Whenever WordPress is using a lot of CPU and you have the Wordfence Security plugin enabled, it is recommended to double check some settings. Unfortunately the Wordfence "Live Traffic Options" ("Traffic logging mode") feature can cause high CPU usage and load issues for WordPress websites. Therefore, I recommend you disable this feature to improve the performance of your WordPress website.
Set Wordfence's Traffic logging mode to "Security Only" to stop it from logging every visit and lower your WordPress CPU usage. Do it in the Wordfence options, or in MySQL by setting liveTrafficEnabled to 0 in the wp_wfconfig table.
Disable Wordfence Live Traffic in your WordPress Dashboard
If you want to disable Wordfence Security Live Traffic through your WordPress Dashboard, then follow these steps:
- Log on to WordPress.
- Click Wordfence → All Options.
- Scroll down to Tool Options, and make sure Traffic logging mode is set to "Security Only".
- Click "Save Changes" to save your changes.
In older Wordfence versions you had to deselect the option "Enable Live Traffic View", or you could make the change in your MySQL database (as explained below).
Disable Wordfence Live Traffic in MySQL
If you want to work directly in your MySQL database: execute the following SQL statements on your MySQL command prompt, or in phpMyAdmin.
MariaDB [examplecom]> select * from wp_wfconfig where name = "liveTrafficEnabled";
+--------------------+------+----------+
| name | val | autoload |
+--------------------+------+----------+
| liveTrafficEnabled | 1 | yes |
+--------------------+------+----------+
1 row in set (0.002 sec)
MariaDB [examplecom]> update wp_wfconfig set val = 0 where name = "liveTrafficEnabled";
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.001 sec)
Rows matched: 1 Changed: 1 Warnings: 0
MariaDB [examplecom]> select * from wp_wfconfig where name = "liveTrafficEnabled";
+--------------------+------+----------+
| name | val | autoload |
+--------------------+------+----------+
| liveTrafficEnabled | 0 | yes |
+--------------------+------+----------+
1 row in set (0.001 sec)The first SELECT statement shows Wordfence's liveTrafficEnabled is set to 1 (enabled). The second statement (UPDATE) sets its value to 0, disabling it, and the third statement confirms this change.
The wfconfig name liveTrafficEnabled and its value control the traffic logging mode: 1 means All Traffic and 0 is Security Only.
Now the Wordfence Live Traffic feature is disabled. This should be noticeable in your WordPress CPU usage almost immediately.
Looking for more ways to lighten and protect WordPress? Read Optimized WordPress hosting (9+ practical tips), WordPress .htaccess security best practices in Apache 2.4.6+ and how to disable WordPress comments.