Title: wp-cron using excessive memory
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# wp-cron using excessive memory

 *  [jnnydnti](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jnnydnti/)
 * (@jnnydnti)
 * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp-cron-using-excessive-memory/)
 * When I am working in the back end of my site, usually when either saving a post
   or deleting a post, the site often hangs up.
 * Frequently, it gives me a 500 error, and both the site and WHM lock up for up
   to 15 minutes.
 * My hosting service told me to watch the “Process Manager” in WHM. I did. At the
   next hangup, I observed:
 *  /usr/bin/php /home/XXXXXXXX/public_html/wordpress/wp-cron.php was using 86% 
   of CPU, but only 4.1% of memory.
 *  /usr/bin/php /home/XXXXXXXX/public_html/index.php was using 40.5% CPU, and 3.9%
   of memory.
 *  /usr/bin/php /home/XXXXXXX/public_html/index.php was using 11.8% CPU, and 4.1%
   of memory.
 * These were all well above the normal CPU usage.
 * Anyone have an idea of what would cause such a problem?

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  [threestyler](https://wordpress.org/support/users/threestyler/)
 * (@threestyler)
 * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp-cron-using-excessive-memory/#post-2667097)
 * There are lots of variables that could cause excessive memory. By default WordPress
   tries to scale to 32MB before you receive that warning. Depending on your hosts
   setup and enviroment you may be able to override this and increase the amount
   with the following snippet in the wp.config file:
 *     ```
       /* Increase memory allowance */
       define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '128M');
       ```
   
 * I wouldn’t go above 128M. You could also try 64M, 96M etc.
 *  Thread Starter [jnnydnti](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jnnydnti/)
 * (@jnnydnti)
 * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp-cron-using-excessive-memory/#post-2667287)
 * Thanks, but that’s been set to 128MB for a couple of years.
 * It’s overloading the CPU.
 *  [threestyler](https://wordpress.org/support/users/threestyler/)
 * (@threestyler)
 * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp-cron-using-excessive-memory/#post-2667292)
 * What size is your WordPress site, hosting environment, shared, vps etc ram allocation,
   cpu cycles? There are so many variables based on the little information provided
   it’s hard to respond with anything but generic suggestions to narrow things down
   right now.
 * I would start by optimising the database, deleting old post revisions, cleaning
   the trash.
 * Load up one of the Memory usage plugins.
 * Try disabling all plugins, and do some more monitoring a poorly coded plugin 
   could easily be the cause, same with poorly optimised themes that use inappropriate
   and often expensive database queries. Depending on the environment of your site
   it may be worth creating a clone on a dev url you can troubleshoot on then pushing
   to the live site.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘wp-cron using excessive memory’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [threestyler](https://wordpress.org/support/users/threestyler/)
 * Last activity: [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp-cron-using-excessive-memory/#post-2667292)
 * Status: not resolved

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