The best focus tools for indie hackers on a Mac.
Looking for the perfect productivity app is a great way to avoid the work. The tools worth having are the ones that get you to ship, not the ones you spend an afternoon setting up. Here are four, the one real choice between them, and a daily routine to go with it.
The short answer
- A daily plan and a nudge, not a wall: Papa. 3 days free, then one payment.
- Hard blocks for deep-work hours, on every device: Freedom.
- Free blocking in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Brave: LeechBlock NG.
- Already on your Mac, for Safari: Screen Time.
What makes a focus tool good for an indie hacker?
Most productivity software is built for teams: meetings, assignments, sign-offs. A solo founder has none of that. You have a list of things to ship, a product that needs sales, and a browser with twenty tabs open. What helps is small and always there:
- It asks what you’re shipping today. A short list you commit to beats a long one you reorganise.
- It deals with your real distractions, which for most of us is a handful of sites, YouTube first.
- It keeps sales in view, so “busy” and “making money” don’t get confused.
- It needs no upkeep. If you have to set up a session every time, you’ll stop within a week.
- It respects your data. Your plans, habits and payment keys are sensitive. Read the privacy policy and see what leaves your Mac.
The four tools compared
| Tool | Best for | Approach | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Papa | A daily plan, site limits and sales in one place | Nudges | 3 days free, then $9.99 once |
| Freedom | Deep-work sessions, on all your devices | Blocks | Limited free plan; Premium $39.99/year |
| LeechBlock NG | Free blocking in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Brave | Blocks | Free |
| Screen Time | Daily website limits in Safari | Limits you can ignore | Free, built in |
Blocks or nudges?
This is the choice that matters. A block puts up a wall: the site won’t load. It works, until the day you switch it off “just for one video”, and then it’s off. A nudge doesn’t stop you. It makes you notice, like someone looking over your shoulder and asking how the launch is going. There’s no wall to take down, so it keeps working on the days you’d have disabled a blocker.
Neither is always right. If you keep turning your blocker off, try a nudge. If a nudge isn’t enough for your most important hours, add a block just for those hours. For more on the YouTube side, see how to limit YouTube on a Mac.
1. Papa
Best for a daily plan, site limits and sales in one place. Papa is the one I make. He’s a character who lives in your Mac’s notch, an Indian dad, and he keeps an eye on your day.
- Morning plan: the first time you open your Mac each day, he asks for up to three things you’ll do.
- Evening check: at the time you pick, he asks which ones got done, and streaks keep count.
- Site time limits: give YouTube or any site a daily limit in Safari or Chrome. Go over and he speaks up: asks nicely, then taunts, then brings up the neighbour’s kid. Nothing gets blocked.
- Sales: connect Stripe or Dodo Payments with a read-only key and he reacts to every sale and shows today’s revenue and MRR in his notch dashboard. No sale by evening and the belt comes out, at most once a day, and you can turn it off.
- Privacy: no account or sign-up. Your plan, streaks and site times stay on your Mac, and the sales key is kept in your Mac’s Keychain. For site limits he asks the browser only for the address of the tab in front. What Papa keeps and sends.
- Price: a 3-day free trial with every feature, then $9.99 once, and $4.99 for the first 25 buyers. No subscription.
- Needs: macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Works on Macs without a notch too.
2. Freedom
Best for hard blocks during deep work. Freedom blocks the websites and apps you choose, on your Mac and on your other devices, for a session you start or schedule. Locked mode stops you quitting a session early. It’s the strongest wall here.
- Price: a limited free plan. Premium is $39.99 a year, or $199 once for life.
- Needs: Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android, Chromebook or Linux.
3. LeechBlock NG
Best for free blocking in your browser. A browser extension that blocks the sites you list during set hours, after a time limit (like 10 minutes in every hour), or both. It only covers the browser it’s installed in.
- Price: free.
- Needs: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or another Chromium browser like Brave.
4. Screen Time
Best if you live in Safari. Built into macOS: System Settings → Screen Time → App Limits lets you give a website a daily limit. Without a Screen Time passcode you can ignore the limit with a click, and its website limits are built for Safari, so they’re not much help if you work in Chrome.
- Price: free.
Apple’s guide to App Limits on Mac
Common mistakes
| Mistake | What happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Stacking several focus apps | The reminders become the distraction | Pick one for every day, and at most one blocker for deep work |
| Long, clever rules | You spend more time on the setup than the work | A few simple rules that repeat every day |
| Planning ten things | Every evening feels like failing | Three things a day, and an honest check at night |
| Not reading what an app sends | Your habits or payment keys end up somewhere you didn’t expect | Read the privacy policy before you connect anything |
A daily routine that ships
The tools work best as part of a loop: decide what matters, protect the time to do it, see whether it’s paying off, and look back honestly. With Papa, most of this happens on its own.
- 9 AM: three things. Write down what “done” looks like today, before the first video starts calling. Three, not ten.
- Afternoon: deep work. Let site limits handle YouTube and friends. If you need a wall for an hour or two, start a block.
- 4 PM: sales. Look at today’s revenue once. A sale says keep going; no sales says go talk to users or fix the page.
- Evening: the check. Which of the three got done? Note what didn’t and why, then pick tomorrow’s three.
Questions
Should I block distracting sites or use nudges?
Blocks work best for set deep-work hours, when you want a site gone. Nudges work better as an everyday habit, because there’s no wall to switch off. Many founders use both: a nudge all day, and a hard block for their most important hours.
What’s a good daily routine for a solo founder?
Pick three tasks in the morning, protect a block of deep work with site limits, look at your sales once in the afternoon, and check in the evening which of the three got done.
Is there a focus app for indie hackers without a subscription?
Yes. Papa is a one-time payment after a 3-day free trial. LeechBlock NG and Screen Time are free. Freedom has a limited free plan and a one-time lifetime option alongside its yearly Premium plan.
More from the blog: how to limit YouTube on a Mac and the best notch apps for Mac in 2026.