Cron Parser

Cron Parser

Parse any standard or extended cron expression and explain it in plain English; list the next N scheduled trigger times; build expressions visually; compare two schedules.

6 overlapping triggers in next 20 occurrences
Expression A
Fri, Oct 16, 09:00 ✓ overlap
Mon, Oct 19, 09:00 ✓ overlap
Tue, Oct 20, 09:00 ✓ overlap
Wed, Oct 21, 09:00 ✓ overlap
Thu, Oct 22, 09:00 ✓ overlap
Fri, Oct 23, 09:00 ✓ overlap
Mon, Oct 26, 09:00
Tue, Oct 27, 09:00
Expression B
Fri, Oct 16, 09:00 ✓ overlap
Sat, Oct 17, 09:00
Sun, Oct 18, 09:00
Mon, Oct 19, 09:00 ✓ overlap
Tue, Oct 20, 09:00 ✓ overlap
Wed, Oct 21, 09:00 ✓ overlap
Thu, Oct 22, 09:00 ✓ overlap
Fri, Oct 23, 09:00 ✓ overlap

Standard 5-field POSIX cron: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week. Nicknames @yearly, @monthly, @weekly, @daily, and @hourly are supported; @reboot is not (it has no periodic schedule to show). Switch the Format toggle to AWS EventBridge for cron(0 12 * * ? *) (6 fields — adds Year, day-of-week is 1=Sun–7=Sat, and exactly one of day-of-month/day-of-week must be ? meaning "no specific value") or rate(5 minutes) / rate(1 hour) / rate(1 day) fixed-interval schedules. The RRULE Builder tab generates RFC 5545 recurrence rules (used by iCalendar/.ics files, Google/Outlook calendars) — a different, richer format than cron, supporting ordinal weekdays ("2nd Monday"), month-day lists, and explicit start/end dates.

Cron Parser

Parse any standard or extended cron expression and explain it in plain English; list the next N scheduled trigger times; build expressions visually; compare two schedules.

Common uses

  • Explain "0 0 * * 1" in plain English
  • Find the next 10 trigger times for a schedule
  • Build a cron for every weekday at 9am

Also searched as

  • explain cron expression in plain english
  • cron expression next run times
  • cron builder online
  • cron every 5 minutes
  • cron every weekday at 9am
  • compare two cron schedules
  • crontab guru alternative
  • cron to human readable
  • rrule generator online
  • kubernetes cronjob schedule helper
  • github actions schedule cron

Frequently asked questions

How do I read a cron expression?

Paste a cron expression and it is translated into plain English along with the next scheduled run times.

How do I understand what a cron expression means?

Paste it into the Parse tab for a plain-English explanation and a list of the next scheduled trigger times.

How do I build a cron expression?

The Visual Builder tab lets you pick the schedule visually and outputs the expression.

Can I compare two cron schedules?

Yes, the Comparator tab compares two schedules.

Can I generate an iCalendar RRULE?

Yes, the RRULE Builder tab creates recurrence rules.

Is my data uploaded to a server?

No. This tool runs entirely in your browser — your input is processed locally on your device and is never uploaded or stored on a server.