Hosting resource limits are caps on how much CPU, memory, disk activity, simultaneous processes, and files one account can use on a shared server.
When you hit one, your site slows down, shows a 508 or 503 error, or stops accepting new files. Each limit causes a different symptom.
This guide explains each limit, shows where to see your usage in cPanel and hPanel, and helps you find the one actually throttling your site.
Why shared hosting plans have resource limits
Shared plans put many accounts on one server, so the host gives each account its own fenced-off slice of resources to stop one busy site from slowing the rest.
Many cPanel hosts do this with CloudLinux OS. It places each account in a lightweight virtual environment (LVE), a container with its own CPU, memory, and process caps.
If the idea of sharing a server is new, the plain explanation of what shared hosting is comes first. Other plan terms are covered in the web hosting fundamentals hub.
For your site, this means a “slow server” is often your own account reaching its slice, not the whole machine struggling.
The limits, one by one
Each limit below includes CloudLinux’s own definition, what you see when you hit it, and what it means for a typical WordPress site.
CPU (SPEED)
The CPU limit caps how much processor time your account can use, measured as a percentage of one core.
CloudLinux’s limits documentation says 100% means one full core. So a 50% limit is half a core.
When you hit it, nothing crashes. CloudLinux says the site “will start responding slower.”
For your site, this means uncached pages, plugin-heavy admin screens, and bots hitting search or cart pages are what burn CPU.
Physical memory (PMEM)
The memory limit caps the RAM your account’s processes can actually use at one time.
When it’s exceeded, CloudLinux first frees disk cache, then kills processes in your account. It says this “will usually cause the web server to serve 500 and 503 errors.”
For your site, this means memory errors usually come from too many PHP processes at once or one oversized task, like an import or a backup plugin.
Entry processes (EP)
Entry processes are the number of requests that can enter your account’s PHP environment at the same moment.
It is not a visitor count. Namecheap’s resource limits guide describes it as simultaneous PHP or CGI scripts running.
A cached page served without PHP doesn’t use an entry process. A slow, uncached page holds one until it finishes.
When the limit is full, CloudLinux returns error 508, often shown as “Resource Limit Is Reached.”
For your site, this means a 508 error points to too many slow PHP requests at once, not too many readers.
Number of processes (NPROC)
NPROC caps the total processes and threads in your account, including cron jobs, email scripts, and SSH sessions, not just web requests.
When it’s full, CloudLinux says no new process can start until another ends, and Apache “might return 500 or 503 errors.”
For your site, this means stuck cron jobs or runaway scripts can block web requests even when traffic is low.
I/O and IOPS
I/O caps how fast your account can read and write data on disk, in KB or MB per second. IOPS caps the number of read and write operations per second.
Neither one causes errors. CloudLinux says processes are throttled and “just work slower,” and with IOPS, operations wait until the current second ends.
For your site, this means backups, large imports, and unoptimized database queries are the usual I/O hogs.
Inodes
An inode is one file or folder, so the inode limit caps how many files and folders your account can hold, regardless of their size.
At the hard limit, CloudLinux says the system “prevents a user from writing data to disk.”
Hostinger’s inode limit article adds that uploads and new files fail even with free disk space.
For your site, this means cache folders, old backups, email, and abandoned staging sites can fill your inode count quietly.
PHP workers
Hostinger caps PHP workers, the processes that run uncached PHP requests, instead of publishing an entry process figure. The count plays much the same role as an entry process limit.
How PHP workers queue requests, and how many a site needs, is covered in a separate explainer, What Are PHP Workers?
Which limit is throttling you: symptom to limit
The symptom you see usually points to one limit, so start there before you change anything.
| What you see | Most likely limit | First thing to check |
|---|---|---|
| 508 “Resource Limit Is Reached” | Entry processes | Uncached pages, bots, slow plugins |
| Site slows down, no error | CPU or I/O | Caching, cron jobs, backups running |
| 500 or 503 errors under load | Memory or NPROC | Imports, backup plugins, stuck scripts |
| Uploads fail, “disk full” with space left | Inodes | Cache files, old backups, mail |
| Slow only during backups or imports | I/O or IOPS | Schedule heavy jobs off-peak |
Treat this table as a starting point. Your panel’s fault counts confirm which limit actually tripped.
Real limits on popular shared plans
Hosts publish different limits in different units, and some don’t publish them at all. The figures below were rechecked on each host’s page on October 4, 2026.
| Plan | CPU | RAM | Concurrent processes | Inodes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Namecheap Stellar | 50% (bursts to 200%) | 1 GB | 20 EP | Not listed | Namecheap resource limits guide |
| Namecheap Stellar Plus | 50% (bursts to 200%) | 2 GB | 30 EP | Not listed | Same |
| Namecheap Stellar Business | 100% (bursts to 400%) | 2 GB | 40 EP | Not listed | Same |
| Hostinger Premium | 1 core | 2 GB | 40 PHP workers | 400,000 | Hostinger plan parameters |
| Hostinger Unlimited | 2 cores | 3 GB | 60 PHP workers | 600,000 | Same |
| HostGator shared | 25% per cPanel account | Not stated | 25 simultaneous processes | Not stated | HostGator account limits |
| SiteGround StartUp / GrowBig / GoGeek | 1,000 / 2,000 / 4,000 CPU seconds per hour | 768 MB per process | Not stated | 200,000 / 400,000 / 600,000 | SiteGround fair use page |
Namecheap also lists 50 MB/s of I/O on all three plans. Hostinger lists 12,288 KB/s on Premium and 20,480 KB/s on Unlimited.
