Replace WP-Cron with a Real Cron Job

Disable default wp-cron.php behavior #

Add the following like to your wp-config.php file.

define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', 'true');

This will disable the default wp-cron.

You can now setup a real cron job via your hosting.

Real Cron Job Setup #

To setup “real cron job”, you will want to setup a new cron job with your hosting, that will trigger the following command every minute:

wget -q -O - https://yourdomain.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron >/dev/null 2>&1

You can contact your website hosting to help with this.

If you have access to “cPanel”:

  • Login to your hosting cPanel and then search for CRON.
  • Click on Cron Jobs and create a new one.
  • Select Once Every Minute from Common Settings.
  • Then in “command” add the command show above. Replace https://yourdomain.com/ with your site URL.
  • Click “Add New Cron Job” and you are done.