Cron: Every minute (* * * * *)
Plain-English meaning, run times, and visual editor for the * * * * * cron schedule. No sign-up required.
What does * * * * * mean?
The cron expression * * * * * translates to “Every minute”. It is one of the most commonly used schedules (every minute).
Every field is a wildcard, so there is nothing to constrain the schedule - the job fires at the top of every single minute, 60 times an hour, 1,440 times a day. This is the most frequent standard cron schedule (you cannot go below one minute without a different scheduler). Use it for near-real-time polling, health checks or queue draining, but be careful: if one run can take longer than a minute, overlapping executions can pile up unless your job guards against it.
Use the builder above to tweak this expression and instantly see how the description and the next run times change.
Example runs from Jan 1, 2026 (UTC)
- Thu Jan 01 2026, 00:01 UTC
- Thu Jan 01 2026, 00:02 UTC
- Thu Jan 01 2026, 00:03 UTC
- Thu Jan 01 2026, 00:04 UTC
- Thu Jan 01 2026, 00:05 UTC
Related cron expressions
Frequently Asked Questions
About cron expressions and this generator.
The cron expression "* * * * *" runs a job every single minute of every hour, day, month, and day of week.
Running a task every minute puts a constant load on your server. If the job takes longer than 60 seconds to finish, processes can stack up, leading to high CPU usage or memory leaks.