Is Focuh or LeechBlock better for blocking websites in Chrome?

Both block websites in Chrome reliably and both are free, so the choice is about philosophy, not capability. LeechBlock NG is a rule engine — 30 blocksets, per-hour schedules, regex, time budgets — best if you want fine control and don't mind configuring it. Focuh is a one-minute commitment: add your sites, pick a challenge length, start, and they stay blocked. Pick LeechBlock for granular control, Focuh for the shortest path from install to blocked.

Are Focuh and LeechBlock both free?

Yes, both are genuinely free with no required payment. LeechBlock NG is free and open source. Focuh is free with no paid tier at all, no account, and no telemetry. Neither caps the number of sites you can block, which sets them apart from freemium blockers that limit the free tier to three sites. The real difference between these two isn't price — it's how much setup you do before you can block a single site.

Which is easier to set up, Focuh or LeechBlock?

Focuh, by a wide margin, and that gap is the main reason to choose it. LeechBlock's first screen is its options page: blocksets, schedules, time limits, and regex fields with sparse documentation, which is roughly ten to fifteen minutes before you're blocking anything. Focuh's first run is click the icon, type your sites, pick a length, start — under a minute, no concepts to learn. LeechBlock trades setup time for power; Focuh trades power for speed.

Does Focuh have scheduling like LeechBlock?

Not the granular, per-day-and-hour scheduling LeechBlock is known for. LeechBlock can allow a site from 12:00 to 13:00 on weekdays only, with a daily time budget layered on top — that's its signature strength. Focuh replaces scheduling with a continuous challenge: sites stay blocked for the length you choose, with no recurring windows. If hour-by-hour scheduling is essential to your workflow, LeechBlock wins there cleanly. If you want sites simply gone for weeks, Focuh's model is simpler.

Can Focuh or LeechBlock block apps and other browsers?

Neither extension can, because no Chrome extension can — an extension only controls Chrome. The difference is what each team ships beyond the browser. The Focuh team also makes a free macOS desktop app that blocks at the operating-system level, covering Safari, Firefox, Arc, and native apps during a focus session. LeechBlock has no desktop companion, so the moment you switch browsers or open an app, its block is gone. For all-browser blocking, Focuh's Mac app closes that gap.

Is LeechBlock open source and is Focuh?

LeechBlock NG is open source, which is a real advantage if auditable code matters to you — anyone can inspect exactly what it does. 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. If your real concern is simply that the tool doesn't track you, both clear that bar.

Which is harder to bypass, Focuh or LeechBlock?

In Chrome, both can be disabled from chrome://extensions, so neither browser extension is truly locked. LeechBlock offers password and delay locks on individual blocksets, which add friction within the browser. Focuh's stronger answer is outside the browser: the free Focuh Mac app blocks at the OS level using Accessibility APIs, which is harder to switch off mid-session than any extension. For genuinely hard-to-bypass blocking, the desktop app beats either extension.

Should I switch from LeechBlock to Focuh?

Switch if you've been fighting LeechBlock's options page instead of using it, you'd rather commit to a long challenge than tune per-hour schedules, or you want a free OS-level Mac app behind the browser block. Stay on LeechBlock if you rely on its regex matching, per-day scheduling, or open-source code, and the setup never bothered you. Both are free, so trying Focuh costs only the install — and you can keep LeechBlock until you're sure.

Can I use Focuh and LeechBlock together?

You can install both, but running two blockers in the same browser mostly adds clutter and a small risk of conflicting redirects. A more useful pairing is the Focuh Chrome extension for in-browser blocking plus the free Focuh Mac app for system-wide blocking, since those cover different layers. If you specifically want LeechBlock's scheduling in Chrome plus OS-level coverage, LeechBlock for the browser and the Focuh Mac app for everything else is a sensible split.

Focuh vs LeechBlock: 2026 Comparison

Focuh vs LeechBlock NG for 2026: two free Chrome blockers, opposite philosophies — a rule engine vs a one-minute commitment, plus a free Mac app.

June 3, 2026

What is LeechBlock NG?

