Applies to: All plans.
Before you start: You need to be logged in to cPanel for the hosting account you want to check. The easiest way is single sign-on from your client area -> Services -> My Services: open the service, then choose Log in to cPanel. If you need a hand, see How to log in to cPanel.
Your account runs inside an isolated CloudLinux container (called an "LVE"), which caps how much CPU, memory and processing power one account can use. cPanel includes a tool that charts that usage over time, so you can see how close you are to your limits and which resource is the bottleneck.
Open the resource-usage tool
- Log in to cPanel.
- In the search box at the top, type resource and look for the tool labelled Resource Usage (under the Metrics section). Open it.
Result: You will see a summary of your recent resource usage, usually with a line such as "Your account had no issues in the last 24 hours" or a notice that you have hit a limit.
- To see the graphs, choose the option labelled Snapshots or Current Usage (the exact wording can vary by cPanel version).
What the graphs mean
Each chart plots one resource against your plan's limit. The most useful ones are:
- CPU (Speed): how much processing power your account is using, shown as a percentage. Your plan's ceiling ranges from 100% on Self-Managed Lite up to 250% on Managed Business. Sustained spikes near the top mean a script or plugin is working the server hard.
- Physical memory (PMEM): the RAM your account is using, from 768 MB on Self-Managed Lite up to 2 GB on Managed Business. Hitting this often causes errors on heavier pages.
- Entry processes (EP): the number of requests running at the same instant. A busy site with slow PHP can fill this quickly.
- Number of processes (NPROC): the total processes your account has open.
- IO and IOPS: disk read/write speed and operations per second.
A short, occasional touch of a limit is normal. The thing to watch for is a line that repeatedly pushes against the top of the chart.
Spot what is hitting a limit
When CloudLinux has to throttle your account, the Resource Usage tool flags it. Look for:
- A red or highlighted "faults" count next to a resource. The resource with the most faults is your bottleneck — for example, lots of CPU faults point to a slow or busy script.
- A banner saying the account reached a limit in the last 24 hours.
If visitors are seeing a 508 "Resource Limit Reached" error, this tool tells you which resource ran out. That is not a full outage; requests are briefly queued or rejected and clear once usage drops. For background on these limits and the error, see Understanding CloudLinux resource limits (LVE) and "Resource limit reached" and 508 errors explained.
What to do once you know the culprit
- High CPU or many entry processes: enable caching. On WordPress, the LiteSpeed Cache plugin pairs with our server-level cache — see How to speed up WordPress with LiteSpeed Cache.
- High memory: trim plugins, optimise slow database queries, and make sure you are on a modern PHP version.
- Consistently maxed out: your site may have outgrown its plan. See When should I upgrade my plan?
Troubleshooting this task
- I can't find Resource Usage: use the cPanel search box and type "resource". If it still does not appear, take a tour with A tour of your cPanel dashboard.
- The graphs are empty or flat: that usually means low, healthy usage with nothing to report — good news.
- The pressure is on storage, not CPU/memory: disk usage is tracked separately from the CloudLinux limits. See How to check your disk usage and file count.
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