WP-Cron is a simulated cron that WordPress uses to perform scheduled tasks on a regular basis. Common tasks that WP-Cron performs are publishing scheduled posts, checking for plugin updates, and cleaning up expired transients. Additional plugins can also add their own scheduled tasks.
WP-Cron by default will run every time a request comes into the website. This means it can run much more than it needs to, or not enough due to low site requests which makes it very unreliable.
Why we Disable WP-Cron
You may get a notification in your WordPress Dashboard that indicates DISABLE_WP_CRON is set to true and that scheduled tasks are not running. When this value is set to true it simply disables the default feature so we can handle this in a better fashion. We use a server level CRON to run scheduled tasks in WordPress every 3 minutes on VPS plans.
Options for Managing WP-Cron Events
Sometimes it's calming to know what tasks are running and to help identify if there are any issues. To verify that your tasks are running you have a few options available.
Option 1: Managing WordPress Cron Events with WP-CLI
If you need to make changes to scheduled events within your WordPress site, WP-CLI is a great tool to have. You can review our guide on managing WordPress cron events with WP-CLI.
Option 2: WP Crontrol Plugin
You can add a plugin to your WordPress instance by going to the plugin section of your WordPress Dashboard and installing WP-Crontrol
Option 3: Contact Pagely Support
If you still have further concerns or have questions about any of these items, please feel free to contact our awesome team of highly skilled support agents for more assistance.