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How to block websites on Mac (every browser)

UPDATED AUGUST 2026 · 7 MIN READ

Blocking a website on your Mac is easy. Blocking it in a way that survives 11pm-you opening a different browser is the hard part. Here are the four real options, from free and built-in to actually escape-proof, and where each one leaks.

Method 1: Screen Time (built in, free)

macOS ships with website restrictions inside Screen Time:

1. Open System Settings → Screen Time.
2. Under Content & Privacy, turn the switch on and open the content restrictions.
3. Set web content to Limit Adult Websites, then add the sites you want gone under Restricted.
4. Alternatively, add an App Limit, choose the Websites category, pick specific sites and give them a daily allowance.

The catch is structural: Screen Time is designed for parents managing children. When you manage yourself, you know the passcode. The limit screen ships with buttons that grant more time in one click, so a Screen Time block is really a polite suggestion with extra steps. It leaks exactly at the moment it is supposed to hold. We wrote up why in why Screen Time limits don't work.

Method 2: The hosts file (free, technical)

The classic sysadmin move is telling your Mac that a distracting domain lives at an address that goes nowhere. You edit /etc/hosts in Terminal with admin rights, add a line like 127.0.0.1 twitter.com per domain, and flush the DNS cache.

It works in every browser, because it operates below them. But it is fiddly (www and non-www variants, every mirror domain, no scheduling, no sessions), and undoing it takes the same thirty seconds it took to set up. You administered the block, so you can un-administer it, in one Terminal command, mid-craving.

Method 3: Browser extensions (free, leaky by design)

Blocker extensions are one click to install and genuinely useful for gentle nudges. Their flaw is scope: an extension blocks one browser. Safari, Chrome, Arc, Firefox, Edge - the Mac happily runs them all, and the distracting site is one ⌘-Space away in whichever browser has no extension. Private windows and fresh profiles open more side doors. An extension is a speed bump on one road when the city is full of roads.

Method 4: A system-wide blocker

bloq blocks websites at the system level, so the block applies to Safari, Chrome, Arc and any other browser at once. There is no second browser to defect to:

1. Create a block list and add the sites (and any apps) you want locked.
2. Start a focus session for however long the work should take. While it runs, blocked sites are simply unreachable, in every browser.
3. For the sites you want less of rather than none of, set a daily limit instead: pass your allowance and the site is blocked until midnight.
4. When you mean it, enable Super Strict Mode before starting. The session then cannot be paused, stopped or edited until the timer ends - you cannot even delete the app.

That last point is the real difference. Every other method on this page is administered by you, which means it can be revoked by you. Super Strict Mode is the one that keeps working when your resolve stops.

Which method should you use?

• You want a gentle reminder: a browser extension is fine.
• You want a free hard block and never touch it again: the hosts file, if Terminal does not scare you.
• You manage a child's Mac: Screen Time, with the passcode only you know - that is the setup it was designed for.
• You are blocking yourself: you need the block to be system-wide and not answerable to you mid-session. That is bloq with Super Strict Mode.

FAQ

Can I block a website on Mac without an app?

Yes - Screen Time's Restricted list or the hosts file both work without installing anything. Both are also trivially reversible by the person who set them up, which is the main reason they fail for self-control.

Does blocking in Safari block Chrome too?

Not with an extension - each browser needs its own, and any browser without one is an open door. System-level blocking (hosts file or bloq) covers every browser at once.

Can I block a website only during work hours?

Screen Time's Downtime is all-or-nothing scheduling. bloq schedules are per block list, so social sites can be locked 9 to 5 while everything else stays open - and the schedule starts the session for you.

What stops me from just deleting the blocker?

With every other method: nothing. With bloq's Super Strict Mode running: the app cannot be deleted and the session cannot be ended until the timer completes.