Known as cron jobs on other panels, Plesk calls this feature Scheduled Tasks. It lets you run a command or script automatically at set intervals — no manual triggering required.
1. Open Scheduled Tasks
From Websites & Domains, click Scheduled Tasks for your domain.
2. Add a new task
Click Add Task, and choose whether you're running a PHP script, a shell command, or fetching a URL — the last option is common for triggering WordPress plugin actions.
3. Set the schedule
Plesk gives you simple presets (hourly, daily, weekly) or a custom schedule if you need something more specific, like every 15 minutes.
4. Common use cases
Popular scheduled tasks include triggering a nightly UpdraftPlus backup, clearing an old cache folder, or running WordPress's own wp-cron.php reliably on high-traffic sites.
Key takeaway: If your WordPress site gets heavy traffic, disable the default wp-cron trigger in wp-config.php and replace it with a real Scheduled Task — it runs more reliably and doesn't slow down page loads.
5. Test before relying on it
Click Run Now next to any new task to confirm it works correctly before waiting for the schedule to trigger it for the first time.
6. Check task logs
Plesk keeps a log of each task's execution and output, useful for confirming a backup script actually ran and didn't silently fail.
7. Notifications
Add your email address to a task's notification settings to get alerted if a scheduled command fails, so problems don't go unnoticed for days.
8. Understanding cron syntax
Behind Plesk's presets, every schedule is really five fields — minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week — each of which can be a specific number or an asterisk meaning "any". A task set to run at 0 3 * * * fires at 3:00am every single day, which is why it's a common choice for backups.
9. Security considerations
Any scheduled task that fetches a URL should point to a script your own site controls, not an arbitrary third-party address — a scheduled task is a standing instruction your server will trust and re-run indefinitely.
10. When not to use a scheduled task
Not every recurring job belongs in Scheduled Tasks. Anything a WordPress plugin already handles internally — like most SEO plugins' internal cron for sitemap regeneration — is usually better left alone unless you have a specific reason to override it.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a cron job and Plesk's Scheduled Tasks?
They're the same underlying system — Scheduled Tasks is simply Plesk's interface name for cron. The presets and form fields translate directly to standard cron syntax behind the scenes.
Will a scheduled task run if my computer is off?
Yes. Scheduled Tasks run on the server itself, entirely independent of any device you use to manage Plesk, so they fire on schedule whether or not you're logged in or your own computer is switched on.
Can I run a scheduled task more often than once a minute?
No, once a minute is the practical minimum for standard cron-based scheduling. For anything that genuinely needs to run more frequently than that, you're usually better served by a persistent background process rather than a scheduled task.