With disposable diapers they absorb and hold the urine away from the child's skin so the baby or toddler is less wet feeling.
So disposable diapers need changed less often and can usually wait until the disposable diaper is at near capacity which is around every 2 to 3 hours for toddlers and sometimes as soon as 1 to 2 hours for infants and babies under 1 year old.
With cloth diapers they do not hold the wetness away from the babies or toddlers skin like disposable diapers do so with cloth diapers the baby or toddler is more prone to diaper rash if you do not clean the child up more often and change the cloth diaper.
I would recommend checking the cloth diaper at least every hour to hour an a half and not go longer than 2 hours without a diaper check or diaper change with cloth diapers to keep the child's skin dry enough.
If the cloth diaper is wet enough then it would be a good idea to go ahead and change it while you're checking the cloth diaper.
Cloth diapers do save money but the cloth diapers do require more work than disposable diapers and are more prone to causing babies and toddlers diaper rash than disposable diapers do.
Disposable diapers are a great invention and I personally would never use cloth diapers today with the good disposable diapers that are sold and made today.