[FIXED] Entry Processes Limit Reached in cPanel [2023]

Did you see a red line in the block of entry processes under the statistics section on the right sidebar of cPanel?

That means something went wrong with your server.

Due to this issue, the number of PHP processes has crossed the limit of allowed processes set by your host.

Unfortunately, your visitor can see “Resource Limit is Reached” or” 508 error” in front of your website. It can scar your revenue as well as your business reputation.

So hurry now.

Fix Entry Process cPanel Limit Reached

What are Entry Processes?

As you know, WordPress’s back-end is built of PHP.

Whenever a visitor tries to access your WordPress website, WordPress runs PHP processes to make an HTTP response to fulfill the user’s HTTP request.

These processes appear in the entry process section and complete in less than a second.

The section also includes CGI scripts, cron jobs and show sessions.

A myth among beginners is that 20 entry processes denote merely 20 visitors. No, 20 processes can handle around 60-70 visitors in real-time.

It is noticeable that caching system or a caching plugin plays a big role in sustaining huge loads of visitors.

Why Has Entry Processes Limit Reached?

As I earlier said, a process takes less than a second to complete.

But sometimes, some PHP scripts take longer time than usual to execute and keep the server busy for a long time due to software conflict, massive traffic or cyber-attacks.

That will increase the number of processes and it can cross the limit. Then we get the error.

How To Fix Entry Processes Limit Reached

Many factors are guilty of resource-hungry script execution, unusual sudden traffic and security vulnerabilities. We need to fix them.

1.Avoid Resource Hungry Plugin

There are thousands of plugins in the WordPress directory. Some of them are lightweight and consume fewer resources to perform their action.

On the contrary, some are heavily coded, adding a bunch of CSS & JS code to your blog.

The server needs more resources than the general need to run the bunch of codes.

It’s interesting that users usually do not use all the features of heavy plugins but are obliged to load all codes.

Loading heavier codes causes server slowness, entry processes increase or resource scarcity.

So find out if you are using a heavy one.

How To Trace Resource Hungry Plugins

1.Install WP Hive extension to your Chrome browser.

2.Visit wordpress.org/plugins

3.Search your plugin i.e. jetpack

4.Find WP Hive Insight on the right side below the plugin image.
If the minimal impact on memory usage or page speed is under the red cross, you should avoid the plugins and use an alternate one.

My Favorite Lightweight Plugins

• Perfmatters
• Rankmath
• Spam Comment
• Gutenberg
• ShortPixel
• WP Rocket

2.Avoid Too Many Plugins

As beginners, we used to install many plugins to test them and figure out the best one.

It is a good thing.

But we often forget to deactivate them. These just keep eating our precious server resources and add extra load on the origin server.

Even a deactivated plugin is a security threat because it won’t get updated and become vulnerable.

Hackers can exploit it to take over the website and he can ruin website data.

So if you don’t use any plugin, respectively deactivate and delete it from your website. It will unburden your server.

3.Fix Plugin Conflicts

Plugins are essential to grow our WordPress website which various developers make from around the world.

Thereby the coding style will be different. It may cause incompatibility issues with the rest plugins or themes.

Sometimes two plugins from the same developers can cause problems.

Recently my client updated the Elementor plugin, but the Elementor pro plugin started to occur PHP Fatal error. I had to fix it.

The other two reasons are improper speed optimization and using PHP 8.1. You can fix it with the guide.

4.Fix Theme Conflicts

If all the plugins are alright, your theme may be the culprit. Reasons might be same as plugins conflict. You can follow up to fix it.

5.Stop Huge Cron Jobs

Cron Jobs is like an AI-based robot that automates many tasks like backups, post sharing, post publishing, plugin auto-updating, etc.

It requires RAM and CPU resources and adds numbers to the entry process.

Do minimal automation and more manual tasks, especially on shared hosting.

If you are on VPS and you can chill pills with automation.

6. Don’t Host Too Many Websites on A Single Host Account

Many websites on a single account are like too many eggs in a basket which have a higher chance of falling and breaking.

Many websites crave a lot of resources. If any website gets viral or huge bot traffic, resource consumption will on roll.

It impact other websites too. On shared hosting, the situation get much worse.

In fact, it is not recommended to keep multiple websites on a server for security and safety.

If one property gets hacked, the rest also can get infected. It can blow your online empire in a few seconds.

7.Secure from Cyber Attacks

30,000 websites are hacked every day. It’s so scary. Hackers can execute brute force to know your password, DDoS attack to down your server and XSS attack to take control of your website.

During the attack, the server load and processes touch the sky. In the frightening case, shared hosts usually suspend the account to save others’ properties.

What can we do to protect our website?

#Use Cloudflare – Put security level high. You can also choose “I’m under Attack!” when you feel the hacker is to bomb you.
#Use Wordfence Plugin – It will enable a firewall and scan your files to deduct suspicious code or files.

#Limit Login Plugin – it will protect your login page from brute force attacks.

8.Shield Against Bot Traffic

Nearly bots make up two-thirds of internet traffic. Your website may be affected by the bots’ army.

Massive bot traffic can over-utilize your resources and hamper your server processes.

Use Wordfence and Cloudflare. In Cloudflare, don’t forget to enable bot fight mode under the security tab.

9.Do A Proper Speed Optimization

Did you do speed optimization recently? If you are a novice, that’s a higher possibility that you might have done something wrong.

You might have blocked, combined, or minified important files that need to be loaded separately. It can alleviate your server performance.

So it would help if you have proper speed optimization, hire any speed expert today.

10.Move To Cloud VPS

If any of these reasons are not behind it, you should be happy because it might be due to genuine massive traffic.

You need to upgrade your host or move to cloud VPS.

You will get amazing cluster features on Cloud VPS that drive unbeatable uptime.

Guaranteed private resources like bandwidth, SSD storage, RAM and CPU let you feel how a kite flies in the sky.

Ultimately it brings more security, top-notch performance and blazing speed. You can try the best VPS with a free trial for WordPress.

FAQ

What is entry process?
To fulfill user’s request, a server must run many PHP processes, as shown in the entry process section. It also includes CGI scrip, shell session and cron jobs.

What is entry process limit?
The host sets entry process limit. The limit only allows running a certain number of processes like PHP process, cron jobs etc.

How do I delete an entry process in cPanel?
Deleting is not recommended. You can reduce it by avoiding resource hungry plugins, plugin conflicts and bot traffic.

If you have successfully fixed your problem with the help of the article, please share and leave a comment below.

Ravi Kumar

He is a professional WordPress speed optimizer and web hosting enthusiast with 3 years of experience in optimizing over 100 websites. As a speed optimization expert on Fiverr.com, he has honed his skills in the field and has since shared his strategies with over 1 lakh users annually via his blog, YouTube and social media platforms.