Resource Usage plugin in cPanel (CloudLinux)
The Resource Usage plugin in cPanel shows real-time and historical data for your CloudLinux account: CPU, RAM, Entry Processes, and I/O.
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The Resource Usage plugin in cPanel (powered by CloudLinux) gives you real-time and historical visibility into your account's CPU, RAM, Entry Processes, and disk I/O. It's the first place to check when your site is slow or returning resource limit errors.
How to access Resource Usage
- Log in to cPanel
- Scroll to the Metrics section
- Click Resource Usage
You can also type "Resource Usage" into the cPanel search box at the top of the page.
Resource Usage is a CloudLinux feature available on shared hosting plans. If you're on a VPS or dedicated server, monitor resources differently-see the VPS monitoring guide.
Current Usage tab
The Current Usage tab shows a snapshot of your account's resource consumption right now. Figures update approximately every 30 seconds.
| Metric | What it measures | Display |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Processing power used by PHP, scripts, and cron jobs | % of your CPU allowance |
| Physical Memory (PMEM) | RAM used by your PHP processes | MB or % of RAM limit |
| Entry Processes (EP) | PHP requests executing simultaneously right now | Count of concurrent processes |
| I/O | Disk read/write speed your account is consuming | MB/s as % of I/O limit |
| IOPS | Number of disk operations per second | Count |
| NPROC | Total running processes under your account | Count |
History tab
The History tab shows resource usage graphs over time-from the past hour through the past 30 days. Use this to:
- Pinpoint exactly when your site slowed down or hit a limit
- Identify recurring spikes at a specific time (e.g., a cron job firing nightly)
- Determine which resource was the bottleneck during a problem period
Hover over any point on the graph to see the usage percentage at that moment. A spike touching the top of the graph means that resource hit 100% of its limit.
Faults and limit hits
The plugin tracks "faults"-the number of times your account hit each resource's limit. High fault counts tell you where the real problem is:
- High EP faults-visitors are frequently seeing 508 errors; install page caching
- High CPU faults-scripts are being throttled; investigate runaway plugins or cron jobs
- High PMEM faults-PHP processes are hitting the memory ceiling; find and remove memory-hungry plugins
Reading the numbers
Usage below 80% of any limit is generally healthy. Between 80–100%, your account is running close to capacity and may slow during traffic spikes. At 100%, limits are being hit and CloudLinux is actively throttling.
| Usage level | Status | Recommended action |
|---|---|---|
| 0–60% | Healthy | No action needed |
| 60–80% | Busy | Monitor for trends; consider enabling caching |
| 80–95% | Near limit | Enable caching, review plugins, investigate bottleneck |
| 95–100% | At limit | Site is throttled; fix immediately or consider upgrade |
Entry Processes (EP) is the most common bottleneck for WordPress sites without caching. Installing a page cache plugin typically reduces EP usage by 80–95%. See the Resource Limit Is Reached fix guide for step-by-step solutions, or the full resource limits overview for what each limit means.
Related: CloudLinux overview | Resource limits | CloudLinux resource limit | Upgrade account
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