Cold Turkey, Freedom and SelfControl are the three names that come up whenever someone asks which website blocker to use on a Mac. They are often listed together as if they did the same job. They don't. Each one enforces a block in a different way, and that mechanism decides almost everything else: which browsers it covers, what you can do to end a block early, and whether it suits a single afternoon or a month off a site.
So this comparison starts with how each one works, then looks at what can end a block early, what the free tiers actually include, and what each one costs over three years. At the end there is a short guide to choosing by situation.
At a glance
| Cold Turkey | Freedom | SelfControl | FocusDragon | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Mac and Windows | Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Chromebook | Mac only | Mac (macOS 14+); iPhone & iPad app included free |
| Blocks apps | Pro only | Yes, including on the free tier | No | Yes, free |
| Scheduling | Pro only | Premium only | No | Yes, free |
| Can't-quit lock | Pro locking features | Locked Mode, Premium only | Every block, by design | Pro, $19.99 one-time |
| Syncs across devices | No | Yes | No | No |
| Open source | No | No | Yes | No |
| Pricing model | Free tier, Pro one-time | Free tier, subscription or lifetime | Free | Free core, Pro $19.99 one-time |
Sources: getcoldturkey.com/pricing, freedom.to/pricing, selfcontrolapp.com and the SelfControl wiki, all checked 23 October 2026.
How each one actually blocks on a Mac
This is the part most comparisons skip, and it's the part that explains the rest.
SelfControl: network rules, no extensions
SelfControl blocks at the network level, by the servers a site is hosted on rather than by web address. That's why it covers every browser without installing anything in each one. It also has side effects its own FAQ is candid about: other sites hosted on the same servers can get blocked too, a VPN breaks blocking, and Firefox's DNS-over-HTTPS can make blocks unreliable until you restart the browser.
Once a block starts, it stays until the timer runs out, even if you restart the Mac or delete the app. The FAQ's answer to "how do I end a block early?" is simply that you can't.
Cold Turkey: built Windows-first, extensions on Mac
Cold Turkey made its reputation on Windows. On a Mac, a September 2026 comparison on apps.deals notes that it relies on browser extensions and that the Mac version is less polished and lacks some features. Our Cold Turkey comparison page collects the 2026 reviews that report delayed blocking and easier workarounds on Mac than on Windows. That is a pattern in reviews, not a guarantee, and plenty of people run it on a Mac without trouble.
Freedom: an app plus a sync service
Freedom is designed around sessions that run on all your devices at once. Its strength is reach rather than depth: one blocklist follows you from Mac to phone to Windows laptop. To stop yourself quitting a session, you need Locked Mode, which Freedom describes as preventing quitting so you stay committed. Locked Mode is a Premium feature.
FocusDragon: a background service, a network filter and extensions
FocusDragon enforces blocks from a root background service rather than from the app you see, plus an optional macOS network filter and extensions for Safari, Chrome and other Chromium browsers, and Firefox. The extensions mean a blocked site shows a FocusDragon block page instead of a connection error. The background service is why quitting the app or dragging it to the Trash mid-block doesn't end anything: the app is restored within seconds. The full picture is on our website blocker for Mac page.
What can end a block early
Every blocker works on day one. The real test is the moment you want the site back and the blocker is the only thing in the way. Here is what each app documents about the obvious escape routes. To be clear about method: for the other three apps this table summarises their own documentation and published sources, not a lab test we ran. Where nothing is documented, it says so.
| Escape route | Cold Turkey | Freedom | SelfControl | FocusDragon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quit the app | Pro adds locking features | Prevented with Locked Mode (Premium) | Block keeps running | Block keeps running |
| Drag the app to the Trash | Not documented | Not documented | Block keeps running; uninstall is blocked | App restored within seconds |
| Restart the Mac | Not documented | Not documented | Block keeps running | Block keeps running |
| Move the system clock forward | Not documented | Not documented | Can end the block (see PR #930) | No effect |
| Use a VPN | Not documented | Not documented | Breaks blocking, per its FAQ | Not covered here |
| Switch browser | Relies on browser extensions on Mac | Not documented | Covered, network-level | Covered, hosts file plus extensions |
The clock question
SelfControl is one of the hardest blockers to stop, with one known gap. Moving the Mac's system clock forward can end a block early. An open pull request in SelfControl's own repository, #930, opened in May 2026 and still open in October, proposes tamper-resistant timing and calls this a long-standing bypass. It's a gap the project's own contributors are working to close.
FocusDragon measures elapsed time against a clock that changing the system date cannot move, so rolling the date forward does nothing to a running block. If you have never thought of the clock trick, this may not matter to you. If you have already used it once, it probably does.
What the free tiers really include
"Free" means very different things across these four apps. This is where the line sits on each one as of October 2026.
- Cold Turkey Free: website blocking, website exceptions, timed blocks and statistics, plus a 7-day trial of Pro. No app blocking, no scheduled blocks and none of the locking features. Those are Pro.
- Freedom Free: blocking apps, websites or the whole internet, custom blocklists, website exceptions on Mac and Windows, and session sync across unlimited devices. No scheduling, no recurring sessions and no Locked Mode. Freedom lists "Unlimited Sessions – 2+ hours" as a Premium feature, which suggests free sessions are capped, though its pricing page doesn't spell out the cap.
