cPanel Reseller Hosting Resource Usage and Package Limits Guide

Written by: Domain Name API Hosting Support Team · Technical review: Domain Name API Hosting / Systems Operations Team · Last updated: 5 October 2026 · Sources: official cPanel & WHM and CloudLinux documentation

The screens are representative and use sample data; the real interface can look different depending on your cPanel version and server configuration. Examples use example.com, exampleuser and illustrative package names (Starter, Business, Pro). These packages aren't Domain Name API products; you design your own packages around your service plan.

Know your account first: which limits apply to you?

Before you interpret a limit, you need to know whether that limit is actually enforced on your account. This two-minute check lets you read the rest of the guide correctly.

• 1 · Resource Usage: only shown if CloudLinux LVE is in use; CPU, memory, I/O and Entry Processes live here.
• 2 · Disk Usage: disk usage by folder.
• 3 · Email Disk Usage: the space mailboxes take up.
• 4 · Statistics: disk and bandwidth usage plus used/limit values for in-account counts.
• 5 · CPU Usage, Entry Processes, Physical Memory Usage: these rows also only appear when CloudLinux is in use.

1. Open a customer account's cPanel (WHM › List Accounts › the cP icon next to the account).
2. Look for the Resource Usage icon in the Metrics section.
3. If you see Resource Usage: the server runs CloudLinux LVE resource control. The CPU, physical memory, I/O, IOPS, Entry Processes and process count sections of this guide apply to your accounts.
4. If you don't: CPU and RAM can't be monitored per account from this screen. Disk, bandwidth and in-account count limits still apply; for performance problems, check the error logs and contact support if needed.
5. Find out your reseller capacity (total disk, bandwidth, number of accounts) and your overselling setting from your service details or the support team. The "250 GB" section below explains what that information means.

Resources are managed at three levels: reseller, package, cPanel account

Reseller capacity is your overall limit; a package is the template of limits you give a customer; a cPanel account shows the resources a customer actually consumes. Most resource problems come from mixing these three levels up.

Which limit controls what?

Each resource measures something different and is checked in a different place. The table below shows where to look first when you hit a problem.

How does the 250 GB disk on my reseller plan work?

How a 250 GB reseller plan gets used up depends on whether overselling is on or off for your account. With overselling off, the limit is the total of the quotas you allocate to customers. With overselling on, the limit is the total space your accounts actually use. cPanel's own documentation defines the two behaviors this way.

What counts towards capacity: reseller capacity covers the usage or allocation of every cPanel account you own. If you opened a cPanel account under your reseller account for your own site, that's included too. Everything in a cPanel account's home directory counts towards that account's disk usage: website files, email, logs and backup archives downloaded into the account. Whether databases count towards the disk quota depends on server configuration.

A defined limit and actual usage aren't the same thing

A package quota is the ceiling a customer can reach; actual usage is the space it takes up right now. A customer on a 20 GB package might be using 2 GB, or 19 GB. Base capacity, upgrade and pricing decisions on both.

Where do I see customer resources in WHM?

In reseller WHM you track customer accounts' disk and bandwidth usage in the account list, the bandwidth table and the list of accounts over quota. Whether these screens appear depends on your reseller privileges; screens that belong to the server administrator aren't in reseller WHM.

• 1 · Search: find an account by domain or username.
• 2 · Username: the cPanel username a support ticket asks for.
• 3 · Package: the package the account is on.
• 4 · Disk Used: actual usage; a red bar marks an account close to its quota (example.org at 96% here).
• 5 · Disk Limit: the package quota.
• 6 · cP: switch to the account's cPanel.

• 1 · Bandwidth Used: data transferred this month.
• 2 · An account close to its limit: example.net here, at 47 GB of a 50 GB limit.
• 3 · Limit: the monthly bandwidth in the package.

