Have You Seen the "Resource Limit Is Reached" Error?
A white page with the text Resource Limit Is Reached or error 508 has appeared on your website and resolved itself after a few minutes. You've probably contacted hosting support and heard the response: "The entry process limit has been reached." Now the question is: what exactly is entry process, and why has your website reached it?
Entry process is a concurrent processing process on the web server that executes your HTTP request. Each time a user's browser or Google bot sends a request to the server, the web server (Apache or LiteSpeed) assigns a worker or process to it. This process remains engaged until the complete response is generated and sent.
The entry process limit means the cap on the number of these concurrent processes for your account. This number is fundamentally different from visit count. A website with 10,000 daily visits may never reach this limit, while a site with 200 daily visits constantly encounters errors.
Difference Between Entry Process and Visits and Bots
A visit is a cumulative number throughout the day. Entry process is an instantaneous number. Imagine you have a physical store. The total number of customers who enter throughout the day is your visits. But entry process is the number of customers who are simultaneously paying at the checkout counters. If you only have two counters and 50 customers want to make purchases at the same time, 48 people will wait or leave the store.
In shared hosting, each account has a specific share of processing resources. This share is usually between 10 and 50 entry processes. When your website has more concurrent requests than this number, the additional requests are rejected with error 508.
Search engine bots behave differently. Googlebot usually sends between 2 and 5 concurrent requests. But other bots like Semrush or Ahrefs can send 20 to 30 concurrent requests. A simple attack or excessive crawling can consume your entire share in a few seconds.
Why Does Your Website Reach the Limit?
Entry process consumption doesn't only depend on the number of requests. The response time of each request plays a more important role. If each request takes 2 seconds, each process can only handle 0.5 requests per second. With 20 entry processes, your limit is about 10 requests per second. But if each request takes 0.2 seconds, the same 20 processes can handle 100 requests per second.
This is where people make a mistake: most individuals seek to increase the entry process limit, while the main problem is website slowness. A PHP script that runs for 5 seconds consumes 10 times more entry processes than an optimized script that works for 0.5 seconds. WordPress with heavy plugins and excessive queries is one of the biggest consumers of these resources.
Error 508 and Web Server Behavior
When you reach the limit, the web server behaves differently. In LiteSpeed, the HTTP response returns with code 508 and the error text is usually as follows:
Resource Limit Is Reached
The website is temporarily unable to service your request as it exceeded resource limit.
Please try again later.In Apache with the mod_mpm module, the behavior is different. Additional requests wait in a queue until a process becomes available. If the queue fills up, error 503 Service Unavailable is displayed. The difference is important: 508 means your request was not processed at all, while 503 means it remained in the queue and was released after a timeout.
The duration of this error is usually short. When a heavy request finishes, the process becomes available and the website responds again. This is why refreshing the page after a few minutes makes the website work. Take this pattern seriously: if the error repeats frequently, the problem is structural and won't resolve itself.
How to Check Entry Process Usage
In cPanel, open the Metrics > Resource Usage section. This page shows charts of CPU, memory, and entry process usage over different time periods. If entry process usage frequently reaches the limit, examine its pattern. Does it occur at a specific time of day? Does it happen after publishing a new post?
Run the following command in SSH to see the number of active PHP processes:
ps aux | grep php | grep -v grep | wc -lThis number is an approximate measure of your current usage. If it's consistently above 15 and your limit is 20, you have a serious problem. But if this number is below 5 and you still see error 508, the problem lies elsewhere. Perhaps an external request such as a bot or a broken cron job is consuming resources.
Practical Solutions to Reduce Consumption
The first step is WordPress optimization. If your website is WordPress-based, read the comprehensive guide on WordPress optimization on shared hosting. The key point: remove unnecessary plugins, enable page caching, and use a caching plugin like LiteSpeed Cache. Caching can reduce entry process consumption by up to 80 percent.
The second step is limiting bots. Review the robots.txt file and block unnecessary bots such as Bingbot or Yandex if not needed. For heavy crawling bots, limit the request rate. In LiteSpeed Cache, you can use the Throttle feature to set the maximum requests for each bot.
The third step is reviewing cron jobs. A cron job that runs every minute and calls a heavy script can occupy 5 to 10 entry processes on its own. In cPanel, open the Cron Jobs section and see what is being executed. Read the guide on setting up cron jobs in the control panel for proper management.
When Should You Upgrade?
If you still reach the limit after optimization, you have two options. First: upgrade to a higher shared hosting plan that includes more entry processes. Second: migrate to a dedicated server where there is no entry process limit and all server resources are at your disposal.
The decision criterion is simple. If your usage is 1.5 times the limit, upgrading to a higher shared hosting plan is logical. But if your usage is 3 times the limit or is continuously growing, a dedicated server is the better choice. The cost of a dedicated server is higher, but it solves the resource limit issue once and for all.
An important note: if your website is an online store or has high traffic during specific hours (such as nightly sales), fluctuations in entry process usage are normal. In this case, choose a plan that has at least 2 times your average usage in entry processes. This buffer absorbs sudden traffic spikes.
Error 508 in WordPress and Heavy Plugins
Due to its architecture, WordPress includes multiple files for each PHP request. Each active plugin adds its code to the execution. A website with 30 active plugins consumes on average 3 to 5 times more entry processes than a site with 10 plugins. Take this number seriously.
Page builder tools such as Elementor or Divi also have high consumption. If you use these tools, make sure to enable page caching so the final HTML output is saved and PHP is not executed for every visit. Without caching, each visit is a full PHP execution that can take 1 to 2 seconds.
To diagnose the problem precisely, debug the WordPress white screen. The guide on fixing the white screen in WordPress and PHP shows practical steps. Usually, disabling a specific plugin resolves the issue.
Diagnostic and Monitoring Tools
To understand exactly what is consuming entry processes, refer to the server logs. In cPanel, open the Metrics > Errors section and review the Apache or LiteSpeed logs. Find the IP addresses with the most requests and use the free webmaster tools service to check whether that IP belongs to a bot or a real user.
If a specific bot is causing problems, you can block it in the .htaccess file:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (SemrushBot|AhrefsBot|MJ12bot) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]This code rejects heavy bots with error 403. But be careful: do not block Googlebot. Blocking Googlebot will remove your website from search results.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the entry process count and how do I find out my limit?
The entry process limit is specified in your shared hosting plan. In cPanel, open the Resource Usage section. If the limit is not displayed, contact hosting support. Typically, basic plans have 10 to 15 and higher plans have 20 to 50 entry processes.
Does increased traffic cause error 508?
Not necessarily. Error 508 depends on concurrent requests, not the total number of visits. A website with 5,000 daily visits that are evenly distributed may never reach the limit. But a site with 500 visits that all arrive during one specific hour will likely encounter error 508.
What is the difference between error 508 and 503?
Error 508 means your request was rejected because the entry process limit was reached. Error 503 means the server accepted the request but could not respond due to congestion. In shared hosting, 508 is more common. On a dedicated server, you typically see 503.
Does upgrading the hosting plan solve the entry process problem?
If the problem is caused by website slowness or heavy bots, upgrading will only temporarily solve the issue. First, optimize your website and manage bots. If you still reach the limit after these steps, upgrading is logical. Otherwise, you've paid extra costs and the problem will return later.