If your website is hosted on cPanel, you have probably noticed a sidebar full of numbers and coloured bars: CPU usage, physical memory, entry processes, IOPS, inodes. Most website owners ignore them until the site slows down or shows a "508 Resource Limit Reached" error. Learning how to read your cPanel resource usage helps you spot problems early, understand whether you really need a bigger plan, and have a more useful conversation with your hosting provider. This guide explains each metric in plain language, with practical fixes.
Where to find resource usage in cPanel
Log in to cPanel. On the right hand side, or at the bottom on a phone, you will see a section called Statistics or Account Information with your main usage figures. For more detail, search for Resource Usage in the cPanel search bar. On servers running CloudLinux, which many shared hosts use, this tool shows graphs and history of your usage over time, including any moments when you hit a limit.
Understanding the key metrics
Disk usage
This is how much storage your account uses: website files, databases, emails and backups stored in the account. It is shown as used space against your plan limit. Email often takes more space than people expect, especially when staff never delete old messages with large attachments.
Inodes (file usage)
An inode is roughly one file or folder. Every email, image, plugin file and cache file counts as one. Plans often limit the number of inodes as well as total disk space. You can run out of inodes while still having disk space left, usually because of thousands of tiny cache files, old email or spam folders.
CPU usage
This measures how much processing power your account is using compared with its allowance. Shared hosting accounts get a share of the server's processor, often expressed as a percentage where 100 percent equals one CPU core. Spikes happen when many visitors arrive at once, a heavy plugin runs, or bots crawl your site aggressively.
Physical memory (PMEM)
This is the RAM your website processes use while running. WordPress sites with many plugins, page builders or WooCommerce use more memory. If you hit the limit, pages may fail to load or show errors.
Entry processes (EP)
Entry processes count how many simultaneous connections are being processed by PHP scripts at the same moment. This is not the same as the number of visitors. A site with good caching can serve many visitors with few entry processes because cached pages do not need fresh processing. When this limit is reached, visitors may see a 508 error.
Number of processes (NPROC)
This is the total number of processes running in your account, including PHP, cron jobs, email related tasks and SSH sessions. It is usually higher than the entry process limit.
I/O and IOPS
I/O measures how fast data is read from and written to the disk, while IOPS counts the number of read and write operations per second. Large backups, database heavy plugins and big imports can push these numbers up.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the amount of data transferred from your website to visitors over a month. Big images, videos hosted directly on your site and file downloads use the most bandwidth.
What do "faults" mean?
In the Resource Usage tool, you may see "faults" listed next to each metric. A fault means your account reached a limit and some requests were slowed or refused. An occasional fault during a traffic spike is normal. Regular faults every day suggest something needs attention.
How to read the graphs
- Choose a time range, such as the last 24 hours or last 7 days.
- Look for spikes rather than the average. A flat line near the limit is a sign you have outgrown the plan. Sudden spikes point to a specific event.
- Note the times of spikes. Do they match a promotion, a newsletter going out, or the middle of the night when only bots are active?
- Compare metrics together. A spike in CPU with entry processes often means traffic. A spike in I/O at 2am may be a backup or cron job.
Common causes of high resource usage
- No caching. Every page is built from scratch for every visitor.
- Too many or poorly coded plugins. Some plugins run heavy database queries on every page load.
- Bad bots and brute force attacks. Repeated login attempts on wp-login.php or xmlrpc.php waste CPU.
- WordPress cron on every visit. The built in WP-Cron runs scheduled tasks when visitors load pages, which can cause spikes.
- Large unoptimised images. These use bandwidth and slow down pages.
- Malware. Hacked sites may send spam or run hidden scripts that consume resources.
Practical fixes before upgrading
- Turn on caching. On LiteSpeed servers, the LiteSpeed Cache plugin for WordPress is very effective. Other caching plugins work on other servers.
- Audit your plugins. Deactivate plugins one at a time and check the effect. Remove what you do not need.
- Update everything. WordPress core, themes and plugins should be current.
- Protect the login page. Use a security plugin, limit login attempts and enable two step verification.
- Replace WP-Cron with a real cron job that runs every 15 minutes or so through cPanel's Cron Jobs tool.
- Optimise images and serve videos through YouTube or Vimeo rather than your hosting account.
- Clean up email and old backups to reduce disk and inode usage.
- Scan for malware if usage rises with no explanation.
When it is time to upgrade
If you have optimised your site and still see faults every day, your website may simply have grown. That is good news. Signs you need more resources include consistently high CPU and memory during normal business hours, regular entry process faults during peak traffic, and a growing online shop with more orders. Talk to your host about a higher shared plan or a VPS.
At Baasa Cloud, our hosting runs on LiteSpeed servers, and our local support team can review your resource graphs with you and recommend whether optimisation or an upgrade makes more sense.
A monthly resource check routine
- Check disk and inode usage, and clear old email or files if above 80 percent
- Review the Resource Usage graphs for the last 30 days
- Note any repeated faults and their times
- Update WordPress, themes and plugins
- Confirm caching is working
- Check bandwidth trends
Frequently asked questions
What does a 508 error mean?
A 508 Resource Limit Reached error usually means your account hit its entry process or another resource limit. It is often temporary, but repeated 508 errors need investigation.
Does more visitors always mean more CPU usage?
Not if caching works well. Cached pages are served with very little processing, so a well optimised site can handle much more traffic on the same plan.
Why are my inodes high when my site is small?
Email folders, cache files and backup copies often create thousands of small files. Check the mail and cache folders first.
Conclusion
Your cPanel resource usage figures are an early warning system for your website. Learn what CPU, memory, entry processes, I/O and inodes mean, check the graphs monthly and fix the common causes before paying for an upgrade. When growth genuinely demands more power, you will know with confidence.