Is Focuh a free LeechBlock alternative?

Yes. Focuh is a genuinely free Chrome extension — no account, no email, no telemetry, no ads, and no cap on the number of sites you block. Like LeechBlock, it runs entirely locally and never sends your blocklist to a server; your settings live in Chrome storage on your own device. There's no paid tier waiting to upsell you, so 'free' has no asterisk. The difference is the setup, not the price.

What's the main difference between Focuh and LeechBlock?

LeechBlock is built around configuration — 30 independent blocksets, each with its own schedule, time limit, and rules, plus regex and URL-pattern matching. Focuh is built around commitment: you add the sites you want gone and start a challenge of 30, 91, or 180 days where they stay blocked the whole time. LeechBlock is the better fit if you want fine-grained per-day windows; Focuh is the better fit if you want one clean wall and no setup overhead.

Does Focuh have scheduling like LeechBlock?

Not in the granular, per-day-and-hour way LeechBlock does. LeechBlock lets you allow a site from 12:00–13:00 on weekdays only, with a daily time budget on top — that's its strength. Focuh replaces scheduling with a continuous challenge: the sites stay blocked for the length you choose. If hour-by-hour windows are essential to your workflow, LeechBlock is genuinely better at that one thing. If you want sites simply gone for weeks, Focuh's model is simpler and harder to negotiate with.

Can Focuh block apps and other browsers like LeechBlock can't?

Not the Chrome extension — and neither can LeechBlock, because no browser extension can. An extension only controls the browser it's installed in. The difference is that the Focuh team also ships a free desktop app for macOS that blocks at the operating-system level, covering Safari, Firefox, Arc, and native apps during a focus session. So you can run the free extension in Chrome and the free Mac app for everything else. LeechBlock has no desktop companion.

Is Focuh open source like LeechBlock?

LeechBlock NG is open source, which is a genuine point in its favor if auditable code matters to you. Focuh is not open source, but it makes the same practical privacy promise: no account, no telemetry, no remote code, and a blocklist that never leaves your device. If open source is a hard requirement, LeechBlock keeps the edge there. If your real concern is that the tool doesn't track you, both clear that bar.

Is Focuh easier to set up than LeechBlock?

That's the whole reason it exists as an alternative. LeechBlock's first-run experience is its options page — blocksets, schedules, time limits, regex — and the documentation is sparse. Focuh's first run is: click the icon, type the sites you want blocked, pick a challenge length, start. There's no concept to learn. People switch from LeechBlock to Focuh specifically because they wanted to block sites, not administer a blocking system.

LeechBlock NG Alternative

Best LeechBlock Alternative for Chrome (2026)

Q: Why look for a LeechBlock alternative?

LeechBlock NG is powerful and free, but most people who search for a LeechBlock alternative hit the same wall: the setup. The options page is a dense grid of blocksets, time windows, regex fields, and lockdown rules. If you enjoy configuring software, that's a feature. If you just want to block YouTube and start working, it's fifteen minutes of reading dropdowns before anything happens. A simpler extension like Focuh gets you blocking in under a minute with no learning curve.

Q: Which should I choose, Focuh or LeechBlock?

Choose LeechBlock if you want maximum control — per-day schedules, regex matching, multiple independent blocksets, and open-source code — and you don't mind spending fifteen minutes configuring it once. Choose Focuh if you want to block your distractions in under a minute, commit to a long challenge instead of fiddling with windows, and optionally extend to OS-level blocking with the free Mac app. Both are free, so trying one costs nothing but the install.

Looking for a LeechBlock alternative? Focuh is a free Chrome extension with the same no-cost blocking but a setup you finish in a minute, not fifteen.

May 31, 2026

Why Look for a LeechBlock Alternative?

LeechBlock NG is the Chrome extension power users swear by, and for good reason. It's free, open source, and offers an almost absurd amount of control: 30 independent blocksets, per-day schedules, time budgets, URL-pattern and regex matching, password and delay locks. If you can imagine a blocking rule, LeechBlock can probably express it.

That power is also why people end up searching for a LeechBlock alternative. The first thing you see after installing it is the options page — a wall of tabs, toggles, time fields, and dropdowns with sparse documentation. To block one website, you have to understand blocksets, decide on a schedule, and navigate settings written for people who enjoy this. Plenty of users just want to block YouTube and get back to work, and fifteen minutes of configuration before they can do that is the opposite of what they came for.

If that's you, the fix isn't more power. It's less setup.