The Resource Usage screen in cPanel and the CPU, RAM and I/O metrics

cPanel › Metrics › Resource Usage shows, on servers that use CloudLinux LVE, how close a cPanel account is to its CPU, physical memory, I/O, IOPS, Entry Processes and process limits, and which limit it hit recently. If the screen opens with a warning such as "your account was limited within the last 24 hours", the details show which metric reached its limit.

• 1 · Limit warning: appears if the account hit a limit in the last 24 hours.
• 2 · Current Usage / Details / Snapshot: current usage, history charts and the process list at the moment the limit was hit (tab names can vary by version).
• 3 · Limit: the limit set for the account.
• 4 · Faults: how many times the limit was hit. This is the most important column for diagnosis.
• 5 · Entry Processes: 20/20 with 37 faults here; visitors saw 508 errors at the time.

What happens when a cPanel resource limit is exceeded?

Each limit behaves differently when it's hit: at the CPU and I/O limits the site slows but stays up; at the memory, process and Entry Processes limits requests return errors; at the disk quota writing stops; at the bandwidth limit the site may show a warning page. Matching the symptom to the right limit is half the diagnosis.

• Disk quota full: no new files can be written; WordPress updates, file uploads and cache creation fail. The account's email can be affected too.
• Mailbox quota full: new mail can't be delivered to that mailbox only; the sender usually gets a bounce message.
• Bandwidth used up: until the period resets or the limit is raised, cPanel may show a warning page instead of the site. Email usually isn't affected by this limit.
• In-account count limits reached: no new email, database, domain or FTP account can be created; existing ones keep working.
• CPU or I/O limit reached: the site doesn't error out; it slows down.
• Physical memory or process limit reached: some requests end with a 500 or 503 error.
• Entry Processes limit reached: new requests get "508 Resource Limit Is Reached".

What do "Resource Limit Is Reached" and the 508 error mean?

"Resource Limit Is Reached" doesn't mean your disk is full. On CloudLinux servers the 508 error appears most often when the Entry Processes limit is reached; similar slowdowns and errors can also come from the CPU, physical memory, process or I/O limits. You see which limit was hit in the Resource Usage screen.

1. Open cPanel › Metrics › Resource Usage.
2. Check whether the account was limited in the last 24 hours and which metric reached its limit in the details.
3. Note the times the limit was hit. If they line up with a backup, import, campaign or cron job, the problem is one-off.
4. If it's constant and repeats through the day, check the access logs (cPanel › Metrics › Raw Access or Visitors) and error logs (Errors) for the same times: heavy bot traffic, a single slow page or a failing plugin usually shows up here.
5. After fixing the cause, watch Resource Usage for a few days. If the account keeps hitting the limit, consider a package upgrade.

What should you do when CPU usage is high?

CPU briefly reaching its limit doesn't on its own mean the package is too small. If the same limit is hit again and again through the day, first find which process is creating the load.

What should you do when physical memory (RAM) usage is high?

When the physical memory limit is reached, some PHP processes are killed; visitors see this as a 500 or 503 error, a half-loaded page or a failed form submission.

What are Entry Processes, and why aren't they visitor numbers?

Entry Processes aren't the number of visitors on your site at once. In CloudLinux they limit the number of dynamic request processes entering the account through the web server at the same time. If each request finishes in milliseconds, hundreds of simultaneous visitors can be served with a low Entry Processes value; a single slow page can fill the limit with only a few visitors.

• "20 Entry Processes = 20 visitors at once" isn't right. What matters is how long requests take to finish.
• Static files (images, CSS) and pages served from cache usually don't add to this limit; heavy PHP requests do.
• If the limit fills up constantly, find the slow requests first: long-running admin tasks, external API calls that time out, search or filter pages being crawled by bots.

What's the difference between I/O and IOPS?

I/O measures how much data is read from and written to disk per second (the amount); IOPS measures how many separate read/write operations happen per second (the count). When either limit is reached, operations wait and the site slows, but different jobs push each limit.

How do you check disk usage in cPanel?

