10 Best Free Focus Apps of 2026

Forest takes the top spot because its free tier covers what most students need from a focus app. You start a timer, a tree grows, and if you leave for another app the tree dies. Deep Focus mode goes further and blocks other apps during the session, and Forest says this blocker is free on every tier. Plant Together rooms let a study group focus at the same time, with iPhone and Android users in the same room, and the free plan also includes ambient sounds, focus tracking, a Focus Challenge and one Time Guard limit for an app or site. Your account syncs between iPhone, iPad, Android and the browser. The limits show up once you want detail: focus analytics, custom tags, pausing and the extra soundscapes sit in Forest Plus. Plus is listed at $5.99 a month as an early bird price on the US App Store, and Forest notes that prices vary by region and platform.

Focus To-Do suits people whose problem is planning as much as focus. It combines a Pomodoro timer with a task manager, so you can add a task, estimate how many Pomodoros it needs, set a reminder and start the timer from the same screen. The timer supports custom work and break lengths, short and long breaks, skipping breaks and a continuous mode, and the app includes white noise. Tasks can have subtasks, notes, color-coded priorities and recurring due dates such as every Monday. Reports show time spent per day, week and month, the share of time per project and a Gantt chart of focus time. The developer lists apps for Android, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, Windows and a Chrome extension, with sync between them. It does not block apps or websites, so it relies on your own discipline. On the US App Store, Premium costs $3.99 for 3 months or $11.99 for lifetime access.

Freedom is the strongest blocker here for people who switch between a laptop and a phone. One session applies to every device at once, and the free plan already includes blocking of apps, websites or the entire internet, sync across Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and Chromebook, unlimited devices, custom blocklists and focus music. Desktop app blocking is included, while website exceptions work on Mac and Windows only. The paid plan is where Freedom becomes automatic: Premium adds scheduled and recurring sessions, advance sessions for later in the day, Locked Mode that prevents quitting, and unlimited sessions of 2 hours or more. Freedom also says it does not track your browsing or app usage. Premium costs $3.33 a month on the yearly plan or $8.99 month to month, and a Forever Premium license is listed at $99.50 one time. Students who only need occasional manual blocks can stay on the free plan.

Pomofocus is the quickest way to start a Pomodoro routine. Open the site in a desktop or mobile browser, add tasks for the day, set how many 25-minute Pomodoros each one needs and start the timer. It estimates when you will finish your list, lets you save repeated tasks as templates and shows how much time you focused each day, week and month. Settings cover focus and break length, alarm sounds and background sounds. There are also desktop downloads for Mac, Windows and Linux, though the Windows build is not signed, so Windows warns you before it runs. The free version has limits: more than 3 templates, projects, yearly reports, CSV export, Todoist and webhook integrations and an ad-free view are Premium features. It is a timer only, so it will not stop you from opening a distracting tab. We could not see the Premium price on the public site, so it is marked pending.

Flora works like a tree-growing focus timer with a stronger social side. You pick a focus length and start growing a tree; if you leave the app for social media or games, the tree is killed. When you plant with friends and everyone stays off their phones, each person wins an extra tree, and you can chat and share progress to keep the group on track. Beyond the timer, Flora includes a to-do list with reminders, lets you tag trees to tasks, and tracks habits with daily, weekly and monthly statistics. The developer says Flora has more than 2,500,000 users and offers opt-in services to plant real trees through partners such as Trees for the Future and Eden Reforestation Projects. Flora is free to download, with in-app purchases on the US App Store. Its limits are platform reach and strictness: the App Store version is iPhone only, there is no desktop app, and there is no hard lock.

Focusmate takes a different approach from timers and blockers: it books you a session with another person, and you each work on your own task while the other is present. Sessions run for 25, 50 or 75 minutes, and members join from more than 150 countries, including students, engineers and homemakers. If you find a partner you like, you can favorite them and book with them again. The free plan includes 3 sessions per week and needs no credit card, which is enough to try the method or cover the hardest few work blocks of a week. Plus removes the limit for $8 a month billed annually or $12 month to month, and Focusmate invites people who cannot afford Plus to contact them. The trade-offs are scheduling and scope. Sessions are booked, so it is not a quick fix for a spare ten minutes, and nothing stops you from opening another tab during a session.

Opal is built for people whose main distraction is the phone. The free forever plan runs on iOS, Android and Mac and includes app blocking, basic timers and soundscapes, and one rule that can use a schedule, a time limit or a limit on how often you open an app. A focus timer lets you choose a task and lock in until it ends, and the Opal Score rolls signals from sleep, focus and rest into one number, though free users only see today's score. Opal Pro adds Hard Mode, which stops you from turning Opal off, unlimited rules, an Allow Only mode, advanced timers and score history. Pro costs $8.29 a month billed $99.99 annually, $19.99 month to month or $399 for lifetime access, and students can apply for up to 50% off. The single free rule is enough for one problem app, but people with several distractions will hit the limit quickly.

Cold Turkey Blocker is for people who have tried softer tools and still find a way around them. The free version blocks websites for a set time, supports website exceptions and shows statistics. Block lists can target whole domains, specific URLs, YouTube channels, search keywords or wildcard patterns, and adding a wildcard for every site blocks the whole internet. Blocked pages show a reminder to do something else, and Pause for a Cause lets you donate to the World Wildlife Fund for a 10 minute break, which you can disable. Pro, a one-time purchase with lifetime updates, adds application blocking, scheduled blocks, an application password, locking features and breaks and allowances. One purchase covers all computers you personally use on Windows and macOS, and students can ask for 20% off. There is no Linux, ChromeOS, Android or iOS version. The Pro price did not load as text in our check, so it is marked pending.

LeechBlock NG is a browser extension that does one job in detail: it blocks the sites you choose, when you choose. You can create up to 30 sets of sites, each with its own times and days, and block them during fixed periods such as 9am to 5pm, after a time limit such as 10 minutes in every hour, or with both rules combined. Site lists accept wildcards and exceptions, so you can block a whole domain but allow one useful subdomain. Lockdown blocks sites immediately for a duration you set, and a password or random access code on the options page slows you down when you are tempted to undo it. It runs in Firefox, Chrome, Edge and other Chromium-based browsers such as Brave, Opera and Vivaldi, and it costs nothing. The developer notes it is not meant for parental control, and it cannot touch phone apps or desktop programs.

Session is a Pomodoro timer for Apple devices that asks you to state your focus before each session and what you learned afterwards. The free plan includes unlimited sessions and rests, analytics for the past 2 days and your calendar events inside the app. Most of the useful tools sit in Pro: custom session and break lengths, the full session log, website and app blocking on Mac, muting Slack and updating your Slack status during a session, real-time sync between Mac and iPhone, global keyboard shortcuts, and automation with AppleScript and Apple Shortcuts. The website blocker works on Safari, Chrome, Brave and Microsoft Edge. Pro costs $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year, which works out to $3.33 a month, and the pricing page notes that prices differ by region. Students can ask for 30% off for one year. It ranks last because the free plan is thin and there is no Windows or Android app.