The facts, side by side
In alphabetical order. Each fact links to where it comes from: the tool’s own website or store listing, read on the day above, and for Timer by LogicFire.app its own pages. Prices put each free version beside ours; a paid plan is named as paid, in the currency its maker gives.
| Tool | Price | Sign-up needed | Platforms | What it keeps about you | Ads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flocus | Free: “Free forever. No card required.” Plus is paid: an early-bird $5 a month billed annually, or $9 a month billed monthly (as shown when we switched to monthly), each beside a higher price struck out. Prices are in US dollars unless you pick another currency at checkout (pricing page). | No: its pages say the focus timer and the task list are free to use with no sign-up (focus timer, tasks). Its web app’s timer ran logged out when we tried it, and its sign-up window offers to “Save your themes, stats, and more.” (web app) | A web app in the browser, with picture-in-picture in Chrome and Edge to keep the timer in view (focus timer). A Chrome extension, Flocus New Tab, puts a clock, backgrounds and greetings on your new tab page (Chrome Web Store). | Its privacy policy lists your name, email address and usernames; usage data such as IP addresses and browser types; data about your device, your usage patterns and your interaction with it; what you put into its tools, such as theme choices and timer lengths; and cookies and similar tracking technologies, to provide and improve its services and to analyse how you use it. It says it doesn’t sell personal data to third parties or use it for marketing or advertising; that it doesn’t seek to collect non-anonymised data from people who aren’t registered users of Flocus; and that “Periodic newsletters or other promotional emails may be sent to you from us.” (privacy policy) The New Tab extension’s listing says it handles personally identifiable information and user activity (Chrome Web Store). | None: “No ads, ever”, on the free plan too (pricing page). |
| Pomodoro Tracker | No price or paid plan named on its own pages. Its terms mention the website being free of charge only in a clause on liability (terms). | No: its timer ran with no account when we tried it (home page). Registering takes your name and email address (privacy policy), and it offers sign-in with Apple, among others (settings). | A web browser, where its timer ran when we tried it (home page). Pomodoro-Tracker on the Microsoft Store is “Available on: PC”, for “Windows 10 version 14316.0 or higher” (Microsoft Store, US). | Its privacy policy: your name and email address when you register; your email address and IP address, which using the service gives it consent to use; cookies that keep you signed in and show how you use the service; and visitor information that doesn’t identify you, which “may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses” (privacy policy). | Its terms say “Some of our affiliate/advertising partners may also use cookies.” (terms) Its timer page asked for Google’s ad code (pagead2.googlesyndication.com) when we tried it, which our network refused (home page). |
| Pomofocus | Its timer ran with no account and nothing to pay when we tried it, and its home page lists Premium features apart from the others. Premium is paid: $3 a month, $18 a year or $54 for life, shown only as “$”, with a 7-day free trial; it adds more than 3 templates, among other features (home page). | No: its timer ran with no account when we tried it. Reports are there once you log in, and an account is made with Google or an email address (home page, sign-up page). | A web browser on a computer or phone, and desktop apps to download for Mac, Windows and Linux (home page). | Its privacy policy: usage data such as your IP address, browser, the pages you visit and unique device identifiers; cookies and similar tracking technologies “to track the activity on our Service”; advertising partners may use cookies to collect information about you; and your data is transferred to Japan and processed there (privacy policy). | Its home page lists “No Ads” among Premium’s paid features, and its privacy policy names advertising partners (home page, privacy policy). |
| Timer by LogicFire.app | Free, with or without an account (About). | No. A free account is optional: it keeps your runs on every device and adds subjects, groups and the Chrome extension (guide). | A web browser on a computer, phone or tablet, and it installs as an app from the browser (guide). On a phone, add it to the Home Screen (guide). There’s no App Store or Google Play app yet. A Chrome extension, which needs an account; Edge installs it from the same store page (guide). | Signed out, your runs, tasks and settings stay in your browser. The site keeps a record of each page you open for 90 days, with your full IP address for up to 8 days and a shortened one after (visit records). Under a hash of your address that changes every day, it also keeps yes-or-no notes that the page ran and was used, and, if you aren’t signed in, the site you came from, whether you started a run and a daily count of runs and minutes (privacy page, where you came from). If you came from one of the site’s ads on Reddit, a cookie keeps Reddit’s click ID for up to 30 days. If you make an account in that browser in that time, the site tells Reddit that the ad led to