StayFocusd Nuclear Option alternatives
Updated September 2026
StayFocusd's Nuclear Option earned its reputation. You pick the sites and the hours, press the button, and there is no undo inside the extension. For a lot of people it was the first blocker that actually held.
If you are looking for an alternative, it is probably for one of two reasons: you found the way around it, or it locked you out of something you needed. I build Focus AI, one of the options below, and I will say where each one wins.
The two ways the Nuclear Option breaks
- The side door. The lock lives inside a Chrome extension. Chrome's extensions page can disable it, and another browser ignores it completely.
- The blunt lock. It locks whole sites for hours. If your course videos are on YouTube or your research runs through Reddit, you have locked yourself out of your own work until the timer ends, and next time you do not press the button.
Alternatives with a real locked mode
Cold Turkey Blocker: closes the side door
Runs on Windows and Mac outside the browser. Locked blocks and Frozen Turkey cannot be ended early, and switching browsers does not help. Pro is a one-time purchase. Best if your escape is another browser or an app. Still blocks by list, so the blunt-lock problem remains.
FocusMe: closes the side door on more devices
System-wide on Windows, Mac and Android, with an Enforced mode that holds until the timer ends. Subscription. Also list-based.
Freedom: one lock across every device
Locked Mode stops you ending a session, synced across computer and phone. Subscription. The right pick when the phone is the real problem.
LeechBlock NG: the free, detailed option
Free and open source, with a lockdown feature and settings you can hide behind a password or a delay. More rules than StayFocusd, same extension limits.
Focus AI: fixes the blunt lock
A browser extension, so it has the side-door limit too, though it blocks the extensions page during a session. What it changes is the lock itself: you type your task and each page is judged against it, so the lecture loads and the rabbit hole does not. Strict mode, on by default, makes quitting a typed sentence; nuclear mode removes the exit until the timer ends. First 3 sessions free, then $9.99 a month.
Which one?
If you beat the Nuclear Option through the extensions page or another browser, go to Cold Turkey or FocusMe. If the Nuclear Option held but you stopped using it because it locked you out of your study material, that is the problem Focus AI solves. More on the pattern in why people keep disabling their blockers.
A nuclear mode that still lets your lecture through
Lock the session, keep the work. First 3 sessions free.
Add Focus AI to ChromeFrequently asked questions
Can you turn off the StayFocusd Nuclear Option?
Not from inside StayFocusd; that is the point of it. But StayFocusd is a Chrome extension, so it can be disabled or removed from Chrome's extensions page, and it does nothing in other browsers.
What is the strongest alternative to the Nuclear Option?
On a computer, Cold Turkey Blocker's locked blocks and FocusMe's Enforced mode are the strongest, because they run at the operating-system level and survive switching browsers. Freedom's Locked Mode covers several devices at once.
Is there a Nuclear Option that still lets me use YouTube for studying?
Focus AI's nuclear mode locks the session until the timer ends, but blocks by task instead of by site. You type what you are studying and each page is judged against it, so the lecture you need loads and unrelated videos do not. List-based locks cannot do this: youtube.com is either blocked or it is not.
Is StayFocusd still worth using?
Yes, if the daily time budget model suits you and you want something free. It has been stable for years. Look elsewhere if you keep disabling it from the extensions page, or if the sites it blocks are also the sites you study from.