Comparison · checked August 2026
Cold Turkey is the most uncompromising tool on this list and it is proud of that. It is also, like us, a one-time purchase rather than a subscription. The difference is not the price — it is whether the thing helping you is a lock or a companion.
Written by Stoiq. Every fact about Cold Turkey below was read off their own site in August 2026 and is linked at the bottom of this page.
What Cold Turkey is
Cold Turkey blocks websites and applications on your computer, on a schedule or on demand, with locks that are deliberately hard to undo once you have started them. It runs on Windows and macOS, one purchase covers every computer you personally use, and it has been doing this for long enough to have very few illusions about how people try to cheat blockers.
It is also refreshingly plain about money. Their site says it in five words: “No subscriptions. Pay once, own forever.” In a category that has drifted almost entirely to recurring billing, that is worth naming.
Side by side
| What | Cold Turkey | Stoiq |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Blocks websites and applications on your computer, scheduled or started on demand, with locks designed to be hard to undo once a block has begun. | Say what you're working on and pick a length. A small companion sits in the corner of your Mac while the block runs. Drift to a distracting site and he checks in first — one tap takes you back to the sentence you left. Keep going and the page goes behind him until the block ends. |
| Where it runs | Windows and macOS only. Their FAQ says one product key “will work for both macOS and Windows you own”, and that “Linux, ChromeOS, Android, iOS or other operating systems are not supported”. | macOS 14 or later, a Chrome companion, and iPhone. There is no Windows build and no Android build. |
| What it costs | One-time, and they say so plainly: “No subscriptions. Pay once, own forever.” There is a free version of Blocker and a paid Blocker Pro licence. We could not read the current Pro figure off their page, so we are not going to print one — check it on their pricing page, linked below. | $79 once, and that is the end of it. There is a $7.99 a month plan if you would rather rent it. 30-day refund, no questions. |
| When you slip | Nothing you have grown is harmed, because there is nothing to grow. You simply do not get back in until the block ends. That is the entire product and it is not an accident. | Nothing dies. There is no streak to break, no score to keep and no chart of your worst week. Everything you have grown stays grown, and coming back after four days away costs you nothing at all. |
| Who's with you | Nobody. Cold Turkey is a lock, and it is the best lock on this page. | A character with eyes, actually present while you work. He notices, he asks before he blocks, and he says nothing at all while you're on track. |
| Rent or own | One-time purchase, no subscription — the same shape as ours. | One payment. Nothing renews, nothing lapses, and there is nothing to cancel. |
Cold Turkey is a trademark of its owner and we have no affiliation with them. Their column describes their product in our words; where a number appears in it, the page it came from is linked below.
Which one
You are shopping, not being sold to. Here is the honest split, and the left-hand card is not a courtesy — if one of those lines is you, buy Cold Turkey and get on with your afternoon.
Choose Cold Turkey if
Choose Stoiq if
The difference underneath
Every tool in this category works by standing between you and the thing you were about to do. It blocks the site, it charges you a breath, it locks the machine, or it kills something you grew. All of that works, and some of it works very well.
Stoiq is the one with somebody in it. A small companion sits in the corner of your Mac while the block runs, notices when the scroll starts, and asks first — because sometimes the tab is the work. Nothing you have grown ever dies, there is no streak to break and no score to keep, and coming back after four days away costs you nothing at all.
That is not a feature list. It is the reason people still have it installed in week three.
Join
$79, once — you’re in as a Day One. The Mac app, the browser companion, iPhone, and every character we ever make. Nothing lapses and there is nothing to cancel.
$79once · no subscription
Stoiq for Mac, yours for good.
The small print
Snapshot checked August 2026. Every claim about Cold Turkey on this page was read from the pages listed below on that date. Prices and platforms change, and theirs may have changed since. If you find something here that is out of date or unfair, write to hello@stoiq.ai and we will fix it — that goes for Cold Turkey too.
Prices are shown as their own site shows them, in the currency it shows them in, and several of these companies price differently by region. Check the number on their page before you buy anything.
We are not affiliated with Cold Turkey and this page is not endorsed by them. Their name is used here to identify their product, which is the only reason it appears.