Cron every 15 minutes
It is */15 * * * *, at :00, :15, :30 and :45.
Examples temporarily replace the input and settings. You can restore your previous work.
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This tool runs entirely in your browser. What you paste is processed on your device and is never sent to a server, so it is safe to use with tokens, keys and unpublished text.
Example
Example: every 15 minutes, 8am to 6pm on weekdays only: */15 8-17 * * 1-5
A small online shop sends its stock levels from the warehouse system to the website every 15 minutes. Left as */15 * * * *, the job runs 96 times a day, nights and weekends included, though the stock only moves while the warehouse is staffed: 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, UK time.
- Set the menu to Describe it below instead and type: every 15 minutes between 8am and 6pm on weekdays. It is built as */15 8-17 * * 1-5.
- The hour field reads 8-17 because 6pm is the end: the last run is at 17:45 and there is none at 18:00. “between 9am and 5pm” gives 9-16, last run 16:45.
- That is 10 hours × 4 = 40 runs a weekday and 200 a week, instead of 672.
- Cron reads the hours in the server’s time zone. On a UTC server 8am UK time is 08:00 in winter but 07:00 in summer, so set the server to UK time or use 7-16 while British Summer Time lasts.
| Expression | Runs | Runs a day |
|---|---|---|
| */15 * * * * | every day, 00:00 to 23:45 | 96 |
| */15 * * * 1-5 | Monday to Friday, all day | 96 on weekdays |
| */15 8-17 * * 1-5 | weekdays, 08:00 to 17:45 | 40 |
| */15 9-16 * * 1-5 | weekdays, 09:00 to 16:45 | 32 |
| */15 7-16 * * 1-5 | weekdays, 08:00 to 17:45 UK summer time on a UTC server | 40 |
| */15 * * * 0,6 | Saturdays and Sundays only | 96 on weekend days |
*/15 8-17 * * 1-5: 40 runs each weekday from 08:00 to 17:45, none at night or at weekends. Paste it into the Cron Parser to see the next run dates before relying on it: after Friday 17:45 the next run is Monday 08:00.
How it works
- The expression is already there: */15 * * * *. The five fields under it are minute, hour, day of month, month and day of week, in that order.
- Copy it into your crontab, your CI schedule or your cloud scheduler. The same five fields mean the same thing in all of them.
- To change it, set the menu back to none and describe the schedule in your own words — "every 2 hours", "at 5pm on weekdays" — and it is built and read back to you.
- Check the reading, not the expression. What the page shows underneath comes from parsing what was built, so it is what a machine would do with it rather than what we meant.
Frequently asked questions
- Which four minutes?
- :00, :15, :30 and :45. */15 counts from zero within the hour, so the quarter marks fall where you would expect and the first is on the hour.
- Does it work in GitHub Actions, Kubernetes and the cloud schedulers?
- The five fields do. What differs is everything around them: some accept names like @daily, Kubernetes CronJobs take the same five, and GitHub Actions runs scheduled workflows late under load. Paste the expression, but do not assume the promptness.
- Can I read an expression I already have?
- Yes — the cron parser page does that. Paste an expression and it lists the dates it will next run and the values each field allows, which is the check worth doing before you trust one somebody else wrote.
- Is */15 the same as 0,15,30,45?
- Yes. In the minute field */15 means every 15th minute counting from 0, which is 0,15,30,45, and both run 96 times a day. The list form is the one to use if an old cron does not understand the step.
- How do I run every 15 minutes starting at 5 past?
- Give the minutes yourself: 5,20,35,50 * * * * or 5-59/15 * * * *, which mean the same. Moving a job off :00 keeps it clear of everything else that is scheduled on the hour.
- Does the time zone matter for every 15 minutes?
- Not for */15 * * * *, which runs around the clock. It matters as soon as hours are named: cron uses the time zone of the machine or the scheduler, often UTC, so a window like 8-17 moves by an hour of local time when the clocks change.
- Is anything sent anywhere?
- No. The expression is built and read back in your browser, and nothing is uploaded. It is free, with no account.
Made for a specific use
Related tools
▤ Cron expression generator A schedule in words, an expression out. ◴ Cron Parser See 0 */6 * * 1-5 as the dates it will actually run, and what each field allows. ▤ Timestamp Converter Paste an epoch value or a date and see it in UTC, local time and ISO 8601. • UUID Generator Create UUID v4 or v7 identifiers in bulk, generated on your device with a secure random source.