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App and website blockers for Mac, compared
On a Mac the trouble is rarely an app. It's a browser tab: YouTube, Reddit or the news, open next to the work you meant to do. Here are six ways to deal with it, from a block you can't undo to a timer that only asks.
We make Kiri, the last one in the list, and it isn't a blocker. We'll say when a blocker is the better choice.
Short answer: for a free block that can't be undone, SelfControl. For the strictest block with schedules, Cold Turkey Blocker. For one block across your Mac and phone, Freedom. If you need the site for work and just lose time to it, a daily time with a pause: Kiri.
Side by side
| App | What it does | Can you get past it? | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| SelfControl | Blocks a list of sites for a set time. | No. It holds even if you restart the Mac or delete the app. | Free and open source |
| Cold Turkey Blocker | Blocks sites, apps or everything. A locked block is built to be very hard to stop. | Not once it's locked. | Free for basic blocking. Pro is a one-time purchase, about $45 |
| Focus | Blocks sites and apps during focus sessions, with schedules. | Locked Mode stops a session being ended. | $49 with a year of updates, or $129 once |
| Freedom | Blocks sites, apps or the whole internet for a session, on all your devices at once. | Locked Mode, in Premium, stops you ending a session early. | Free sessions up to two hours. Premium $8.99 a month, less when billed yearly |
| Opal | Blocks the apps and sites you choose: on a schedule, after a time limit, or after a number of opens. | In the easier modes you can snooze or cancel. Deep Focus, in Pro, can't be cancelled. | Free with one rule. Pro $19.99 a month, $99.99 a year, or $399 once |
| Screen Time (built into iPhone and Mac) | Covers the app with a limit screen when its daily time is reached. | With one tap, unless someone else holds the passcode. | Free |
| Kiri | Covers the app with mist when its daily time is up. You wipe it away and take a breath. | Always. It asks; it never locks. | Free for one app. Pro $7.99 once |
Prices are US prices, checked in November 2026. They change; each app's own site has the current one.
SelfControl
Blocks a list of sites for a set time. No. It holds even if you restart the Mac or delete the app. Free and open source.
Choose it if you want two hours without a short list of sites and you want it to cost nothing. Know first: there is no undo. If you block a site you turn out to need, you wait.
Cold Turkey Blocker
Blocks sites, apps or everything. A locked block is built to be very hard to stop. It runs on Mac, Windows. Free for basic blocking. Pro is a one-time purchase, about $45.
Choose it if you've got round every other blocker. This is the one built to stop that.
Focus
Blocks sites and apps during focus sessions, with schedules. Locked Mode stops a session being ended. $49 with a year of updates, or $129 once.
Choose it if you work in timed sessions and want blocking tied to them.
Freedom
Blocks sites, apps or the whole internet for a session, on all your devices at once. Locked Mode, in Premium, stops you ending a session early. It runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Chromebook, Linux. Free sessions up to two hours. Premium $8.99 a month, less when billed yearly.
Choose it if blocking YouTube on the Mac just sends you to YouTube on the phone.
Opal
Best known on iPhone, Opal also has a Mac app. Blocks the apps and sites you choose: on a schedule, after a time limit, or after a number of opens. Free with one rule. Pro $19.99 a month, $99.99 a year, or $399 once.
Choose it if you already pay for Opal on your phone.
Screen Time, already on your Mac
System Settings › Screen Time › App Limits (Time Allowances on macOS 27). You can set a daily limit for an app, a category or a website. Website limits apply in Safari only.
Choose it if you use Safari and respect a reminder. With one tap, unless someone else holds the passcode.
Kiri: a timer, not a blocker
Kiri doesn't block anything, on purpose. You give an app or a site a daily time. A small timer hangs on the window while you use it, and follows the window when you move it. When the time is up, mist covers every display and any video on the page pauses. You wipe the mist away with your pointer, take one breath, and decide: done, or two more minutes.
For websites it works in Safari, Chrome, Brave, Edge and Arc, through a small extension that tells Kiri which site is in the front tab and nothing else. That means youtube.com can have fifteen minutes a day while the rest of your browser has no limit.
Choose it if you can't block the site because you need it for work, and what you want is to stop losing the afternoon to it. Don't choose it if you want the site unreachable. Kiri will always let you keep going.
Price: Free for one app. Pro $7.99 once, and the same purchase covers Kiri for iPhone. Needs macOS 15 Sequoia or later.
How to choose
- “I need it gone for the next two hours.” SelfControl, or a locked session in Cold Turkey, Focus or Freedom.
- “I need it gone every weekday, nine to five.” Cold Turkey or Freedom, on a schedule.
- “I need it for work, and then I stay.” A daily time: Screen Time if you use Safari and don't dismiss it, Kiri if you do.
- “I block it and then unblock it.” Either a block with no undo (SelfControl), or no block at all (Kiri). The middle is where it keeps failing.