A free alternative to Forest
Forest is not really an app blocker, and that is worth knowing before you pay for it. It is a focus timer with a very good motivational hook: leave the app and your tree dies. If what you need is a rule that holds when you are not thinking about it, that is a different tool.
| Forest | Otto | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free tier with ads, then $5.99/mo or $35.99/yr | Free, all of it |
| Account required | Yes, for sync | No |
| Focus timer with a reward | Yes, its whole point | No |
| Daily time limit per app | No | Yes |
| Scheduled hard block | Yes, 1 app free | Yes, unlimited |
| Locked settings | No | Yes, after 10 days |
| Greyscale | No | Yes |
| Plants real trees | Yes | No |
Where Forest is the better buy
Forest solves motivation, not access. Sitting down to work and wanting a reason to stay put is a real problem, the tree is a genuinely effective bit of psychology, and the coins fund real planting. Nothing in Otto will ever make you feel good about a finished session.
Where Otto is the better fit
A tree you can kill by tapping through is not a block. Otto has no daily quota to earn and no reward to lose: the budget runs out and the app stops opening, and once settings are locked you cannot change your mind at midnight. Different problem, and free.
Otto is free, on both stores
No paid tier, no trial that expires, no account. There is a tip jar in the settings and that is the whole business model.
