Recommended Magento cron frequency and setup

Question

All over the internet, there is a variety of suggestions for how often a cron should be run, without any real suitable explanation.

Thus, I was wondering if anyone could help myself identify 'ideal', settings.

Magento's recommendation is:

• • • • • /bin/sh /path/to/your/magento/site/root/cron.sh

For clarity, Magento suggests to execute on every minutes. But, have seen some of the following recommended by others:

*/5 * * * * sh /path/to/your/magento/site/root/cron.sh

*/1 * * * * sh /path/to/your/magento/site/root/cron.sh

*/10 * * * * sh /path/to/your/magento/site/root/cron.sh

My current settings for cron in admin:

Generate schedules every: 15

Schedule ahead for: 20

Missed if not run within: 15

History cleanup every: 10

Success history lifetime: 60

Failure history lifetime: 600

Answer 1

As you state in your question:

Magento suggests to execute on every minute

Unless you have a specific use-case, I would recommend you follow Magento's recommendation.