Advanced Cron Manager – debug & control

Download and install this plugin from Plugins -> Add New admin screen.

Plugin’s page sits under Tools menu item.

Tasks and schedules will be still working after plugin deactivation/removal?

Tasks yes. Schedules no.

How does the pausing/unpausing work

When you pause an event it’s really unscheduled and stored in the wp_option. If you unpause it, it will be rescheduled. All paused events are rescheduled on plugin uninstall.

What is the Event hook?

It’s used for action. For example if your hook is hook_name you’ll need to add in PHP: add_action( ‘hook_name’, ‘function_name’ )

Does this plugin allow to add PHP to events like in WP Crontrol plugin?

No. This is not safe. You can, however, copy the sample implementation and paste it into your own plugin or theme’s function.php file.

Can this plugin block WP Cron and help hooking it into Server Cron like WP-Cron Control plugin?

Yes, but WP-Cron Control is quite old and it’s tactics is not needed anymore. Advanced Cron Manager can disable spawning WP Cron on site visit and will give you useful information about added Server Cron task.

Can you create a plugin for me?

Yes! We’re offering a custom plugin development services. Feel free to contact us to find out how we can help you.

How does Advanced Cron Manager compare to WP Crontrol?

WP Crontrol is a popular and well-maintained plugin — it’s a solid choice for basic cron management. Both plugins let you view, edit, add, remove, pause, and manually run cron events, as well as manage custom schedules.

Where Advanced Cron Manager stands out in the free version: you get copy-paste PHP implementation snippets for every event’s action hook and callback, plus bulk actions to manage multiple events at once.

The biggest difference is in the PRO upgrade. Advanced Cron Manager PRO adds cron execution logging, per-event performance stats, automatic error catching, and a debug tool for logging custom data from inside your callbacks. These diagnostic features are not available in WP Crontrol.

Switching between the two is seamless — both plugins read from the same underlying WP-Cron system, so there’s nothing to migrate. You can install Advanced Cron Manager and immediately see all your existing events and schedules.

What about Action Scheduler? Do I need both?

Action Scheduler and Advanced Cron Manager solve different problems. Action Scheduler is a background job queue designed for processing large batches of tasks — it’s used by WooCommerce and other plugins to handle things like webhook delivery, subscription payments, and bulk data operations. It has its own database-backed queue separate from WP-Cron.

Advanced Cron Manager focuses on WP-Cron — the built-in WordPress scheduling system that handles recurring tasks like checking for updates, publishing scheduled posts, sending emails, and running backups. If you need visibility into what WP-Cron is doing and tools to debug it, that’s what Advanced Cron Manager is for.

The two plugins complement each other. Action Scheduler manages its own job queue, while Advanced Cron Manager gives you control over WP-Cron events and schedules. Many sites run both without any conflict.

How does Advanced Cron Manager compare to WP Cron Status Checker?

WP Cron Status Checker is a monitoring-only tool — it checks whether WP-Cron is running, logs hook executions, and sends email alerts when something fails. It does not let you view, edit, add, remove, or run cron events.

Advanced Cron Manager is a full management tool. You get a complete dashboard for all your cron events and schedules, with the ability to search, add, edit, remove, pause, and manually run any event. With the PRO version, you also get execution logging, performance stats, and error catching — covering the monitoring side as well.

If you only need a simple health check for WP-Cron, WP Cron Status Checker does the job. If you want both management and diagnostics in one plugin, Advanced Cron Manager (especially with PRO) replaces the need for a separate status checker.