Website blockers you pay for once, or not at all
You can block websites on a Mac with no subscription. The free options are SelfControl and Apple Screen Time, plus the free tiers of Cold Turkey and 1Focus. The one-time purchase options are Cactus ($19.99), Cold Turkey Pro ($45), Focus 2 ($49), Chronoid (from $59) and Freedom Forever ($99.50). Prices are US list prices as of October 2026.
This page is written by Maxi, who makes Cactus. Cactus is one of the options below, and the table shows where a subscription app is the cheaper or better choice.
3-year cost: one-time purchase vs subscription
The table adds up what each option costs over three years at today's list price, before tax, assuming subscription prices stay the same.
| App | Pricing model | Price (Oct 2026) | 3-year cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| SelfControl | Free, open source | $0 | $0 |
| Apple Screen Time | Built into macOS | $0 | $0 |
| Cactus | One-time | $19.99 | $19.99 |
| 1Focus Pro | Subscription | $9.99 a year | $29.97 |
| Cold Turkey Blocker Pro | One-time | $45 | $45 |
| Focus 2 | One-time | $49 | $49 |
| Chronoid Basic | One-time | $59 | $59 |
| Freedom Forever | One-time | $99.50 (sale; list $199) | $99.50 |
| Freedom Premium, yearly | Subscription | $3.33 a month billed yearly | about $120 |
| Focus Lifetime | One-time | $129 | $129 |
| Opal Pro, yearly | Subscription | $99.99 a year | $299.97 |
| Freedom Premium, monthly | Subscription | $8.99 a month | $323.64 |
| FocusMe, yearly | Subscription | $119.40 a year | $358.20 |
| Opal Pro lifetime | One-time | $399 | $399 |
A few notes on the numbers:
- Freedom's site does not print the yearly total. $3.33 times 12 is $39.96, and the App Store lists a yearly plan at $39.99.
- 1Focus Pro is a subscription, but at $9.99 a year it stays cheap. Over three years it costs about $10 more than Cactus, and its free tier may be all you need.
- FocusMe also sells a lifetime plan, but its own pricing page shows two different prices for it ($249 and $449), so it is left out of the table.
Sources: Cold Turkey, Focus, Chronoid, Freedom, 1Focus on the Mac App Store, Opal, FocusMe.
One-time purchase website blockers for Mac
Cactus: $19.99 once, one recurring schedule
Cactus for Mac blocks a list of websites on a schedule that repeats every week. You set one time range, the weekdays it runs, and the sites. The 7-day free trial starts when you turn on your first schedule and needs no account or card. See pricing.
It blocks at system level, through the hosts file and the pf firewall, so the block applies in every browser without an extension. Once a block starts, Cactus has no button to end it early.
What you give up: Cactus has one schedule only, so you cannot set different hours on different days or keep two lists. It blocks whole sites, not pages, and only a domain plus its www. version, with a few built-in extras (m.youtube.com for youtube.com, twitter.com for x.com). Other hostnames such as youtu.be need adding. It does not block apps, has no iPhone or Windows version, and a Mac admin can still remove it. Secure DNS in Chrome or Firefox, iCloud Private Relay, proxies and some VPNs can affect blocking. How Cactus blocks covers the details.
Cold Turkey Blocker Pro: $45 once, with strict locks
Cold Turkey Pro is "pay once, own forever", with lifetime updates. One purchase covers every computer you personally use, on Mac and Windows. Pro adds scheduled blocks, app blocking and all of its lock types: timer, time range, random text, delay, restart and password. A locked block stops the uninstaller.
What you give up: on Mac it blocks through a browser extension in each browser, and the block only holds firmly once it is locked. There is no iPhone or Android version. See Cold Turkey alternatives.
Focus: $49 once, or $129 for lifetime updates
Focus 2 is $49 with one year of major updates and three years of minor updates. Lifetime is $129. It supports several schedules, app blocking and a Locked Mode that survives a restart. It runs on any Mac you use.
