WordPress: disable WP‑Cron and set a real cron job in Plesk

By default, WordPress uses WP‑Cron — a “pseudo cron” that runs when someone visits your website. This can be unreliable on low‑traffic sites and can add overhead on busy sites.

A better approach is:

• Disable WP‑Cron inside WordPress.
• Run wp-cron.php on a schedule using Plesk Scheduled Tasks.

Step 1 — Disable WP‑Cron in wp-config.php

1. Open wp-config.php in your WordPress root folder (usually httpdocs).
2. Add this line above the comment “That’s all, stop editing!”:

define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);

Step 2 — Create a Scheduled Task in Plesk

1. Log in to Plesk (via My.GARMTECH).
2. Open Websites & Domains → Scheduled Tasks.
3. Click Add Task.
4. Set the schedule (a common option is every 5 minutes).
5. Use this command (replace the domain):

curl -sS https://your-domain.tld/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron > /dev/null 2>&1

Alternative: if your server has wget:

wget -q -O - https://your-domain.tld/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron > /dev/null 2>&1

Step 3 — Verify that scheduled events run

• Wait for the next scheduled run.
• Check that WordPress scheduled actions (publishing, backups, plugin tasks) start working normally.

Notes

• If your site is password‑protected, the cron URL may require authentication. In that case, remove protection for wp-cron.php or use a safe allowlist method.
• Do not schedule it too frequently if you have a very heavy site. For most sites, every 5–15 minutes is enough.