SiteGround’s fair use page says it was last updated October 12, 2021. We reread it on October 4, 2026, and these figures still appear there.
Comparing hosts on one number is risky. A plan with more RAM but fewer processes can still throttle sooner on a busy WooCommerce store.
For a side-by-side look at two of these hosts, the Hostinger vs Namecheap comparison covers price, speed, and support too.
How to see your resource usage
Every limit above shows up in your control panel, along with a count of how often you hit it.
In cPanel with CloudLinux
CloudLinux’s end-user page appears in cPanel under a name like “CPU and concurrent connection usage” or Resource Usage, depending on the host.
Its Resource Usage client plugin has three tabs:
- Dashboard: whether the account hit any limit in the past 24 hours.
- Current Usage: usage, limit, and fault count for SPEED, I/O, IOPS, NPROC, EP, PMEM, and inodes.
- Snapshot: the processes, database queries, and HTTP requests running when a limit was hit.
A fault is one occasion when a limit was hit. A rising fault count on one row is your answer.
Namecheap points users to the Stats widget on the cPanel dashboard for a quick view, and to Resource Usage in the Metrics section for history.
We used that cPanel account for the Namecheap Stellar Plus test.
In Hostinger’s hPanel
Hostinger’s resource usage guide gives the path: Websites, then Dashboard, then Hosting plan, then Resources Usage.
The page charts CPU, memory, I/O throughput, PHP workers, IOPS, max processes, disk, and inodes.
A red line marks your plan’s limit, and red shading shows brief spikes over it. You can view live data or the last 6 hours, 24 hours, or 7 days.
Hostinger says the data updates every 10 to 15 minutes, in GMT+0. Line up spike times with your own timezone before you blame a plugin.
What to do about each limit
Most limit problems are fixed by doing less uncached work, not by buying a bigger plan.
- Entry processes or PHP workers: turn on full-page caching so most visits skip PHP. The guide to how caching speeds up a site explains the layers.
- CPU: find the expensive pages in the Snapshot tab, then cache them, fix the plugin, or rate-limit bots hitting search and cart URLs.
- Memory: run imports and backups in smaller batches, and remove plugins that load on every page without need.
- I/O and IOPS: schedule backups off-peak and fix slow database queries. Deciding between tuning queries or upgrading hosting has its own guide.
- NPROC: look for stuck cron jobs and scripts in the Snapshot or process list, and stop duplicates.
- Inodes: clear cache folders, delete old backups and unused staging sites, and empty large mailboxes.
If you’ve done all that and faults keep climbing at normal traffic, the plan itself is too small.
The common signs you’ve outgrown your hosting plan help confirm it. A companion explainer, How Much Traffic Can Shared Hosting Handle?, shows how to estimate the headroom you need.
When you do move up, compare the published limits, not just price. The shared plans ranked by published limits list them side by side.
Frequently asked questions
What are entry processes in hosting?
Entry processes are the number of PHP requests your account can run at the same moment.
The figure counts requests, not people, and pages served from cache never use one.
What does “508 Resource Limit Is Reached” mean?
It means your account hit its entry process limit, so the server refused new PHP requests until running ones finished.
The fix is usually caching, blocking abusive bots, or removing a slow plugin. An upgrade only helps if faults continue after that.
What is a good inode limit for a WordPress site?
There’s no universal number, but the plans above set 200,000 to 600,000, so check where your count sits against yours.
Limits rise with the plan tier. Hostinger’s plan parameters run from 400,000 inodes on Premium to 2,000,000 on Cloud Startup.
Is 1 GB of RAM enough on shared hosting?
In our view, 1 GB per account is workable for a cached blog or small business site.
Stores and membership sites with many logged-in users need more, because their pages can’t be fully cached. Watch your memory faults to decide.
What happens when I exceed my CPU limit?
Your site slows down but stays online, because CloudLinux throttles the account instead of stopping it.
Some hosts allow bursts. Namecheap lists a 200% CPU burst on Stellar and Stellar Plus.
How do I check my resource usage in cPanel?
Open the CloudLinux usage page in cPanel, often named “CPU and concurrent connection usage” or Resource Usage.
The Current Usage tab shows each limit with its fault count. Some hosts also show a quick summary in a Stats panel.
How we researched this
Every limit definition here is CloudLinux’s own, taken from its official documentation and rechecked on October 4, 2026.
The published plan limits for Namecheap, Hostinger, HostGator, and SiteGround come from each host’s help and fair use pages, rechecked on October 4, 2026.
The panel walkthroughs follow CloudLinux’s Resource Usage plugin docs and Hostinger’s support article. We also looked at the cPanel account from our Namecheap Stellar Plus test, bought August 25, 2026.
That account is monitored under the test-account procedures we publish.
