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

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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.
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