What App Blockers Cost in 2026: Full Pricing Table
How much do app blockers cost? Anywhere from nothing to $199+ upfront, with most of the useful ones landing at $30–$100/year. The variation is real: different apps use fundamentally different business models, and the model usually tells you something about the product.
Here’s the full breakdown, bucketed by pricing type, with a 3-year cost comparison at the end.
The Free Tier (and What You Give Up)
Several apps offer genuine free tiers. The catch is that “free” almost always means “limited strictness.”
ScreenZen — Free plan exists. Paid is around $4.99/month or $29.99/year (verify at their site). The free version lets you set friction prompts on apps but caps how many you can configure.
One Sec — Free for one app. If you only mindlessly open one app, that’s sufficient. Most people need more. Paid is roughly $2.99/month or $14.99/year (check current pricing).
Forest — Free tier plants trees but locks premium features behind a one-time purchase around $1.99 on iOS.
Apple Screen Time — Genuinely free, baked into iOS. Also easy to bypass if you know where to look. See Apple Screen Time alternatives for why people graduate off it.
Free tiers are for testing, not for someone serious about the problem. If you’ve already tried willpower and Screen Time’s built-in limits, the free tier of a paid blocker won’t save you either.
Subscription Apps: The Main Cluster
This is where most people end up. Prices below are approximate — verify before subscribing.
| App | Monthly | Annual | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opal | ~$9.99/mo | ~$99.99/yr | Deep iPhone integration |
| One Sec | ~$2.99/mo | ~$14.99/yr | Friction/pause mechanic, one app free |
| ScreenZen | ~$4.99/mo | ~$29.99/yr | Friction prompts, free tier available |
| Freedom | ~$8.99/mo | ~$44.99/yr | Multi-platform: Mac, Windows, Android, iOS |
| Jomo | ~$4.99/mo | ~$39.99/yr | iOS, scheduled blocks |
| Clearspace | ~$4.99/mo | ~$35.99/yr | Friction-based, iPhone |
| Lummi (ours) | No monthly | $59.99/yr | iOS only; $8.99/wk also available; 1-week trial on annual |
A few things stand out.
Opal is the premium end of pure subscription blockers. Comparing Opal vs Freedom on price alone, Freedom is cheaper and covers more platforms — but Opal’s iOS depth is real.
Lummi (disclosure: we made it) has no monthly plan. Weekly at $8.99 exists for people who want to try before committing to the year; the annual plan includes a 1-week free trial for eligible Apple IDs. There is no permanent free tier. The app replaces a blocked-app habit with a real book. If that mechanic doesn’t interest you, a cheaper option probably serves you better.
Freedom is the only one here that meaningfully covers desktop. If your problem lives on a laptop as much as a phone, that justifies the price in a way nothing else on this list can.
One-Time Purchases
Forest charges roughly $1.99 once on iOS (free on Android with ads). No recurring charge. The tradeoff: simpler features, and the gamification works better as a focus timer than a full blocker.
Cold Turkey (desktop) offers a free tier and a Pro upgrade around $39 one-time. Extremely hard to bypass on Mac and Windows. No mobile app. If your problem is laptop-based, this is worth a serious look — the hardest app blockers to bypass breakdown covers it.
One-time purchases look cheap over time. $39 over three years beats $100+/year on paper. The catch: one-time products have less incentive to update, and app-blocking on iOS depends heavily on Apple’s APIs, which change. Check the last update date before buying a one-time iOS app.
Hardware Blockers
Brick is a physical device you tap your phone to. It physically locks apps using NFC and Screen Time. Price is around $49–$79 for the device, with an optional subscription for additional features (verify current pricing on their site).
Hardware has one genuine advantage: the physical act of using a device creates a commitment moment that software can’t replicate. It also has a genuine disadvantage: you can leave it at home. If you want Brick-level commitment without the hardware, those alternatives exist.
3-Year Cost Math
Assuming current pricing holds (it won’t perfectly, but the ratios are useful):
| App | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | 3-Year Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Screen Time | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Forest (one-time) | ~$2 | $0 | $0 | ~$2 |
| Cold Turkey Pro (desktop) | ~$39 | $0 | $0 | ~$39 |
| One Sec (annual) | ~$15 | ~$15 | ~$15 | ~$45 |
| ScreenZen (annual) | ~$30 | ~$30 | ~$30 | ~$90 |
| Jomo (annual) | ~$40 | ~$40 | ~$40 | ~$120 |
| Freedom (annual) | ~$45 | ~$45 | ~$45 | ~$135 |
| Lummi (annual) | ~$60 | ~$60 | ~$60 | ~$180 |
| Opal (annual) | ~$100 | ~$100 | ~$100 | ~$300 |
Apple Screen Time costs nothing and is the right answer if you have moderate discipline and aren’t gaming it. Most people reading this aren’t in that situation.
One Sec at ~$45 over three years is the cheapest meaningful subscription. Its friction mechanic — a one-second pause before opening an app — reduces mindless opens for a lot of people. Whether it holds up long-term is a separate question; One Sec alternatives exist for a reason.
Opal at ~$300 over three years is real money. Its defense is depth of iOS integration. If you’ve burned through cheaper options and still can’t stay off Instagram, the price of Opal is lower than the productivity cost of the problem.
Which Tier Is Actually Worth It
The pricing table above is accurate enough to budget with. The right pick still depends on your failure mode, not the price.
Apps to limit screen time, sorted by failure mode is the better next read if you haven’t matched the mechanic to why you keep picking up your phone. Paying more for a tool that solves the wrong problem is the most expensive outcome here.