Freedom Alternative · macOS
Freedom is $8.99 a month, $39.99 a year or $99.50 for life. FocusDragon Pro is $4.99, once, and the core blocker is free.
One catch, stated up front: Freedom runs on macOS, iOS, Windows, Android and Chromebook and syncs between them. FocusDragon is Mac-only and does not sync at all. Prices as of August 2026.
Free core blocker · Pro $4.99 once, nothing renews · v1.22.0 · macOS 14+ · Universal binary · Apple-notarised
Two things are true at once here, and a comparison page that only tells you one of them is wasting your time.
The first: Freedom is a subscription. As of August 2026 it is $8.99 per month, $39.99 per year, or $99.50 for lifetime access. A year of monthly billing is $107.88. FocusDragon Pro is $4.99 once, and the core blocker — unlimited blocks, all ten lock types, browser extensions, system-level enforcement — is free forever. If the recurring charge is what sent you looking for a Freedom alternative, that is the whole answer.
The second: Freedom blocks sites and apps on macOS and syncs across iOS, Windows, Android and Chromebook. FocusDragon runs on macOS 14+ and nothing else, and it has no cross-device sync. If the thing you actually reach for at 11pm is your phone, a Mac-only blocker does not solve your problem no matter how good its Mac enforcement is. We would rather say that on the landing page than in a refund email.
Freedom's rows come from freedom.to and Zapier's 2026 focus-app roundup. Prices are as of August 2026 and subscription pricing moves more often than one-time pricing does.
| Feature | FocusDragon | Freedom |
|---|---|---|
| Price (as of August 2026) | Core blocker free forever; Pro $4.99 one-time | $8.99/month, $39.99/year, or $99.50 lifetime |
| Billing model | One-time purchase — nothing renews | Subscription, with a lifetime option |
| Trial | 7 days, card up front, single $4.99 charge on day 7 unless cancelled | 7-day trial (some sources describe it as a limited number of sessions) |
| What the free tier includes | Unlimited blocks, all 10 lock types, browser extensions, system-level enforcement | Basic blocking and cross-device sync — no scheduling, no locked mode |
| Scheduling in the free tier | Yes — Schedule lock | No |
| Locked mode in the free tier | Pro feature, $4.99 one-time | No |
| Platforms | macOS 14+ only | macOS, iOS, Windows, Android, Chromebook |
| Cross-device sync | None — Mac only, no sync | Yes — syncs across every supported platform |
| Refunds | 14 days | Not covered by our sources |
Read the platforms and sync rows first — they matter more than the price rows for most people, and they go Freedom's way. We have marked one row as unsourced rather than guessing at it. Sources: freedom.to and Zapier's 2026 focus-app roundup.
A website blocker is not a service that keeps doing new work for you every month. It is a piece of software that says no to a list of domains. The subscription model fits products with an ongoing cost of delivery, and it fits blockers mostly because renewals are easy to forget about.
At Freedom's August 2026 prices, monthly billing is $107.88 for a year. The annual plan brings that to $39.99. Lifetime access is $99.50 up front. All three are reasonable numbers for a product people rate highly — but they are numbers that keep arriving, unless you take the lifetime option.
FocusDragon Pro is $4.99 once. There is a 7-day trial that requires a card up front and takes a single $4.99 charge on day 7 unless you cancel first; after that nothing renews, because there is nothing to renew. Refunds run 14 days. We do not run discounts, promo codes or student pricing — the price is the same for everyone, which is easier to keep honest than a permanent sale.
The other one-time purchase in this category is Cold Turkey Pro at $39; that comparison is on the Cold Turkey alternative page. And if paying nothing at all is the requirement, the SelfControl comparison is the one to read.
Both products have a free tier, and comparing the two tells you what each company thinks it is selling.
Freedom's free tier gives you basic blocking and cross-device sync, but no scheduling and no locked mode. Sync is the thing it is proud of, so sync is what it gives away; the enforcement strength is what you pay for.
FocusDragon's free tier is the opposite trade. Unlimited blocks, all ten lock types — Timer, Schedule, Random Text, Password, Restart, Frozen, Date, Delay, Breakable, Sessions — extensions for Safari, Chrome/Chromium and Firefox, and system-level enforcement, all at no cost. Blocks survive quitting the app, force-quitting the daemon and dragging the app to the Trash mid-block, because a root daemon restores it within seconds. Elapsed time is measured against a clock that changing the system date cannot move. Pro adds locked mode, Bulletproof Strictness and full statistics for $4.99 once.
