Description
WP-Cron quietly runs dozens of scheduled tasks on every WordPress site — core updates, plugin maintenance, email queues — and most site owners have no visibility into what’s actually registered, when it will next run, or how much it costs in execution time. DMValdez Cron Auditor puts all of that in one clean dashboard.
What’s included in the free version
Cron Dashboard
* Lists every registered cron job: hook name, arguments, next run date/time, and recurrence
* Search jobs by hook name
* Sortable columns
Action Controls
* Run any scheduled job immediately, on demand
* Pause a hook so it stops firing without deleting its schedule
* Resume a paused hook at any time
* Edit a job’s recurrence and next-run time in place, without losing its hook or arguments
* Delete a single scheduled event
* Bulk pause/resume multiple jobs at once
Schedule Manager
* Add custom recurrence intervals (e.g. “Every 15 Minutes”) beyond WordPress’s built-in hourly/twicedaily/daily/weekly schedules
* Schedule brand-new cron events (one-time or recurring) with custom arguments
Performance Impact
* Measures real execution time for each cron hook, both from live WP-Cron ticks and manual “Run Now” triggers
* Rolling average execution time per hook
* Site-wide estimated cron impact summary
DMValdez Cron Auditor never deletes a job’s underlying schedule when you pause it — pausing simply stops it from firing until you resume it, so nothing is lost.
Pro (coming soon)
A few Pro-only areas are visible (clearly marked, never functional in the free version) as a preview of what’s coming:
- Advanced Historical Logs — full run history with success/failure and error output
- Email Alerts for Failed Crons
The free plugin will always remain fully functional on its own — these are optional additions, not a crippled trial.
Screenshots
Installation
- Upload the
dmvaldez-cron-auditorfolder to/wp-content/plugins/, or install it directly through Plugins Add New in your WordPress dashboard. - Activate the plugin through the Plugins screen.
- Go to Cron Auditor in your dashboard menu to view your site’s scheduled cron jobs.
FAQ
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Does this plugin create any new cron jobs on my site?
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No. DMValdez Cron Auditor only reads and manages the cron jobs already registered by WordPress core, your theme, and your other plugins, unless you explicitly use the Schedule Manager to add a new one yourself.
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What happens to a job when I pause it — is it deleted?
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No. Pausing a hook stops it from executing on future WP-Cron ticks, but its underlying schedule is left completely intact. Resuming it immediately restores normal behavior with no need to re-create the schedule.
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Does this work if I’ve disabled WP-Cron and use a real system cron job instead?
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Yes. DMValdez Cron Auditor reads from and writes to the same
cronoption that WordPress itself uses, so it works identically whether WP-Cron fires on page loads or you triggerwp-cron.phpvia a real system cron job. -
Will pausing or deleting a job break the plugin or theme that registered it?
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It can, if that plugin or theme depends on the job running on schedule. Use the pause/delete controls the same way you would use any cron management tool: understand what a hook does before disabling it. Core WordPress maintenance hooks are safe to leave alone.
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Does this plugin send any data outside my site?
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No. All cron data, schedules, and performance stats stay in your WordPress database. Nothing is transmitted externally.
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Does the performance profiler slow down my site?
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No. Timing callbacks are only attached during actual WP-Cron execution (
wp_doing_cron()), never on regular front-end or admin page loads, and stats are stored with a small rolling window rather than an ever-growing log.
Reviews
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Contributors & Developers
“DMValdez Cron Auditor” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
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Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.2.1
- Fixed a bug where Run Now, Edit, and Delete could fail with “That cron event no longer exists” on any scheduled event — an internal sanitization step was corrupting the event reference before it could be looked up. Editing and deleting jobs now works reliably, including for jobs left behind by a plugin that’s since been deactivated.
- Scheduling a new cron event under a hook name that already has an existing job now shows a confirmation, since pausing or resuming affects every job under that hook name together.
1.2.0
- Cron runs (real WP-Cron ticks, manual “Run Now”, and even fatal-error failures) now fire an internal completion event, and failed runs are detected via a shutdown handler — this powers the optional DMValdez Cron Auditor Pro add-on’s Historical Logs and Email Alerts features. No change in behavior for the free plugin on its own.
1.1.0
- Added an Edit action to the Cron Dashboard: change a scheduled job’s recurrence and next-run time in place, without deleting and re-adding it.
1.0.0
- Initial release: cron dashboard, run/pause/resume/delete controls, custom schedule manager, and execution-time profiling.