Resource limits and the Resource Limit Is Reached error

Our cPanel servers run CloudLinux, which gives every hosting account its own share of the server's resources. This keeps your website fast and stable: if another website on the same server gets very busy or is attacked, it can't slow yours down. The same limits apply to your account.

What is limited

• CPU: how much processing power your account's scripts can use.
• Memory (physical memory): how much memory your account's scripts can use at once.
• Entry processes: how many visitor requests to scripts such as PHP pages can run at the same moment.
• Processes: how many programs your account can run at once.
• I/O and IOPS: how fast your account can read from and write to disk.

When your account reaches a limit, it's slowed down for a moment rather than stopped. If it stays at the limit, visitors may see a "508 Resource Limit Is Reached" error until the load drops.

Check your account's usage

1. Log in to cPanel. See Log in to cPanel and WHM from the Client Area.

2. In the Metrics section, click Resource Usage.

You'll see whether your account has hit any limits recently, which limit it was, and when. Your account's exact limits are shown there too.

Common causes and fixes

• A traffic spike or bots. Search engines, AI crawlers and bad bots can send many requests at once. A caching plugin helps a lot, and you can slow or block unwanted bots with your robots.txt file.
• No caching. Websites like WordPress build every page from scratch unless caching is turned on. Install a caching plugin, such as WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache for WordPress.
• Heavy or broken plugins. A slow plugin or theme can use a lot of CPU and memory. Update or replace it.
• Scheduled tasks. Cron jobs that run too often, or several at the same time, can push your account to its limits. Check Cron Jobs in cPanel.
• Old PHP version. Newer PHP versions are much faster. See Change your PHP version and extensions.
• Malware. Infected sites often send spam or attack other sites, which uses a lot of resources. See Imunify360 website protection.

If your website regularly needs more than your plan allows, you can move to a bigger plan. See Upgrade or downgrade your hosting plan. If you're not sure what's causing the problem, please open a support ticket and we'll look at your account's usage with you.