You see disk usage by folder in cPanel › Files › Disk Usage. If the disk quota looks full, don't only look at public_html: email, databases, log files and old backups forgotten inside the account can take up a lot of space.

• 1 · mail: mailboxes; more than half the space in this example.
• 2 · backup-….tar.gz: a backup archive forgotten in the home directory.
• 3 · public_html: website files; often smaller than people expect.
• 4 · logs: access and error logs.
• 5 · Total: the account's usage and quota.

The example in the figure is illustrative: an account with 2 GB of website files can use 14 GB in total because of email and old backups. Whether databases count towards the disk quota depends on server settings; Disk Usage shows databases on a separate row.

Why does the inode (file count) matter?

An inode is the record kept for every file and folder in the account; the count shows how many files there are. If a file count limit is enforced on your account, a large number of small files can stop new files being created even when disk space is free, and it slows down backups and migrations. You can tell whether the limit is enforced by whether a "File Usage" style row appears in the statistics on the cPanel home screen.

• The biggest file count drivers: cache folders, PHP session files, mail folders, backup archives extracted and never deleted, old log rotations.
• Turn on your caching plugin's cleanup setting and delete installations you no longer use.

How does bandwidth usage work?

Bandwidth isn't internet speed; it's the total amount of data transferred from your site in a period (usually a month). When the monthly limit is used up, the site may show a warning page until the period resets or the limit is raised.

There's no exact formula such as "100 GB = this many visitors". Page size, image optimization, caching, CDN use, downloadable files and bot traffic give very different results for the same number of visitors. Track bandwidth during the month in WHM › View Bandwidth Usage; a sudden jump usually points to bot traffic or large files linked directly.

How should you set hosting package limits for your customers?

Set package limits around the customer's site and email use; giving everyone the biggest package uses up your reseller capacity for nothing, and giving everyone the smallest leads to frequent support requests. The profiles below are illustrative; they aren't Domain Name API's official packages.

• Think about email separately: a small site with team email can fill far more space with mail than with website files.
• Leave an upgrade path: make the steps between packages meaningful so a growing customer can move up in one step with Upgrade/Downgrade.
• Don't promise CPU and RAM through packages: standard WHM packages don't have these fields. If the server runs CloudLinux, per-account limits are set on the server side; confirm any performance figures you give customers with our support team.
• If overselling is off, package quotas come straight off your reseller capacity; keep quotas close to real needs.

For the steps to create a package, see How to Create a Package in WHM.

How many customers can I host on my reseller plan?

There's no single right number; customer count isn't a good measure of capacity. Ten busy WooCommerce sites can use more resources than a hundred low-traffic company sites. If your service plan has an account limit, that's the ceiling on how many accounts you can create, even if your resources would stretch further.

Assess your capacity with these questions:

• Disk: what percentage of your reseller limit is your total allocation (overselling off) or total actual usage (overselling on)?
• Bandwidth: what percentage of your reseller limit have your accounts used this month, and where will it be by month end?
• Account count: how far are you from the account limit in your service plan?
• Resource Usage (if present): which accounts regularly hit the CPU, memory or Entry Processes limit?
• Application type: how many accounts are online shops, and how many are static sites?
• Email: which customers use email heavily?

As a practical rule, it's a good habit to review capacity before new sales once total disk and bandwidth usage reaches about 80% of your reseller limit.

What is overselling in WHM?

Overselling means the reseller limit is applied to the resources accounts actually use rather than to the quotas allocated to customers. With overselling on, you can hand out more quota in total than your reseller capacity; once total actual usage reaches your limit, you can't create new accounts. With overselling off, once the total of the quotas you've handed out reaches your limit, you can't create new accounts, whatever the actual usage.

As a reseller you can't change the overselling setting yourself; our support team can tell you how it's set on your account.

Do I need to upgrade?

Not every spike in resource usage needs a package upgrade. The cause is often a broken plugin, bot traffic, a cron job stuck in a loop, malware or missing caching. An upgrade is the right call when the same limit keeps being hit regularly after the application side has been fixed.

