The general recommendations: - use cache plugin for your WP installation - reduce PHP memory_limit to ([32..96M][1]) to start seeing PHP memory exceed errors - disable useless and new plugins - make sure all reporting settings are on - reduce max worker processes by hand (3..10) - set nonzero MaxRequestsPerChild if you think that PHP/Apache may have leaks (errors in compiled code of PHP interpreter or Apache server) - reduce ServerLimit - reduce MaxClients - use PHP in FPM mode Specific advices: - write a bash script to [measure memory usage][2] or [collect peak][3] and put it in cron. You'll have stats for memory usage of a process over time. - or use munin as more advanced solution. [1]: http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php#Increasing_memory_allocated_to_PHP [2]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3853655/in-linux-how-to-tell-how-much-memory-processes-are-using [3]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1080461/peak-memory-measurement-of-long-running-process-in-linux