LeechBlock NG is the Chrome website blocker that power users swear by, and the reputation is earned. It's free, open source, and offers an almost absurd amount of control: 30 independent blocksets, each with its own list, schedule, and rules; per-day and per-hour time windows; daily time budgets; URL-pattern and regex matching; and password or delay locks. If you can describe a blocking rule, LeechBlock can probably express it.

That power comes with a price you pay up front. The first thing you see after installing LeechBlock is its options page — a dense grid of tabs, toggles, time fields, and dropdowns with sparse documentation. It's a rule engine, and you have to learn it before it does anything for you.

What is Focuh?

Focuh is a free Chrome extension built on the opposite instinct. Instead of 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 the whole run. That's the entire setup, and it takes under a minute.

Focuh has no account, no telemetry, no ads, and no cap on the number of sites you block. It also ships a free desktop app for Mac that blocks at the operating-system level, which LeechBlock has no equivalent of. The two are designed to work together: the extension handles Chrome tabs, the Mac app handles everything else.

Focuh vs LeechBlock at a glance

Feature	Focuh	LeechBlock NG
Price	Free, no tier	Free, no tier
Setup time	Under a minute	10–15 minutes
Account required	No	No
Telemetry	None	None
Open source	No	Yes
Site cap	Unlimited	Unlimited (30 blocksets)
Blocking model	Long challenges (30–180 days)	Per-day, per-hour schedules
Regex / URL patterns	No	Yes
Password / delay locks	No	Yes
OS-level desktop app	Yes (free, macOS)	No

Read that table honestly and you can see who each tool is for. LeechBlock wins on configurability, locks, 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.

Focuh vs LeechBlock: the real fork is setup

The clearest difference between Focuh and LeechBlock shows up on the first run.

With LeechBlock, you open the options page, create a blockset, name it, paste in your sites, decide 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 before anything happens.

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 installed a blocker, opened its settings, felt the dread, and closed the tab, that's the moment Focuh is designed to remove.

The tradeoff is real and worth stating plainly: 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.

Which blocking model holds up better?

There's a quieter difference underneath the setup. 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 — all of it perfectly legitimate inside the tool you configured.

Focuh has fewer dials to fidget with. You make one decision on day one — block these sites for this long — and there isn't a settings page full of windows to renegotiate at 4pm. For breaking a reflex rather than rationing a habit, fewer options is sometimes the feature, not a limitation. LeechBlock's locks push back against this with passwords and delays, which is its honest answer to the same problem.

What Focuh does that LeechBlock can't

The biggest gap isn't in the browser at all. LeechBlock is a Chrome extension and nothing more, so it can only block Chrome. Switch to Safari, open Firefox, or launch a native app, and LeechBlock has no say. This is the most common bypass there is: you hit the wall in one browser and open the same site in another.

Focuh covers the browser the same way LeechBlock does — 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 can't offer because it has no desktop side. For the full reasoning, see system-level vs browser website blocking.

Where LeechBlock still wins

This wouldn't be a fair 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.

LeechBlock also has far more granular control: regex matching, URL patterns, 30 separate blocksets with independent rules, per-day-of-week schedules, time budgets, and password or delay locks. If your blocking needs are genuinely complex, LeechBlock can model them and Focuh can't. The question is whether you want a rule engine or a wall — and if you've been fighting the options page instead of using it, you wanted a wall.

Which should you choose?

Choose Focuh if:

You want to block your distractions in under a minute with no setup
You prefer committing to a long challenge over tuning per-hour schedules
You want a free OS-level Mac app backing up the browser block

Choose LeechBlock NG if:

You want maximum control — regex, per-day scheduling, multiple blocksets
You value open-source, auditable code
You don't mind a long initial setup for that power

The bottom line

LeechBlock NG is the most capable free Chrome blocker there is, and if you've configured it and it fits how you work, there's no reason to move. Focuh comes at the same problem from the other end — no setup, a long-challenge model, no telemetry, and a free Mac app for blocking beyond Chrome.

If you've installed LeechBlock twice and bounced off the options page both times, the simpler model is worth a try. Install Focuh free, and add the free Mac app when the browser block isn't enough on its own. For a closer look at the simpler-setup angle, see the LeechBlock alternative page; for another no-account comparison, see Focuh vs StayFocusd.