11 Chrome Extensions for Distraction-Free Work and Browsing

The internet can be a dangerous place. If you work out of your browser, you’ve definitely fallen prey to the many distractions lurking out there, ready to suck up all your productive time. Social media, news websites, YouTube, and the list goes on. That’s why there’s a whole crop of distraction blocker Chrome extensions designed to give you a distraction-free browsing experience. Some let you build a list of websites to block, others clear out the many pop-ups on the websites you need to use, and yet more help direct your work.

Here’s our list of the 11 best distraction-free Chrome extensions.

Freedom

One of the most well-known Chrome extensions for distraction-free browsing, Freedom is a website blocker that puts a calming green screen over any website on your block list. Try to browse social media or check the score for the game and it’ll keep those distractions locked away. It doesn’t have many customization options, but as far as simple website blockers go, it’s a strong option.

PixieBrix

So you want a distraction-free browsing experience with just a single Chrome extension, but nothing on the list seems to fit? Maybe the price isn’t right or the extension just doesn’t have the features you need. You almost wish you could build your own, but don’t feel like you have the technical expertise to do it.

Enter PixieBrix.

PixieBrix is a low-code platform for customizing the websites you use every day, automating manual work, and improving your overall productivity. And with the PixieBrix Marketplace, you get access to a ton of pre-built blueprints that do everything from adding sidebars to your favorite websites to creating intelligent overlays and blocking the distractions that are killing your productive time.

Here are just a few examples of other things you can do with PixieBrix:

• Hide the what’s happening sidebar on Twitter.
• Automatically translate text from an image.
• Search keywords on Twitter from any website.
• And a whole lot more.

You’ll find pre-built enhancements and automations on the PixieBrix Marketplace for tools like Slack, Asana, Google Workspace, and more. You can even put these enhancements together to create your own robust workflows.

StayFocusd

Where a tool like Freedom gives you a complete block on distracting websites, StayFocusd gives you a bit more flexibility. With this Chrome extension, you can set a timer for your block list, so that you can choose how much — or how little — you can use them in a day. It also has analytics that show you how much you use certain websites.

Pause

Another distraction-free Chrome extension from the people at Freedom, Pause is more of a measured option. Instead of completely blocking a website, Pause will throw up a screen that encourages you to just think about whether you really want to click through to a specific website instead of working. It’s a great variant on the Freedom extension that’ll help you ponder how you end up on these websites in the first place.

Self Control

Self Control is another Chrome extension that completely blocks websites that drain your productive time. You can create custom time intervals to plan when you can access these websites again. There’s even a feature that prevents you from making any changes to your blocklist for a specific amount of time.

Strict Workflow

If you’re a fan of the Pomodoro technique, this might be the distraction-free Chrome extension for you. With Strict Workflow, you build a blocklist, then start a 25-minute timer for dedicated focus time. During that timer, you can’t visit any of the websites on that blocklist. When it’s done, you get a five-minute break timer that unblocks them. It’s a great way to get work done while planning for small breaks.

Poper Blocker

What if you don’t want to block entire websites? That’s where Poper Blocker comes in. This distraction-free Chrome extension blocks pop-ups, ads, sponsored content, cookie requests, and more. That means you get a better experience all over the internet, not just on websites you use for work.

PawBlock

Sometimes, you need a little bit of extra motivation to stick to your goals. Keep your day distraction-free with PawBlock, a Chrome extension that guilts you into getting back to work. Build a list of websites to block, and every time you try to go to one of them, PawBlock will show you a kitten or a puppy that’ll encourage you to get back to what you were doing.

xTab

How many tabs do you have open right now? Ready for the nuclear option? xTab is a Chrome extension that’ll keep your browser distraction-free and organized. It will let you set a maximum number of tabs, and automatically start closing the ones you used least recently when you go over that limit. You can customize it too, so that it just blocks new tabs, closes the oldest, or closes the ones you used least.

LeechBlock

Another website blocker, LeechBlock can do more than simpler extensions like Self Control. With this Chrome extension, you can actually schedule your blocklists, so that certain websites are only blocked during your workday (e.g. 9am-5pm). You can even customize how much time you’re allowed to spend on them during the day if you don’t want them completely blocked.

BlockSite

Blocksite is a little bit like Strict Workflow, in that it allows you to schedule focus time with intermittent breaks. But unlike the latter, it’s not tied to the Pomodoro technique, meaning you can customize your focus sessions to be exactly how you need them. There’s even an option to make your focus time completely untouchable, meaning there’s no way to access your blocklist while that timer’s going.

When so many jobs depend on the internet, it’s all too easy to get sucked down a rabbit hole of online distractions. With these Chrome extensions, you can finally get the distraction-free browsing experience you need to get more done. And when you add PixieBrix to the mix, you can build your own tools for getting more out of the browser-based applications you need.