// Compare · Freedom
A Freedom alternative that runs without a session
Freedom is one of the oldest blockers around, and it is good at what it does: you start a session, the distracting apps and sites go away until it ends. The catch is the start. On the evenings you most need it, you are not the person who opens a blocker and presses go.
Freedom and Aegin at a glance
- Platforms
- Freedom: Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Chromebook, Linux
- Aegin: iPhone (in App Review), Android, Windows, Mac
- How blocking starts
- Freedom: Sessions you start or schedule
- Aegin: A published schedule that runs on its own
- Ending early
- Freedom: Locked Mode stops you quitting a session
- Aegin: Plead your case to the Judge, which can say no
- Phone and laptop
- Freedom: A session can cover the devices you pick
- Aegin: One shared Feeds window: scrolling on the laptop spends the same time as the phone
- Paid (US)
- Freedom: $8.99 a month, $3.33 a month billed yearly, $99.50 for life (on sale from $199)
- Aegin: Pro $99.99 a year or $12.99 a month
| Freedom | Aegin | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Chromebook, Linux | iPhone (in App Review), Android, Windows, Mac |
| How blocking starts | Sessions you start or schedule | A published schedule that runs on its own |
| Ending early | Locked Mode stops you quitting a session | Plead your case to the Judge, which can say no |
| Phone and laptop | A session can cover the devices you pick | One shared Feeds window: scrolling on the laptop spends the same time as the phone |
| Paid (US) | $8.99 a month, $3.33 a month billed yearly, $99.50 for life (on sale from $199) | Pro $99.99 a year or $12.99 a month |
What Freedom does well
Freedom blocks apps and websites across your devices at once, on sessions you start or schedule. Its Locked Mode, in Freedom’s words, “prevents quitting so you stay committed.” It costs $8.99 a month, or $3.33 a month billed yearly, and the lifetime plan was $99.50 when we checked, on sale from $199. We have not tested Locked Mode ourselves, so we make no claim about how it holds.
The difference: nothing to start
Aegin has no sessions. Your feeds open in short windows on a schedule you can read, and the schedule tightens slowly over weeks. Your phone, tablet and computer share one Feeds window and one Pull window, so the time you spend on a feed in the laptop browser is time the phone no longer has.
On the computer, Aegin Desktop puts a cover over a feed site or a game when its window is closed, with two buttons: close the tab, or plead. The computer follows the schedule your phone app runs, and Focus Blocks you set cover the computer too.
How the Judge works
There is no Ignore button. The way in early is to plead your case. You type what you want to open and why, and the Judge, an AI that reads your reason against your own record, answers yes, not yet, or no. It can refuse.
What Aegin can’t stop
On iPhone, Aegin runs on Apple’s Screen Time access, like every app blocker there. That access can be removed in Settings, and no app on the App Store can prevent it. On Android, Aegin leads with an Accessibility service, and Safe Mode sits below anything an app can reach. A second phone or a factory reset beats every consumer blocker, ours included. The bypass ledger lists each of these with sources.
Price
Aegin is free to start, and the limits work on the free plan. Pro is $12.99 a month or $99.99 a year in the US, and prices differ by country.
Try the Judge first
Tell it what you want to open and why, in your browser, with no account. Then decide.
Who wrote this. Aegin makes a competing product, so read this as information from an interested party. Every claim about another product links to its source, and prices are the US prices we read on the date below.
Names. Freedom, Apple, Microsoft, Google are the trademarks of their owners and are used only to identify the products discussed. No affiliation or endorsement is implied.
Right of reply. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Last reviewed 12 October 2026.