Website blockers you can't turn off (an honest comparison)
Updated September 2026
If you are searching for this, you already know the problem. You installed a blocker, it worked for two days, and then at 11pm the same hand that installed it turned it off. The blocker was never the weak point. The exit was.
So this page compares blockers on one question: when your brain wants out, can it get out? I build one of these tools, Focus AI. I will tell you where it loses, because if you pick the wrong tool you will be back here next week.
First, where do you escape?
This decides everything. Be honest about the last three times you broke your own rule:
- Inside the same browser. A new tab, "just one quick site", the extensions page to switch the blocker off. A strict browser blocker handles this.
- Another browser or an app. You open Safari, Firefox or the desktop Discord app. You need an OS-level blocker: Cold Turkey or FocusMe.
- Your phone. No computer blocker helps. Put the phone in another room, or use Opal, one sec or Freedom on it.
The comparison
Cold Turkey Blocker
- Where it works
- Windows and Mac, at the operating-system level, plus browser extensions
- How hard to quit
- Locked blocks and Frozen Turkey cannot be ended early. Its extension is paired with the desktop app, so disabling the extension does not quietly free you.
- What it blocks by
- Lists of sites, apps and schedules
- Price
- Free version; Pro is a one-time purchase
- Where it loses
- Rigid by design. If the lecture you need is on a blocked domain, it is blocked too. No phones.
FocusMe
- Where it works
- Windows, Mac and Android, system-wide
- How hard to quit
- Enforced mode: once a session starts it cannot be stopped until the timer ends, restarts included.
- What it blocks by
- Lists of sites and apps, schedules
- Price
- Subscription
- Where it loses
- Same list problem: it cannot tell a tutorial from a rabbit hole on the same site.
Freedom
- Where it works
- Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and browsers, synced
- How hard to quit
- Locked Mode prevents ending a session once it starts.
- What it blocks by
- Block lists and categories
- Price
- Subscription after a short trial
- Where it loses
- Built for blocking whole sites across devices, not for judging pages inside the browser.
StayFocusd
- Where it works
- Chrome extension
- How hard to quit
- The Nuclear Option blocks for a set number of hours and cannot be cancelled from inside the extension.
- What it blocks by
- Lists and daily time budgets
- Price
- Free
- Where it loses
- It is an extension, so it can be removed from Chrome, and the list blocks your study material along with your distractions.
LeechBlock NG
- Where it works
- Firefox, Chrome and Edge extension
- How hard to quit
- Lockdown, plus options you can put behind a password or a delay.
- What it blocks by
- Very detailed rules: block sets, times, patterns
- Price
- Free and open source
- Where it loses
- Powerful but you build every rule yourself, and it is still an extension that can be removed.
Focus AI
- Where it works
- Chrome, Edge and Firefox extension
- How hard to quit
- Strict mode is on by default: ending early means typing a sentence, not clicking. Nuclear mode removes the exit until the timer ends. The browser's extensions page is blocked during a session.
- What it blocks by
- Every page judged against the task you typed, so a lecture on YouTube loads and Shorts do not. No list to maintain.
- Price
- First 3 sessions free, then $9.99 a month or $49 a year
- Where it loses
- It lives in the browser. If you escape to another browser, an app or your phone, it cannot follow you. It can also be removed from the toolbar menu if you are determined.
The honest verdict
- You escape to other browsers or apps: Cold Turkey Blocker, or FocusMe if you also want Android. Nothing that lives in a browser will hold you.
- You need every device locked at once: Freedom.
- You want free and you are happy building rules: LeechBlock NG, or StayFocusd if you like daily time budgets.
- Your work and your distractions are on the same sites, so every list blocker ends up blocking your lectures and you switch it off to study: Focus AI. That is the case it was built for.
Why "can't turn off" is only half the problem
Most people do not turn their blocker off out of weakness. They turn it off because it got in the way of real work. The anatomy video is on YouTube. The coding answer is on Reddit. The research starts on Google. A blocker that blocks youtube.com blocks your lecture, so the first time you need it you disable it, and it never comes back on.
That is why Focus AI asks what you are working on instead of which sites to ban. It judges each page against that task, so there is nothing legitimate to switch it off for. Then strict mode makes the illegitimate reason cost a typed sentence. More on that pattern in why you keep disabling your blocker.
If your work lives on the same sites as your distractions
Type the task, pick a length, and quitting early costs a sentence. First 3 sessions free.
Add Focus AI to ChromeFrequently asked questions
What is the hardest website blocker to turn off?
For a computer, OS-level tools with a locked mode are the hardest: Cold Turkey Blocker (Frozen Turkey and locked blocks) and FocusMe (Enforced mode). They run outside the browser, so switching browsers or disabling an extension does not get you out. Browser extensions, including Focus AI, StayFocusd and LeechBlock, can always be removed by someone determined enough.
Can a Chrome extension blocker be impossible to disable?
No. Any Chrome extension can be removed, from the extensions page or the toolbar menu. What an extension can do is make leaving expensive at the moment of impulse: block the extensions page during a session, require a typed sentence to quit, or remove the quit button entirely. For most people the impulse passes before they finish the detour. If yours does not, use an OS-level blocker.
Which blocker is best if I study from YouTube?
A blocker that judges pages instead of domains. List blockers treat youtube.com as one thing, so they block your lectures along with the rabbit holes, and you end up turning them off to study. Focus AI judges each page against the task you typed, so the lecture for your task loads and unrelated videos do not. If you mainly want YouTube's recommendations gone, the free Unhook extension is also worth a look.
Is Focus AI free?
The first 3 focus sessions are free with no account. After that it is $9.99 a month or $49 a year. It is not a free-forever tool; if you need one, StayFocusd and LeechBlock NG are good and free.