Title: Excessive CPU usage – Server down
Last modified: November 11, 2025

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# Excessive CPU usage – Server down

 *  Resolved [juliocp87](https://wordpress.org/support/users/juliocp87/)
 * (@juliocp87)
 * [7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excessive-cpu-usage-server-down/)
 * Hi! I’d recently had to deactivate your plugin because it generated and excessive
   use of CPU and therefore my hosting provider blocked my page. Now it’s available
   again.
 * Is there any way that I can still have some of the plugin features without risking
   my site being taken down again?
   Thanks!
 * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fexcessive-cpu-usage-server-down%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US)
   to see the link]_

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

 *  Plugin Support [wfpeter](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfpeter/)
 * (@wfpeter)
 * [7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excessive-cpu-usage-server-down/#post-18715783)
 * Hi [@juliocp87](https://wordpress.org/support/users/juliocp87/), thanks for reaching
   out!
 * Wordfence is unintrusive and generally runs well on the vast majority of ~5m 
   sites it’s installed on despite having to consider many server and plugin/theme
   combinations. We constantly work on making the plugin faster, perform better,
   and use less resources but there are not set amounts of RAM, CPU or database 
   queries that we know Wordfence will definitely require in each use-case or hosting
   environment. Shared hosting, larger databases with more WordPress content, or
   more installed plugins could all be a factor for performance issues.
 * Wordfence’s scan does make a lot of database queries as it runs, so is also worth
   ensuring your `max_execution_time` is `60` or _lower_ in **php.ini**, and `WP_MEMORY_LIMIT`
   is `256M` or _higher_ in **wp-config.php**. Some ideas around trying different
   memory limits and our recommendation for execution times are mentioned in our
   [Scan Options](https://www.wordfence.com/help/scan/options/) and [Scan Troubleshooting](https://www.wordfence.com/help/scan/troubleshooting/)
   pages too.
 * It may also help to set your “Maximum execution time for each scan stage” to `
   20` in **Wordfence > Scan > Manage Scan > Performance Options**. Litespeed can
   experience scan timeout issues unless [a configuration change](https://www.wordfence.com/help/advanced/system-requirements/litespeed/)
   is made. You may not have that but thought it was worth mentioning.
 * Let us know if your host highlighted something specific from your server/PHP/
   database logs that might point to Wordfence, as we could make further suggestions
   based on the precise feedback.
 * Let us know how you get on,
   Peter.

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

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## Tags

 * [cpu-usage](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/cpu-usage/)

 * 1 reply
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [wfpeter](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfpeter/)
 * Last activity: [7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excessive-cpu-usage-server-down/#post-18715783)
 * Status: resolved