CronTool
Cron expression editor & debugger
Question

Can I run a cronjob every three days?

Answer

This is a tricky one. Use the following cron:


0 0 1-30/3 * * command
Why this matters

The day-of-month range 1-30/3 expands to 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28 — ten runs per month, every 3 days starting from the 1st. Why 1-30 and not 1-31? Because we want consistent “every 3rd day” behaviour across months; if you include 31, the cadence resets weirdly between months that have 31 days and months that don't.


Caveat: this resets every month boundary. Going into February, the run lands on the 1st (because the cycle starts there), even if the previous month's last run was on the 28th — only 4 days earlier instead of 3. For a strict every-72-hours cadence that doesn't reset mid-month, cron is the wrong tool — use a job runner that supports interval-based scheduling (Kubernetes CronJob with custom logic, or a periodic timer in your runtime).


“Every 3 days” can also mean “Mon-Wed-Fri” for weekdays — for that pattern, see every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Read the dedicated guide: Cron every day.

Cron schedule used

Calendar

View future cron matches in a calendar

April 2026

Showing next 1000 cron schedules

Loading...

See this cron expression on the calendar → view example

Related cron questions

Other answers and worked examples for the most confusing cron expressions.

QuestionHow can I create a cron job that will run on the last day of every month?
QuestionHow can one schedule a cron job for every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7:00 pm?
QuestionHow do I set a cron job to run twice a week (bi-weekly)?
QuestionHow can I set up a cron job to run every night at 2:30? I am familiar with configuring it to run at 2:00, but not 2:30.

Ready to schedule it?

Point Crontap at any URL. Pick any cron. Done.

WordPress, Shopify, Railway, Cloud Run, Vercel, HubSpot, Ghost, your own box. If it answers HTTP, Crontap can drive it on a clock you can read, in the timezone that actually matters, and page you when something breaks.

Free forever tier ・ No credit card required

Your next schedule
GET/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron=1

Schedule

every 5 minutes

Next run

in 23s

Permalink: https://tool.crontap.com/help/cron-job-run-script-every-number-of-days

Apihustle Logo

This tool is part of the Apihustle suite - a collection of tools to test, improve and get to know your API inside and out.

  • Clobbr logo

    Clobbr

    The app & CLI tool to test API endpoint speed.

    Visit
  • Crontap logo

    Crontap

    Schedule recurring API calls using cron syntax.

    Visit
  • CronTool logo

    CronTool

    Debug multiple cron expressions on a calendar.

    Visit

  • Page AI

    AI Website Generator that designs and writes clean code.

    Visit
  • Shipixen

    Generate customized boilerplates in minutes.

    Visit
  • Page UI

    Landing page UI components for React & Next.js

    Visit