SqwarkSelf vs Cold Turkey
Cold Turkey blocks sites and apps, and can lock a block so it’s very hard to undo. SqwarkSelf asks, and never locks. They agree on one thing: no account.
Cold Turkey Blocker is a blocker for Mac and Windows. You build blocks from sites, apps, keyword searches, even the whole internet, and then lock them: with a timer, a schedule, a restart, a password, a random text to type out, or a delay of up to 40 days. While a block is locked, its uninstaller won’t work.
On data it’s close to SqwarkSelf: no account, settings and statistics kept on your computer, and one payment rather than a subscription.
Side by side
| SqwarkSelf | Cold Turkey | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | Mac only, macOS 14 or later. | Mac (macOS 10.14.5 up to macOS 26) and Windows. No phone apps. It needs its browser extensions, and admin rights to install. |
| When you drift | Only the off-task window goes dark, with your own words on it and a ten-second ring. Then the app is hidden, or the browser goes back to a tab you were working in. | The site or app is blocked. Most browsers show its block page; Safari doesn’t get the block page features. |
| Can you get past it? | Always. On a watch, “This is work” lets it through for the rest of the watch, and your call is logged; under a house rule, “Pause for 10 min”. There is no lock. | It depends on the lock. A timer, time-range or schedule lock holds until it ends; others let you out by typing a random text, waiting out a delay, restarting, or with a password someone else holds. An unlocked block can be switched off. |
| What counts as a distraction | The kinds of thing you ruled out: social, chat, video, news, shopping. Built-in rules and your own entries settle the obvious cases (ad managers count as work). With your own Jev key, unknown sites and either-way ones like YouTube are checked against what you said you’d do. | Your blocks: domains, addresses, wildcards, keyword searches, YouTube channels, apps and folders, or the whole internet with exceptions. |
| Schedules and all-day rules | House rules: any of those five can be blocked all day, with a 10, 30 or 60-minute pause. No schedules. | Weekly schedules; blocks can start at a set time, when you sign in, or on wake. |
| Tracking and history | Logs the app, window title and site. Shows today: where the time went, the top time sinks, focus kept. | A statistics tab: how often things were blocked and how long you used sites and apps, kept on your computer, and exportable. |
| Account | None. | None: Pro is unlocked with a product key. |
| Where your data lives | In local files on your Mac. Nothing it records is sent to us. With your own Jev key, the cases the rules can’t settle go to TypeSafe. | Settings and statistics stay on your computer. It collects the product key and how often it’s used, and a blocked page redirects to a page it hosts. |
| Teams | None. | No team plan. A settings password, for parents or an accountability partner. |
| Price | US$49 once, for up to 3 Macs (not on sale yet). 14 days free; after that, logging and the Today view stay free. | A free version, and Blocker Pro as a one-time “Lifetime Access” purchase, with a 7-day trial of Pro. Its pricing page shows a price for your location; we couldn’t read a US price on the page, so none is given here. |
What Cold Turkey does better
- Locks, of many kinds, as strict as you choose; while a block is locked, the uninstaller won’t run.
- Weekly schedules and automatic starts.
- Reach: keyword searches, YouTube channels, wildcards, the whole internet.
- Breaks and allowances: Pomodoro, and time allowed per rolling window, day, week or month.
- Statistics with history, on your own computer, exportable.
- A free version, Windows too on the same key, and much older Macs.
Where SqwarkSelf is different
- It never locks. Being wrong costs one click (“This is work”), not a wait.
- Ads Manager, ads.x.com and YouTube Studio count as work even with social blocked, and with your own Jev key, sites that can go either way, like YouTube, are checked against what you said you’d do.
- Only the off-task window goes dark, and the rest carries on.
- In common: both keep your data on the computer, and both ask for one payment. Cold Turkey’s rolling allowances and SqwarkSelf’s per-hour budgets are close cousins.
Choose Cold Turkey if…
- you need a lock you can’t talk your way out of
- you want schedules, and more history than one day
- you want a free version, or use Windows too
Choose SqwarkSelf if…
- you want to be asked in the moment rather than locked out
- your distractions sit right next to your work: tutorials on YouTube, ad dashboards on social sites
- you want something small: one menu-bar bird, and built-in rules for the obvious cases
What SqwarkSelf doesn’t do
- Mac only: no iPhone, no Android, no Windows.
- No hard lock. On a watch you can always say “this is work”; a house rule can always be paused.
- No schedules, and no reports beyond today.
- No team features.
- It’s new: a first version, from a very small company.
What we checked
Everything in Cold Turkey’s column comes from these pages, read on 21 September 2026. If something has changed since, their page is right and this one is out of date.
- getcoldturkey.com: What Cold Turkey is; local data; pay once
- getcoldturkey.com/features: Blocks, locks, breaks, statistics
- getcoldturkey.com/pricing: Free and Pro; Lifetime Access; trial
- getcoldturkey.com/support/system-requirements: Supported systems and browsers
- getcoldturkey.com/support/user-guide: Locks, allowances, statistics
- getcoldturkey.com/privacy: What it collects
Cold Turkey is a trademark of its owner. SqwarkSelf isn’t affiliated with it, and this page uses no logos or screenshots of theirs.
