Your Instant Access Internet Services hosting account runs on a CloudLinux server, where each account gets its own fair share of CPU, memory and other resources. That keeps one busy site from slowing everyone else down. This guide explains cPanel Resource Usage: what each limit means, how to check whether your site has hit one, and what to do about it.
Where to see your resource usage
- Quick view: the statistics panel on the right side of the cPanel home page shows current usage of CPU Usage, Entry Processes, Physical Memory Usage, IOPS, I/O Usage and Number of Processes, each with your limit.
- Full detail: in cPanel, open Resource Usage (in the Metrics section, or type "resource" in the search bar at the top).
The limits in plain English
| Limit | What it means | What happens when you hit it |
|---|---|---|
| CPU (SPEED) | How much processor time your site can use, shown as a percentage of one CPU core. | Your site isn't stopped, just slowed down until usage drops. |
| Physical Memory (PMEM) | How much RAM your site's processes can use at once, mostly PHP. | Processes that need more memory are stopped. Visitors may see 500 or 503 errors or a blank page. |
| Entry Processes (EP) | How many PHP requests can be running at the same moment. It isn't the number of visitors; a fast page finishes in a fraction of a second. | Extra requests are turned away with a 508 Resource Limit Is Reached error. |
| Number of Processes (NPROC) | All processes running for your account, including PHP, cron jobs and email apps. | New processes can't start; pages or scripts may fail. |
| I/O and IOPS | How fast your site can read and write to disk, and how many disk operations per second. | Disk access is slowed down, so pages load slowly. |
How to check if your site hit a limit
- Open Resource Usage in cPanel.
- The Dashboard tells you whether your account has been limited recently. If everything is fine, it says your site has not been limited in the last 24 hours.
- If a limit was hit, it's listed with a Details button. Click it to see charts showing when it happened.
- Click Current Usage to see usage over time. Use the timeframe filter to look at a specific day or hour. In the charts, green is your average usage, red is the limit and the other colour marks faults (moments when the limit was reached).
- The Snapshot tab, where available, shows which processes and web requests were running when a limit was hit. This is very useful for finding the page, plugin or bot responsible.
A few faults now and then during a traffic peak are normal. Faults every day, or 508 errors that visitors notice, mean something needs attention.
How to reduce resource usage
For WordPress sites
- Turn on LiteSpeed Cache. Cached pages are served without running PHP, which is the biggest single improvement for CPU, memory and entry processes. See How to Speed Up WordPress with LiteSpeed Cache.
- Remove plugins you don't need, especially heavy ones such as statistics, related-posts or broken-link checkers that do a lot of work on every page.
- Keep WordPress, plugins and themes updated. See How to Update WordPress, Plugins and Themes (and Turn On Auto-Updates).
For any site
- Look for bots. Aggressive crawlers and login attacks cause many resource spikes. Check recent visitors in How to Check Your Website Error Log and Recent Visitors. Protecting WordPress login (see How to Secure WordPress with WP Toolkit Security Hardening) often helps.
- Space out cron jobs. Scripts that run every minute can add up. See How to Set Up a Cron Job in cPanel.
- Check your PHP version. Newer PHP versions are usually faster. You can change it in Software > MultiPHP Manager. See How to Change Your PHP Version in cPanel.
- Optimise large images so pages need less disk I/O.
Common questions
What does "508 Resource Limit Is Reached" mean?
Too many requests were running at the same time and your entry process limit was reached. It usually clears within a minute. If it keeps happening, turn on caching and check for bots as described above.
Why is my site slow but there are no errors?
CPU and I/O limits slow your site down rather than stopping it. Look at Current Usage for faults on SPEED or IO.
Does Resource Usage include disk space?
No. Disk space and bandwidth are shown separately on the cPanel home page. See Understanding cPanel Statistics: Disk Space, Bandwidth and Databases.
Can my limits be increased?
Limits are set by your plan. If your site regularly needs more after you've tried the steps above, open a ticket and we can look at the options with you.
Related guides
- Understanding cPanel Statistics: Disk Space, Bandwidth and Databases
- How to Speed Up WordPress with LiteSpeed Cache
- What to Do If Your WordPress Site Is Hacked
- How to Check Your Website Error Log and Recent Visitors
- How to Fix the WordPress White Screen and 500 Errors
Still stuck? Open a support ticket and the Instant Access Internet Services team will help.
