Website blockers for ADHD: Freedom vs Cold Turkey vs Forest

What to look for in a website blocker for ADHD

The right blocker covers every device you drift on and is exactly as hard to get round as you need. Too soft and you switch it off. Too hard and you uninstall it in a temper on day two.

Compare blockers on these points:

• Devices covered. If you lose afternoons on your phone, a laptop-only blocker misses half the problem. Freedom covers Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Chromebook. Cold Turkey covers Windows and Mac only. Forest is a phone app.
• How hard it is to escape. There are roughly four levels: an honour system (Forest's tree dies if you leave), a lock that stops you quitting (Freedom's Locked Mode), strict locks with extra hurdles (Cold Turkey Pro), and a physical box.
• Scheduling. A block that starts itself at 9am beats one you have to remember to start. Freedom Premium has advanced scheduling and recurring sessions. Cold Turkey Pro adds scheduled blocks; the free version has timed blocks you start by hand.
• Apps as well as sites. Social media apps on a laptop get round a website block. Freedom blocks sites and apps. Cold Turkey Pro adds application blocking.
• Exceptions. You might need one YouTube channel for work or your bank's website. Freedom offers website exceptions on Mac and Windows; Cold Turkey has them even in the free version.
• Price model. A subscription you forget about costs more over three years than a one-off licence.

Freedom or Cold Turkey?

Choose Freedom if your phone is as much of a problem as your laptop; choose Cold Turkey if the problem is a Windows or Mac computer and you have beaten softer blockers before.

Freedom is the all-rounder. One block list applies across all your devices, and even the free plan syncs across an unlimited number of them. Premium adds the things that make blocking automatic: scheduled sessions that start on their own, sessions that repeat through the week, and focus music and ambient sounds. Locked Mode stops you quitting a session once it has started. On the day we checked, Freedom also offered a one-off Forever licence at US$99.50, shown as half its usual US$199; offers like that come and go.

Cold Turkey calls itself the toughest website and app blocker on the internet, and its pricing page shows why: Pro adds application blocking, scheduled blocks, password protection for apps and all the locking features. One purchase covers every computer you personally own, on Windows and Mac. There is a 30-day refund guarantee and 20% off for students who ask. The free version blocks websites, allows exceptions and runs timed blocks, and includes a 7-day trial of Pro.

Forest sits underneath both. It is less a blocker than a small game: you start a timer, a tree grows, and picking up the phone to do something else kills it. On iOS 16 or later it can also block chosen apps on a schedule. If shame at a dead tree is enough, it is free.

Free blockers you already have

Your phone and browser already include blockers that cost nothing.

• iPhone Screen Time. Downtime sets hours when only apps you allow will open. App Limits cap time per app or category. Always Allowed keeps calls and chosen apps available. Settings sync across Apple devices signed into the same Apple Account, and you can set a Screen Time passcode.
• Android Digital Wellbeing. Focus mode pauses the apps you choose, so you cannot open them or get their notifications, and it can run on a schedule. A "Take a break" option unpauses them for a set time. App timers close an app when your daily allowance runs out and dim its icon until midnight.
• LeechBlock NG. A free browser extension. Block sites during set hours, after a time limit (for example 10 minutes in every hour), or both. A lockdown option blocks immediately for a set time, and you can put a password or a random code on the settings to slow yourself down.
• Cold Turkey Blocker Free. Website blocking, exceptions, timed blocks and statistics on Windows and Mac, for nothing.

Things to know

• Test a strict lock with a short block first. Try 15 minutes before you lock yourself out of the internet for a day, and check your exceptions include anything you need, such as your bank or your GP surgery's booking site.
• Work computers may not allow installs. Ask your IT team. If distraction at work is the issue, a blocker or quieter workspace can be part of a reasonable adjustments conversation; our guide covers how to ask.
• Browser extensions are easy to switch off. Disabling an extension takes seconds. LeechBlock's password option adds a pause; it does not make a block unbreakable.
• Dollar prices move. Freedom charges in US dollars, so the pound cost changes with the exchange rate.
• We have not tested these blockers. Everything above comes from each maker's pages and Apple's and Google's own help pages, checked on 11 September 2026.