Freedom Free covers the basics on every platform. Freedom Premium — with Locked Mode, scheduling, and unlimited sessions — is $8.99/mo or $99.50 lifetime. FocusDragon gives you Mac-native equivalents of the Premium features for $0.
Freedom is a well-built cross-device focus tool and has been around since 2009. It's the right pick if you need blocks that sync across Mac + iOS + Windows + Android + Chromebook.
FocusDragon is the right pick if you only need it on Mac and want the strict-lock features (Locked Mode equivalents, scheduling, unlimited duration) without paying a subscription or handing over an email address.
Pricing pulled from freedom.to/premium, April 2026.
Blocks apps + sites across all devices. Cross-device sync. Unlimited devices. Sessions capped at 2 hours. No scheduling, no Locked Mode.
Adds scheduling, recurring sessions, Locked Mode, unlimited-duration sessions, Premium perks.
Same as Monthly, billed annually at roughly $40/yr.
Every Premium-equivalent feature, unlocked from day one. Mac only. No account, no sync, no cloud.
Freedom also offers a lifetime license at $99.50 (promoted at 50% off $199, as of April 2026).
The two features most people subscribe to Freedom Premium for are scheduled sessions (so blocks start automatically during work hours) and Locked Mode (so you can't end a session early in a weak moment). FocusDragon ships both at the free tier. If that's your core use case on Mac, FocusDragon replaces the subscription entirely.
Freedom's strength is breadth: one session syncs to iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, Chromebook. If you need that, Freedom is the right tool. But if you only have a Mac, you're paying for platform reach you don't use. FocusDragon is written natively for macOS, installs at ~6 MB, and takes full advantage of macOS primitives (launchd daemon, PF firewall, system-extension-style browser integration).
Freedom requires an account and stores your configuration in the cloud so it can sync. That's essential to their architecture — but it means sites you're trying to avoid are stored on servers outside your control. FocusDragon runs entirely on your Mac. The app has no network permission, no account, no cloud sync. For people blocking things they consider private (gambling, recovery support, etc.), this matters.
Yes — and it's genuinely useful. Freedom Free includes blocking apps, websites, or the whole internet, cross-device sync across Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and Chromebook, unlimited devices, custom blocklists, and website exceptions on desktop. What Premium ($8.99/mo, ~$40/yr, or $99.50 lifetime at current 50% off) adds: scheduling, recurring sessions, advance sessions, Locked Mode, and unlimited-duration sessions beyond 2 hours.
Every Premium feature — scheduled blocks, Locked Mode equivalents (random-text, restart-count, date locks), and unlimited session duration — is free in FocusDragon. The tradeoff: FocusDragon is Mac-only. Freedom's cross-device sync (which is free, not Premium) and mobile support are things FocusDragon doesn't try to replicate.
No. Freedom has documented uninstall protection that prevents removing the app while a locked session is running. Locked Mode does have a 1-minute grace window at the start of a session, and Freedom allows one emergency-end request per 7 days. FocusDragon similarly prevents uninstall during active locks, with no emergency-end option — once locked, you wait it out.
No. FocusDragon is Mac-only and local-only. The app has no network permission, no account system, no cloud sync. That's a deliberate privacy tradeoff — if you need iOS + Windows + Android sync, Freedom is the right choice. If you're Mac-only and prefer data never leaving your machine, FocusDragon is.
Freedom on desktop uses a local proxy plus optional browser extensions. On iOS it uses a local-only VPN (via Apple's Network Extension APIs) and Safari Content Blocker. FocusDragon uses /etc/hosts rewrites, PF firewall anchors, process-level monitoring, and browser extensions with heartbeat. Different approaches — both effective, both can be bypassed by VPNs that tunnel outside the local stack.
If you genuinely need blocks on Mac + iPhone + Android simultaneously, Freedom's architecture handles that well. The free tier already syncs — Premium mainly adds scheduling and Locked Mode. Many users get what they need from the free tier alone.