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Setting up an Alfahosting cron job

At Alfahosting you create cron jobs in CloudPit under Cronjobs › + Cronjob hinzufügen. According to the plan overview, Multi XL, Business L and Business XL include cron jobs, the entry plan Multi L does not (as of November 2026). With Cronjob.de you call your script regularly on Multi L too, without changing plans.

Updated:

Why at all

What cron jobs at Alfahosting can do

Which plans: In the web hosting plan overview, the cron jobs row says “Nein” (no) for Multi L and “Ja” (yes) for Multi XL, Business L and Business XL. For the previous plan generation the help also says “ab dem Tarif Multi XL v2” (from Multi XL v2), with an unlimited number there.

Which types: According to the Alfahosting help there are three task types: call a URL, run a PHP script or run a command. As the repetition you choose yearly, monthly, weekly, daily or hourly. Shorter intervals down to every minute are set with the “Cron-Stil” execution time. If you like, an email comes on errors or after every run.

New interface: According to the help, Alfahosting has been creating new plans in the OneHome interface since the end of July 2026, while existing customers keep using CloudPit. The cron job guides in the help refer to CloudPit. We did not find a guide for OneHome there (as of November 2026).

If you are on Multi L or cannot find the feature in your interface, Cronjob.de calls your script address from outside. That works regardless of the plan and without a command line.

URL to call
https://ihre-domain.de/ihr-skript.php
Recommended interval
every 5 minutes
Tested with
Alfahosting Webhosting Multi L, Multi XL, Business L, Business XL
Sufficient Cronjob.de plan
The free Cronjob.de plan covers five cronjobs on a five-minute grid, no payment details needed. Every minute, a call log with the response and email error alerts start with Plus (€17.88 a year).

Setup

Step by step

The AI does it faster

You do not have to transfer any of this by hand. Paste this guide – or the one for your own system – into the assistant, and Cronjob.de fills in address, method, schedule and headers. Where something is unclear it asks instead of guessing. At the end you see what was entered and create the job with one click.

Included in the free plan at no extra cost. You will find it after signing in under "Cronjobs" → "Create with AI".

  1. Check what your plan can do

    According to the help, existing customers reach CloudPit in the customer center under Meine Verträge › Ihr Vertrag › Zugänge › Jetzt im CloudPit einloggen. If the left menu shows Cronjobs, you can create a cron job there. If it is missing or you are on Multi L, proceed as follows.

  2. Decide on your script address

    For the call from outside you need the address that starts your script. Many systems use a fixed file, such as wp-cron.php for WordPress or cron.php for Nextcloud.

    https://your-domain.com/your-script.php

  3. Protect the address

    The address has to be reachable from outside. So that not just anyone can trigger it, append a long random parameter and check it right at the start of your script.

    https://your-domain.com/your-script.php?key=A-LONG-SECRET

  4. Open the address in a browser once

    A status 200 response without a login is correct. Mind the runtime: Cronjob.de waits 45 seconds for the response on the free plan and 60 seconds on the paid plans. Long running work is better split into smaller chunks.

  5. Create an account at Cronjob.de

    Signing up is free and needs no payment details. New accounts get all features for 14 days, after that the account simply continues on the free plan.

    Start for free 14 days of Unlimited included, no payment details

  6. Create a cronjob with that address

    Enter the address and click the schedule together. You can also describe the interval in one sentence, such as “every 10 minutes on weekdays”, or paste your plugin's instructions. The AI assistant picks out the address and schedule.

    */5 * * * *

    You can enter this expression at Cronjob.de exactly as it is – the schedule field understands crontab notation. But you do not have to know it: simply click the schedule together instead.

What the five fields of an expression like */5 * * * * mean is explained in the crontab reference – with examples and the most common pitfalls. You can build the expression in the crontab generator. Whether you need an outside service at all is shown in the comparison of the three ways.

Verification

Is it actually running?

Within a few minutes the Cronjob.de call log shows the first calls with status code and runtime, and from Plus also your script's response. For the first test have the script write date and time into a file. Then you can see on both sides that the call arrived.

Your host runs cron jobs itself? Then monitor them with a heartbeat.

One line at the end of your script reports every run to Cronjob.de. If the check-in is missing, you get a message – even if the host's cron never started. One heartbeat is free. Cron job monitoring

FAQ

Common questions about Alfahosting

From which plan does Alfahosting include cron jobs?
According to the plan overview from Multi XL; the Multi L plan has none (as of November 2026). Cronjob.de calls your script from outside on any plan, including Multi L.
Can I run a cron job every minute at Alfahosting?
According to the Alfahosting help, yes, with the “Cron-Stil” execution time in CloudPit. The fixed choices only go down to hourly.
I have a new plan and cannot find CloudPit.
According to Alfahosting, new plans have been created in the OneHome interface since the end of July 2026. We did not find in the help how cron jobs are created there. If in doubt, ask Alfahosting support, or use the call from outside: it only needs a reachable address.
Does this work with WordPress at Alfahosting too?
Yes. The details are in our WordPress guide: disable WP-Cron and have wp-cron.php called regularly.
Is your server rejecting our calls? Error 403 almost always comes from a firewall, a security plugin or directory protection – not from your script. All our calls carry the fixed identifier Cronjob.de in the user agent. Ask your host for an exception for it; that is more reliable than allowing IP addresses, because ours can change. Addresses and details in the FAQ. Other errors such as 401, 404 or 500 are explained in the troubleshooting guide.

Create your cronjob now

Create an account, enter the address, click the schedule. Five cronjobs are free forever, the first 14 days run on the Unlimited plan.

Start for free See pricing

More guides

Official documentation of Alfahosting

The details about Alfahosting come from their own documentation, as of November 2026. Please check there whether anything has changed since. Alfahosting is a trademark of its respective owner. This guide comes from Cronjob.de and has no business relationship with that provider.

By Joscha Schultze, operator of Cronjob.de · Written with AI assistance, provider details checked against their official pages.