

It is important that the WordPress cron works so that tasks can run to perform important actions, such as queuing newsletters.

To check scheduled tasks and test if the WordPress cron is working, you can install a plugin such as WP Crontrol.

Many of our users have problems due to the WordPress cron not working as intended. Here are the reasons why the WordPress cron may not be working:

1. Cron Disabled in wp-config.php

Open your wp-config.php file to check if there is a DISABLE_WP_CRON constant defined as true.

If there is and you have no other way for the WordPress cron to be executed, such as via a hosting cron job or online cron service, best thing is to remove this DISABLE_WP_CRON line.

2. No Traffic/Visitors on Website

The WordPress cron relies on traffic/visitors on the website to keep track of time and execute scheduled tasks.

If you have very little or no visitors on the website, best is to set up a cron job on your hosting or a third party cron job service to ping the website automatically at a set interval. Alternatively, you can completely replace the WordPress cron with a real server cron job.

3. Blocked by Hosting Provider

Some hosting providers may not like the WordPress cron because it can put strain on the server.

Talk to your hosting provider or server administrator if you have tried everything and it still doesn’t work. Alternatively, you can get top quality WordPress hosting where these problems don’t exist.

4. DNS and Hosting Problem

Install the WP Crontrol plugin, link above, and navigate to Settings > Cron Schedules. Make sure that it doesn’t show any errors. It can be a domain alias issue, DNS misconfiguration, reverse proxy, firewall, or virtual host problem. Contact your hosting and show them the error. This is usually the error:

“There was a problem spawning a call to the WP-Cron system on your site. This means WP-Cron events on your site may not work. The problem was:

cURL error 6: Could not resolve host: www.example.com

More information: https://wp-crontrol.com/help/problems-spawning-wp-cron/”