How do you move a customer to a bigger package?

1. In WHM, open Account Functions › Upgrade/Downgrade an Account.
2. Select the customer account from the list.
3. Choose the new package and save.
4. Check in WHM › List Accounts that the account shows its new package and quota.

• 1 · Account: the account to move and its current package.
• 2 · New package: the target package's limits; if overselling is off, the difference comes off your reseller allocation.
• 3 · Change: applies the move.
• What changes with the package? The account's disk quota, bandwidth and count limits switch to the new package's values.
• Account-specific changes: if you earlier gave the account a custom value with Modify an Account, expect the package change to replace it with the new package's value. Reapply the custom value after the change if you still need it.
• Editing a package: if you change a package's limits in WHM › Packages › Edit a Package, every account using that package is affected. Don't edit a package for one customer; move that customer to another package.
• If overselling is off: moving to a bigger package uses up your reseller allocation by the difference. If your remaining allocation isn't enough, the move won't go through.

Upgrading a customer package vs upgrading your reseller plan

Upgrading a customer package changes the limits of one cPanel account; upgrading your reseller plan increases your overall capacity. One doesn't replace the other.

Real-world scenarios

Scenario 1 — One account's disk is 95% full

Scenario 2 — CPU constantly hits its limit

Scenario 3 — CPU only rises during backups

Scenario 4 — Entry Processes constantly reach the limit

Scenario 5 — Website files are small but the disk is full

Scenario 6 — Your reseller capacity is filling up, but one customer uses most of it

cPanel resource usage problems and fixes

Common mistakes

When should I open a support ticket?

Do your own checks first; they reveal the cause of most resource problems. If the problem continues, or you hit a limit you don't have the privileges to change, open a support ticket.

1. cPanel › Metrics › Resource Usage (if present)
2. cPanel › Files › Disk Usage and Email Disk Usage
3. cPanel › Metrics › Errors and the access logs
4. The account's package and package limits (WHM › List Accounts)
5. The account's quota and usage
6. Recent changes: plugin, theme, update, new cron job

Include in the ticket: the domain, the cPanel username, which limit was hit, the date and time of the problem, the full error message, a Resource Usage screenshot, whether the problem is constant or intermittent, and the latest change made.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I see resource usage in cPanel?

Disk usage is in cPanel › Files › Disk Usage, and bandwidth in cPanel › Metrics › Bandwidth. CPU, physical memory, I/O and Entry Processes appear in cPanel › Metrics › Resource Usage if the server runs CloudLinux LVE. As a reseller, you track all customers' disk usage in WHM › List Accounts.

What does CPU 100% mean?

CPU 100% in Resource Usage means the account is using all of the CPU limit allocated to it; it doesn't mean the whole server is full. In CloudLinux, 100% equals one processor core. When this limit is reached the site doesn't error out; it slows down.

What is Physical Memory Usage?

Physical Memory Usage is the real RAM used by the PHP and other processes in your account. When the limit is exceeded, the system kills some processes and visitors may see 500 or 503 errors. If it happens often, check heavy plugins, large imports and the PHP memory setting.

What are Entry Processes?

Entry Processes are, in CloudLinux, the number of dynamic request processes entering your account through the web server at the same time. When the limit fills, new requests get a 508 Resource Limit Is Reached error. The value depends on how long requests take; a fast, cached site can handle high traffic with a low value.

Are Entry Processes the same as visitor numbers?

No. Entry Processes count dynamic requests being processed at the same moment, not visitors. When requests finish in milliseconds, many visitors can be served with a low value; a single slow page can fill the limit with only a few visitors. Reading "20 EP" as "20 visitors" is misleading.

What's the difference between I/O and IOPS?

I/O measures the amount of data read from and written to disk per second; IOPS measures the number of read/write operations per second. Creating a large backup archive or extracting a large ZIP pushes I/O. Working with many small cache, session or mail files pushes IOPS. At either limit, the site slows down.