- SelfControl: everything is free. There is no paid tier. It has no scheduling and no app blocking at any price.
- FocusDragon Free: unlimited blocks, schedules, app blocking, the Safari, Chrome and Firefox extensions, and system-level enforcement. Pro adds the lock types that stop you switching a block off, Bulletproof Strictness and full statistics.
The practical difference: on Cold Turkey and Freedom, schedules and locks are both paid features. SelfControl's single timed block is free and can't be ended early. FocusDragon's schedules are free, and its locks come with the one-time Pro purchase rather than a subscription. We go into the free options in more depth in our free website blockers for Mac guide.
Price, and the three-year cost
Prices below were checked on 23 October 2026 and exclude tax. They change, so check each pricing page before you buy.
| App | Price (Oct 2026) | Three years | Refunds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cold Turkey Pro | $45 one-time at its own checkout (US); its pricing page shows no figure | $45 | Full refund within 30 days |
| Freedom Premium | $8.99/month, $3.33/month billed yearly, or $99.50 Forever | About $120 yearly, $324 monthly, or $99.50 Forever | See freedom.to |
| SelfControl | Free | $0 | Not applicable |
| FocusDragon Pro | Core free. Pro $19.99 one-time | $0, or $19.99 with Pro | 14 days |
Freedom's yearly plan works out to about $40 a year ($3.33 × 12), so roughly $120 over three years. If you plan to use it for more than about two and a half years, Forever at $99.50 is the cheaper route. Cold Turkey's single key covers Mac and Windows and all the computers you personally use, and students can ask its support for 20% off. FocusDragon Pro has a 7-day trial that takes a card up front and charges once on day 7 unless you cancel; nothing renews. There are no student discounts or promo codes for it. See pricing for the details.
Each app, in short
Cold Turkey: strongest if you also use Windows
Cold Turkey is a long-established blocker with a one-time price and a 30-day refund window, which makes it a low-risk thing to try. One key covers both Windows and Mac. If you split your week between a Windows desktop and a MacBook, nothing else here covers both with one purchase. On a Mac-only setup, test it properly inside the refund window. More in our Cold Turkey alternative page.
Freedom: strongest if your phone is the problem
For many people the worst hour of the day happens on a phone, not a laptop. Freedom runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Chromebook (app blocking isn't available on Chromebook) and syncs sessions between them, even on the free tier. Blocking your Mac while your phone stays open doesn't achieve much, so if that's you, Freedom is the right pick and none of the others compete. The catch is that scheduling and Locked Mode need Premium. More in our Freedom alternative page.
SelfControl: strongest for free, simple, manual blocks
SelfControl is free, open source and tiny. You add sites, set a timer, press start, and wait. It has no account, no extensions and no paid tier, and you can read every line of its code. The limits are what make people look elsewhere: no scheduling (its FAQ points to third-party command-line tools for that), no app blocking, the clock gap above, and a 24-hour limit.
That 24-hour limit is a default rather than a hard cap. SelfControl's wiki documents a Terminal command that raises it, for example to 43,200 minutes (30 days). It works, but it's not something most people find. One more thing worth knowing: the latest GitHub release tag is v4.0.1 and the most recent commit is from November 2025, so development is slow. More in our SelfControl alternative page.
FocusDragon: Mac-first, free schedules, locks for a one-time price
FocusDragon sits closest to SelfControl in spirit (blocks you can't easily undo) but adds what SelfControl leaves out: recurring schedules, app blocking, blocks that run to a date you pick, and a range of lock types so you can match the friction to the temptation. A Delay lock makes you wait before a change applies. A Password lock works with a password someone else holds. A Frozen lock holds until a fixed date. Schedules and app blocking are free; the locks are part of Pro, a one-time $19.99.
It also has something none of the three offer. AI Focus blocks by goal instead of by list: you type what you're working on, and during a block it looks at the screen every 10 to 20 seconds and closes whatever doesn't fit, such as a YouTube video that isn't the lecture. The first hour is free with no card; after that it's a subscription. It's useful when your distractions don't fit a blocklist, which comes up a lot for people with ADHD.
The honest limits: FocusDragon's main product is the Mac app (the iPhone & iPad app is included free), it has no Windows version and no cross-device sync, and it is not open source. If any of those matter to you, one of the other three is the better choice.
Which one should you choose?
- Your phone is where the time goes: Freedom. Its sync across phone and computer is the reason to buy it.
- You use Windows and a Mac: Cold Turkey. One key covers both.
- You want free, open source, and short blocks you start by hand: SelfControl. It does that job very well.
- You're on a Mac and want recurring or multi-day blocks that hold, without a subscription: FocusDragon.
- Your distractions don't fit a list: FocusDragon's AI Focus.
- You just want light limits with nothing to install: Apple's Screen Time. Our step-by-step guide shows where the settings are, and why they're easy to switch off.
Whichever you choose, the habit that matters most is deciding in advance. A schedule that starts a block without you choosing it in the moment beats any amount of willpower at 4pm. For a wider field of options, see our best website blockers for Mac roundup.