How Focuh Compares to LeechBlock

Focuh is a free Chrome extension built on the opposite instinct. Instead of handing you a configuration system, it hands you a commitment. You add the sites you want gone, pick a challenge length — 30, 91, or 180 days, or a custom number — and start. The sites stay blocked for the whole run. That's the entire setup, and it takes under a minute.

Like LeechBlock, Focuh is genuinely free with no account, runs locally, and never sends your blocklist anywhere. The difference is what you do on day one: LeechBlock asks you to design a system; Focuh asks you to name your distractions and commit.

	Focuh	LeechBlock NG
Price	Free, no tier	Free, no tier
Setup time	Under a minute	10–15 minutes
Account	None	None
Telemetry	None	None
Open source	No	Yes
Site cap	Unlimited	Unlimited (30 blocksets)
Scheduling	Continuous challenge	Per-day, per-hour, granular
Regex / URL patterns	No	Yes
Desktop / OS-level app	Yes — free Mac app	No

Read that table honestly and you can see who each tool is for. LeechBlock wins on configurability and open source. Focuh wins on time-to-blocked and the OS-level companion. Neither is "better" in the abstract — they're built for different people.

Setup: Fifteen Minutes vs Sixty Seconds

The clearest difference is the first run.

With LeechBlock, you open the options page, create a blockset, name it, paste in your sites, choose whether to block always or on a schedule, optionally set a time limit, optionally add a lockdown or password, and repeat for any sites you want governed differently. It's flexible precisely because it makes you decide all of that up front.

With Focuh, you click the extension icon, type the domains you want blocked, choose how long, and hit start. There's no blockset concept, no schedule grid, no regex field. If you've ever abandoned a blocker because configuring it felt like a chore, this is the part that changes.

The tradeoff is real: you give up granular per-hour scheduling. If allowing yourself Reddit from 12:00 to 12:30 on weekdays is central to how you work, LeechBlock does that and Focuh doesn't. For most people, though, "blocked for the next month" beats a schedule they'll spend twenty minutes tuning and then renegotiate by Tuesday.

There's a quieter benefit to the simpler model, too. Every option LeechBlock gives you is also a lever you can pull when you're looking for an excuse — loosen a schedule here, raise a time budget there, and the block erodes one small edit at a time. Focuh has fewer dials to fidget with, which means fewer ways to talk yourself out of the commitment you made on day one. Sometimes the absence of options is the feature.

What Focuh Does That LeechBlock Doesn't

The biggest gap isn't in the browser at all. LeechBlock is a Chrome extension and nothing more, which means it can only block Chrome. Switch to Safari, open Firefox, or launch a native app, and LeechBlock has no say.

Focuh covers the browser the same way — and the team also ships a free Focuh desktop app for Mac that blocks at the operating-system level. During a focus session, the Mac app blocks distracting sites across Safari, Firefox, Arc, and Chrome at once, plus native apps, using macOS Accessibility APIs. So the realistic setup is the free extension in Chrome plus the free Mac app for everything else — a combination LeechBlock simply can't offer because it has no desktop side.

This matters most for the classic bypass: you hit the block in Chrome, sigh, and open the same site in another browser. An extension-only tool can't stop that. OS-level blocking can. For the full explanation, see system-level vs browser website blocking.

Where LeechBlock Still Wins

This wouldn't be an honest comparison if it pretended Focuh wins everywhere. It doesn't.

LeechBlock is open source, so you or anyone can audit exactly what it does. Focuh isn't. If auditable code is a hard requirement, that alone may settle it for you.

LeechBlock also has far more granular control. Regex matching, URL patterns, 30 separate blocksets with independent rules, per-day-of-week schedules, time budgets, delay and password locks — if your blocking needs are genuinely complex, LeechBlock can model them and Focuh can't. Power users who want a rule engine should stay with LeechBlock.

The question is whether you want a rule engine or a wall. If you've been fighting LeechBlock's options page instead of using it, you wanted a wall.

Which Should You Choose?

Choose LeechBlock NG if you want maximum control, open-source code, and per-day scheduling, and you don't mind a long initial setup.

Choose Focuh if you want to block your distractions in under a minute, prefer committing to a long challenge over tuning schedules, and want the option to extend blocking to your whole Mac with a free desktop app.

Both are free, so the only cost of trying Focuh is the install. If you want a simpler way to block sites today, install the free Focuh Chrome extension — and add the free Mac app if you need blocking that covers more than Chrome. For other simple, no-account options, see our StayFocusd alternative.