What does Resource Limit Is Reached mean?

This message means your account has reached one of its CloudLinux resource limits; it doesn't mean the disk is full. It most often appears with code 508 because of the Entry Processes limit. Find which limit was hit in cPanel › Metrics › Resource Usage, then check slow requests, bot traffic and caching.

How do I fix 508 Resource Limit Is Reached?

First find the times the limit was hit in Resource Usage. Look at the access and error logs for those times to spot bot traffic, slow pages and external calls that time out. Turn on page caching and limit bots. If it continues under normal traffic after these fixes, consider a package upgrade.

What happens when the disk quota is full?

When the disk quota is full, the account can't write new files: uploads, updates and cache creation fail, and email delivery can be affected. Existing pages usually still load. Free up space by checking email, log files and old backups in Disk Usage.

What happens when the bandwidth limit is used up?

When the monthly bandwidth limit is used up, cPanel may show a warning page instead of the site until the period resets or the limit is raised. Sudden jumps usually come from bot traffic or directly linked large files. As a reseller you can raise the account's limit temporarily or upgrade its package.

Does email count towards the disk quota?

Yes. Mailboxes in a cPanel account are kept in the account's home directory and count towards its disk quota. Each mailbox can also have its own quota. If website files are small but the disk is full, the first place to look is cPanel › Email › Email Disk Usage.

Do databases count towards the disk quota?

Whether databases count towards the cPanel disk quota depends on server configuration. Disk Usage shows databases on a separate row. You can see database sizes in cPanel › Databases › MySQL Databases and shrink them by cleaning unneeded log and session tables.

Do backup files count towards disk usage?

Every backup archive sitting in the account's home directory counts towards disk usage. Full backups created in cPanel for download and backups taken by plugins can fill the quota over time. After downloading backups to your computer or external storage, delete them from the account.

What is an inode in cPanel?

An inode is the record kept for every file and folder in the account and shows the number of files. On accounts with a file count limit, a large number of small files can stop new files being created even when disk space is free. Cache, session and mail files are the biggest inode drivers.

How many customers can I sell hosting to?

There's no single right number. If your service plan has an account limit, that's the ceiling; beyond that, disk, bandwidth and your customers' application types decide. Ten busy online shops can use more resources than a hundred small company sites. Review capacity when total usage reaches about 80% of your limit.

What's the difference between a package limit and actual usage?

A package limit is the ceiling a customer can reach; actual usage is the space they're using or the data they're transferring right now. A customer on a 20 GB package might use 2 GB, or 19 GB. With overselling off, the package limit comes off your reseller capacity; with it on, the actual usage does.

What is overselling?

Overselling means the reseller limit applies to accounts' actual usage rather than to the quotas handed out. With it on, you can hand out more quota in total than your capacity; once actual usage reaches the limit, you can't create new accounts. With it off, the total of the quotas you've handed out is your limit. Our support team can tell you your setting.

How do I upgrade my customer's package?

In WHM › Account Functions › Upgrade/Downgrade an Account, select the customer's account and the new package and save. The account's disk, bandwidth and count limits switch to the new package's values. If you gave the account custom values earlier, check them after the change.

When should I upgrade my reseller plan?

Upgrade your reseller plan when your total disk or bandwidth usage (or, with overselling off, your total allocation) gets close to your reseller limit, or when you reach the account limit. One customer's resource problem doesn't need a reseller plan upgrade; changing that customer's package is enough.

Should I upgrade as soon as CPU goes up?

No. Short CPU peaks are normal during backups or imports. If it's constantly high, first check bot traffic, plugins, cron jobs and caching. If the same limit keeps being hit regularly under normal traffic after these fixes, consider an upgrade.

Related guides

• First Login to Your Reseller Package: How to Access WHM
• How to Create a Package in WHM
• How to Create a Customer Account in WHM
• How to Restore a Backup in cPanel
• How to Migrate a Website to cPanel Reseller Hosting