an account. Neither happens if your browser sends Global Privacy Control (privacy page). With an account it also keeps your runs, breaks and tasks; your handle, your display name if you gave one and your timezone; your email address if you sign in with one; your subject categories and the groups you are in; a label for each of your devices, such as “Chrome on Windows”; and each passkey’s id and public key (privacy page). A visit made while signed in stays linked to your account for the record’s 90 days, even if you delete the account (visit records). | Yes, from Google, when they are switched on: on the timer, the guide, the essays, and the LogicFire.app home page and list of essays. The home page loads Google’s ad code even when they are off. Google uses cookies to show them. None on this page. Account holders can hide them on the timer and the guide, for now (privacy page). |
| TimerMo | Free: “completely free with no account requirement and no usage limits”, and nothing is ever charged (about page, privacy policy). | No: “There is nothing to register for” (privacy policy), and its Pomodoro timer ran with no account when we tried it (Pomodoro timer). | A web browser on a computer, tablet or phone, with nothing to install (about page). | Its privacy policy: no account and no email address, and settings never leave your device; the services it names, Google Analytics among them, each receive your IP address. Google Analytics collects “aggregated usage data such as pages viewed, approximate location derived from your IP address, browser and device type, and how long a session lasts. It sets cookies in your browser to do this.” “Cookies are set by the third-party services listed above, mainly for analytics and sharing. TimerMo itself sets no cookies of its own.” (privacy policy) Settings, task labels and daily counts live in your browser’s local storage (Pomodoro timer). | None: “No advertising on any page”, and no advertising networks (privacy policy). |
What works without signing up
- Lengths of 15, 25, 30, 45 or 60 minutes, or any whole number of minutes from 1 minute to 6 hours (guide).
- Breaks of 5, 10 or 15 minutes, each started with a press, with an alarm when it ends (guide).
- A to-do list and the chart of your runs, kept in your browser (guide, chart).
- How the clock runs: stop at zero, keep going past it as one run (Overflow) or count up with no length (Stopwatch) (guide).
- Focus sounds of brown, pink or white noise, or rain, made in your browser as they play (guide).
- A Pomodoro timer on a page of its own, which runs focus and breaks in turn by itself. It starts with 25 minutes of focus and a 5-minute break, with a 15-minute break after every fourth focus. Its link maker sets other lengths, and it keeps no history (Pomodoro timer).
- With a free account: your runs on every device, subjects, groups and the Chrome extension (guide).
Choose this if
What each one does better, in the same order as the table.
- Flocus. Choose this if you want several timer modes (Pomodoro, Countdown, Stopwatch and Animedoro) and a task list, with up to 3 tasks at a time on the free plan, free with no sign-up and no ads (focus timer, tasks, pricing page).
- Pomodoro Tracker. Choose this if you want ready-made schemes, such as the classic 25, 5 and 15 minutes, and your day’s tasks loaded from Google Calendar (settings).
- Pomofocus. Choose this if you want focus and breaks that can start one after another on their own, each length set in minutes, background sounds, and desktop apps for Mac, Windows and Linux (home page).
- Timer by LogicFire.app. Choose this if you want to start at once with no sign-up, keep your runs, to-do list and chart in your browser, and let a run go on past zero or count up when you’d rather not stop. Its Pomodoro timer runs focus and breaks by itself, with no sign-up either.
- TimerMo. Choose this if you want a free browser timer with no accounts and no ads that counts the pomodoros and focus time you’ve done today and keeps those counts in your browser (Pomodoro timer, privacy policy).
What Timer by LogicFire.app doesn’t do
- The focus timer has no automatic cycle. A break starts when you press 5m, 10m or 15m, and there is no long break after a set number of runs. The Pomodoro timer runs the cycle by itself, but it keeps no record of your runs.
- Signed out, your runs stay in one browser. Clearing this site’s data in the browser removes them; a free account keeps them on every device (privacy page).
- No App Store or Google Play app yet. It runs in a web browser and installs from there as an app.
- Four focus sounds, no music. Focus sounds play brown, pink or white noise, or rain, and nothing else (guide).
- No app or site blocker. It doesn’t stop you opening anything.
- Groups of up to 8 people, not a whole class (guide).
How this page is checked
Every fact about another tool comes from that tool’s own website or store listing, read on the day above, and links to it. We keep a dated record of each: the address, the words and a screenshot. Nothing comes from memory, reviews or other lists. Facts about Timer by LogicFire.app link to its own pages.
We check every fact again every three months. The day above changes only when a fact does.
The other tools’ names belong to their owners. LogicFire.app wrote this page; none of them wrote or checked it. Spotted a fact that has changed? Write to feedback@logicfire.app.