cron-job.org
Free, donation-funded HTTP cron scheduler that calls any URL on a schedule from minutely to yearly, with execution history, failure alerts, and a REST API.
- Card required
- No
cron-job.org scores 4.2/10 for free value in Schedulers. The main constraint: Unlimited cron jobs (subject to fair use), each runnable up to once per minute (60x/hour), with custom HTTP method/headers/body, failure/recovery and SSL-expiry email alerts, status pages, and a REST API — entirely free, no paid tier.
Free value score
4.2 / 10Show the math
Key metrics
What you get
Unlimited cron jobs at frequencies down to once per minute, completely free and donation-funded — no credit card, no paid tier
Full HTTP control: custom request method, headers, body, cookies, HTTP auth, and SSL/self-signed URL support
Execution history with response headers/body plus failure, recovery, and SSL-expiry email notifications and publishable status pages/badges
REST API for programmatic job management, MFA (authenticator app or YubiKey), and GPL-licensed open-source codebase
Gotchas
- 30-second execution timeout
Each job's HTTP request times out after 30 seconds and the connection is closed; longer-running scripts must finish work in the background (e.g. PHP ignore_user_abort).
- 64 KB response read limit
Only the first 64 KB of a URL/script's output is read; if more data is sent, the job execution is aborted.
- Minimum 1-minute interval
Jobs can run at most 60 times per hour (once per minute); sub-minute scheduling is not available.
- History retained 2 days / last 50 runs
Execution history shows only the last 50 executions per job, and response headers/bodies are stored for just 2 days.
- No punctuality guarantee
Execution may be slightly delayed during peak hours, and jobs that fail often or run long may be intentionally delayed to protect overall service stability.
- Auto-disable after 25 consecutive failures
A cronjob that fails more than 25 times in a row is automatically deactivated (assumed to point at an invalid/expired URL).
- Fair-use enforcement
No hard cap on job count, but abusive or excessive usage can lead to account deletion; some headers (User-Agent, Connection) are ignored.
Sources
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"Every cronjob can be executed up to 60 times an hour, i.e. every minute."
https://cron-job.org/en/faq/ -
"We do not limit the number of cronjobs per account, but we expect fair usage of our services."
https://cron-job.org/en/faq/ -
"In order to prevent abuse of our service, we enforce a daily usage limit. By default, this limit is 100 requests per day, but can be increased upon request. For sustaining members, a higher limit of 5,000 requests per day applies."
https://docs.cron-job.org/rest-api.html -
"Our service is absolutely free and financed entirely by voluntary donations."
https://cron-job.org/en/
