Health, home and travel decision
Focused Work
A single capable developer can build a useful cross-platform Focused Work replacement in about a week; the vendor's device integrations, iCloud sync, Vision Pro support, and built-in blocking are the main things you'd give up.
Visit website↗Not priced
No pricing page we fetched carried a figure, so there is nothing to compare against. The build side is still real.
$50one-off30 h to build
$0/mo3 h/mo upkeep
No published price to break even against.
Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need - the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship. All Focused Work alternatives, with the arithmetic →
What a replacement has to do
- Start a timed focus session, follow a schedule (Pomodoro or custom), record session results, and optionally push time to Toggl.
What it still won’t have
- Native iOS/iPad/Mac widgets and Live Activities
- iCloud syncing across Apple devices
- Vision Pro support
- Built-in automatic app/website blocking and Shortcuts-driven automations
- App Store distribution, reviews, and polish
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
First-year cost
No published price
Focused Work does not publish a price we could read, so there is nothing to compare against. What building costs is below.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a minimal cross-platform Focused Work replacement as an Electron app with React for UI, SQLite (better-sqlite3) for local storage, and Node background processes for timers. In scope: (1) timer UI with start/pause/stop and configurable session presets (Pomodoro/Flowmodoro/custom); (2) persistent session history and streak tracking in SQLite; (3) background timers with local desktop notifications and a macOS/Windows/Linux tray/menu-bar interface; (4) Toggl Track integration via OAuth to create/stop time entries; (5) theming (colors/fonts), export CSV, and unit/integration tests for timer logic and Toggl sync. Out of scope: iCloud sync, iOS/iPad/Apple Vision Pro apps, App Store packaging, automatic app/website blocking, and Widgets/Live Activities. Include error handling for failed Toggl calls, offline resilience (queue Toggl requests), and automated tests covering core timer and sync flows. Provide Dockerfile for headless builds and CI config to run tests.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Build verdict base78
- An open-source build was found+5
- 7 cited sources+3
- Evidence score86
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 7
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productFocused Work - Home
- official docsFocused Work - Features
- official docsFocused Work - Features
- official docsFocused Work - Features
- official productFocused Work - Home
- open sourcesuper-productivity/super-productivity
- open sourceSplode/pomotroid
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