What you give up: Focus controls browsers through macOS Automation permission, and Firefox needs its add-on. If you want future major versions without paying again, the price is $129, not $49.
Chronoid: from $59 once, if you also want time tracking
Chronoid is an automatic time tracker with a website blocker included in every paid plan. Basic is $59 once for one Mac with one year of updates. Personal is $99 and Lifetime $149. Blocking is system-wide through hosts and DNS, scheduled by start time, end time and weekdays.
What you give up: there is no lock. You can pause the blocker for a minute, an hour or the rest of the day. If you do not need a time tracker, you are paying for one.
Freedom Forever: $99.50 once, if you need your phone too
Freedom is mainly a subscription, but its Forever plan is $99.50 once as of October 2026 (shown as 50% off $199). It covers Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Chromebook, with Premium features such as schedules and Locked Mode. Opal's $399 lifetime plan is the only other one-time option here that includes phones.
What you give up: you need an account, and on Mac Freedom blocks through a local proxy by default. See Freedom alternatives.
Free website blockers with no subscription
SelfControl
SelfControl is free and open source. It blocks at system level with the pf firewall and the hosts file, and a block cannot be stopped, even by restarting or deleting the app. It has no schedules, so you start every block by hand, and blocks are capped at 24 hours by default. Its FAQ warns that it does not block properly over a VPN.
Apple Screen Time
Screen Time is built into macOS. On macOS 26 and earlier you can restrict sites under Content & Privacy, or give a site a daily time limit with App Limits. macOS 27 replaces App Limits with Time Allowances set by category, and Apple does not document a limit for a single site. Apple documents the website restriction as a Safari setting, and it is only as strict as the passcode. If you set the passcode yourself, you can switch it off. Cactus vs Screen Time goes through where it is enough.
Free tiers of paid apps
- Cold Turkey Blocker Free: website blocking, exceptions and timed blocks. No schedules or app blocking.
- 1Focus Free: unlimited sites and apps, blocks up to 6 hours, and blocks you can set to be impossible to cancel. Schedules need Pro. No Firefox support.
- Freedom Free: sessions you start now, up to 2 hours, with app blocking and sync. No recurring sessions, and an account is required.
- Intentional: a Mac app that says it is "free for now". It redirects away from blocked sites in Safari, Chrome, Arc, Brave and Edge.
Will a one-time blocker keep working?
One Reddit commenter put a common worry this way: a one-time purchase app "is very unlikely to be updated to continue to work well long term" as browsers change (r/macapps). That risk is real for blockers that depend on a browser extension or on controlling the browser, because a browser update can break them. A system-level blocker has no extension to maintain, though it has its own weak spots, such as secure DNS and VPNs.
The other question is what "one-time" covers. Cold Turkey Pro includes lifetime updates. Focus 2 includes one year of major updates and three years of minor ones, Chronoid Basic one year of updates, and their lifetime tiers cost more. Read the pricing page before you buy.
When a subscription is the better deal
A subscription is not always the wrong choice:
- You need blocking on your phone. Freedom and Opal cover iPhone and Android. None of the Mac-only one-time apps do.
- You need strict blocking on many platforms. FocusMe covers Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS, with an Enforced Mode that stops you quitting.
- You want the lowest yearly cost with schedules. 1Focus Pro at $9.99 a year costs $19.98 over two years, about the same as Cactus, and it adds app blocking.
Which no-subscription option should you pick?
- Free, and you will start each block yourself: SelfControl.
- Free, Safari only, someone else holds the passcode: Screen Time.
- The same sites blocked during the same hours every week, in every browser: Cactus, $19.99. See blocking websites on a schedule.
- Strict locks and app blocking on Mac and Windows: Cold Turkey Pro, $45.
- Several schedules and app blocking on Mac: Focus, $49 or $129.
- Mac and phone, paid once: Freedom Forever, $99.50.