In short: Freedom charges for strictness and gives away reach. We give away strictness and have no reach at all. The website blocker for Mac page walks through how the enforcement layers fit together.
This section is longer than on our other comparison pages, because Freedom does something structural that we simply do not do.
Most people's worst hour is on a phone, not a laptop. Freedom runs on iOS and Android; FocusDragon does not, and there is no companion app to wait for. Blocking your Mac while your phone stays open is theatre. If that describes you, buy Freedom — this is not a close call.
Freedom covers macOS, iOS, Windows, Android and Chromebook. A work Windows machine and a personal MacBook, or a Mac and a Chromebook, means one blocklist that follows you. FocusDragon is macOS 14+ only.
Freedom syncs across devices; FocusDragon has no cross-device sync at all. Adding a domain in one place and having it apply everywhere is a real convenience, and maintaining separate lists per machine is a real chore.
A subscription funds ongoing development in a way a $4.99 one-time payment does not, and $99.50 for lifetime access is a legitimate way to escape the recurring charge while keeping the multi-platform coverage.
The case for FocusDragon is narrow and specific: you are on a Mac, that is where the problem lives, and you would rather pay once — or nothing — for stricter enforcement than pay monthly for coverage you will not use.
More questions on the full FAQ page.
If you only need blocking on a Mac and you object to paying monthly, FocusDragon is the closest match: the core blocker is free forever and Pro is a one-time $4.99 as of August 2026. If you need one blocklist working across a Mac, an iPhone, a Windows PC and an Android phone, there is no good alternative to Freedom in this comparison — FocusDragon is macOS-only and does not sync across devices at all.
As of August 2026, Freedom is $8.99 per month, $39.99 per year, or $99.50 for lifetime access, with a 7-day trial (some sources describe the trial as a limited number of sessions instead). FocusDragon's core blocker is free forever, and Pro is a one-time $4.99 with a 7-day trial that takes a card up front and charges once on day 7 unless cancelled. Nothing renews. Prices on both sides change — check before you buy.
No. FocusDragon is macOS 14+ only and there is no cross-device sync. Freedom blocks sites and apps on macOS and syncs across iOS, Windows, Android and Chromebook. If your phone is the actual problem, Freedom solves something we do not, and you should pick Freedom.
Basic blocking and cross-device sync, but no scheduling and no locked mode. That is the usual reason people upgrade. FocusDragon's free tier includes unlimited blocks, all 10 lock types — scheduling among them — Safari, Chrome/Chromium and Firefox extensions, and system-level enforcement. The functional line between free and paid sits in a very different place on each product.
No. Pro is a single $4.99 charge and nothing renews afterwards. There is a 7-day trial that requires a card up front; if you do not cancel, one $4.99 payment is taken on day 7 and that is the end of it. Refunds run for 14 days. There are no discounts, promo codes or student pricing of any kind.
FocusDragon is built specifically around that question. Blocks survive quitting the app, force-quitting the daemon, and dragging the app to the Trash mid-block — a root daemon restores it within seconds — and elapsed time is measured against a clock that changing the system date cannot move. Freedom's free tier has no locked mode, so a free Freedom account has nothing equivalent to rely on.
Timer, Schedule, Random Text, Password, Restart, Frozen, Date, Delay, Breakable and Sessions. They differ in how hard it is to end a block early: Breakable gives you a set number of escapes, Random Text makes you retype a long string, Restart makes you reboot, and Frozen holds until a date you fixed at creation. All ten are in the free tier.
It ships extensions for Safari, Chrome/Chromium browsers and Firefox, with system-level enforcement underneath so switching browsers is not a way around a block. It runs on macOS 14 and later as a universal binary for Apple Silicon and Intel, Developer ID signed and notarised by Apple.
Cold Turkey Pro is $39 one-time and superb on Windows. Here is how the Mac side compares.
Free, open source and unbreakable within its limits — and those limits are the whole story.
The full FocusDragon product page — all 10 lock types, how the daemon works, and what the free tier actually includes.
If the Mac is where you lose the afternoon, start with the free core blocker — all ten lock types, no card, no renewal date. Pro is $4.99 once when you want locked mode.
Free forever core · Pro $4.99 once · 14-day refunds · v1.22.0 · macOS 14+ · Apple Silicon & Intel