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FastCron vs Unix crontab

Most hosting providers have the Cron Jobs feature in their control panel. It offers a simple interface to run cronjobs via the Unix crontab.

Unix crontab

Using crontab in Unix systems comes with several advantages and disadvantages. Here’s a breakdown:

Pros:

  • You can use your server/hosting cronjobs for free.
  • Simple enough to learn and set up cronjob using simple crontab expressions.
  • You can use other system functions (date, sleep, etc).
  • If you run your cronjobs via CLI (e.g. php /path/to/cron.php) then it saves server resources.

Cons:

  • Some hosting providers have a limit on cron frequency (e.g. only every 15 minutes or slower).
  • You must give your team access to your hosting or servers to set cronjobs.
  • Advanced cron expressions are much harder, and you won’t know when your cronjob executes.
  • It uses the server timezone, so tasks may run at unexpected times.
  • Hard to debug and check script output, so sometimes your cronjobs fail silently.
  • Crontab can be less intuitive compared to other scheduling tools due to the lack of graphical user interface.

Due to several limitations of Unix crontab, many software teams are using a web cron service like FastCron.

FastCron service

FastCron is a simple, fast, and free cronjob service for professional website developers. It offers several features:

  • Cron expression: FastCron supports both standard cron expressions like */5 * * * * and simple patterns like 5 minutes. Also, check out the time filter to match both the day of the week and the day of the month.
  • Custom timezone for your cronjobs. FastCron also calculates daylight saving time (DST) to ensure that your cronjob executes on time.
  • Cronjob management: you can disable, enable, and run cronjob easily with just one click.
  • Queued executions: know when your cronjob will execute.
  • Cron logs: see the full history of cronjob executions, including starting time, total execution time, HTTP status, and output.
  • Email/Slack/webhook notifications when cronjob fails and succeeds.
  • Team access: allows your team member to create, run, and manage their own cronjobs.
  • Retry failed cronjob executions.
  • Repeat cronjob executions until/when its output matches a word.
  • Max instances: prevent overlapping or allow up to 5 overlapping executions.
  • API access: create, run, and delete your cronjob programmatically.

However, there are some drawbacks when using a web cron service:

  • If your web server software is down, your cronjobs won’t run.
  • If your scripts take a long time to run, it will occupy your web server connections. It’s best to use single instance if you don’t want your cronjob to overlap.
  • It’s an external service. You should whitelist our IP addresses, add authentication and authorization (e.g. via a secret cron key or password).

The best crontab alternative

Not satisfied with the command line and limited features? Join other 8000 developers and use an external cron service like FastCron.