Free scheduled URL pings for your website
Poor Man's Cron is a free online cron service that sends scheduled HTTP requests to any URL you choose.
If your web host does not support real cron jobs — or WordPress wp-cron only runs when someone visits your site —
an external poor man's cron can keep your tasks on time.
What can you schedule?
- WordPress wp-cron — hit
wp-cron.phpevery few minutes so scheduled posts, updates, and plugins run reliably. - Cache warming — request key pages on a schedule so caches stay fresh.
- Webhook-style tasks — trigger any public URL that accepts GET or POST requests.
- Health checks — ping an endpoint periodically and review the response log.
How Poor Man's Cron works
- Enter the URL you want called and pick a schedule (every minute up to once daily).
- We store your job and give you a secret management code — no account required.
- Our server cron runs every minute and executes all jobs that are due.
- View execution logs, edit the schedule, or delete the job anytime with your secret code.
Why use an external cron instead of wp-cron alone?
WordPress schedules tasks through wp-cron.php, which by default only runs during a normal page load.
On low-traffic sites, backups, publishes, and plugin tasks can be delayed by hours.
Pointing Poor Man's Cron at your wp-cron.php URL gives you predictable, minute-level scheduling
without shell access or cPanel cron configuration.
Frequently asked questions
Is Poor Man's Cron really free?
Yes. Create jobs without registration. Limits may apply as the service grows, but the core scheduler stays accessible.
How do I edit or delete a job without an account?
When you create a job, you receive a unique secret code. Use the Manage job tab and paste that code to access your dashboard. Store it somewhere safe — we cannot recover it if lost.
What HTTP methods are supported?
GET, POST, and HEAD requests are supported. Choose the method your endpoint expects when creating the job.
Is this a replacement for server cron?
It is a practical alternative when you cannot run cron on the server itself. For mission-critical systems, a native server cron is still ideal — but a poor man's cron is a proven workaround used on shared hosting for decades.