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 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 expressions like 5 minutes.
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.
Get notified when cronjob fails and succeeds via Email/Slack/Discord/Telegram/Webhook.
Team access: allows your team member to create, run, and manage cronjobs.
Max instances: prevent overlapping or allow up to 5 overlapping executions.
API access: create, run, and delete your cronjobs 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).

Not satisfied with the command line and limited features? Join thousands of developers using an external cron service like FastCron.