How to Block Websites During Work Hours in Chrome

Last updated September 2026.

Blocking a site all day, every day, sounds disciplined. In practice it usually lasts about a week. You want YouTube on a Sunday evening, the block is in the way, you turn it off, and it never comes back on.

A schedule fixes that. Sites are blocked while you work and open when you are done, so the rule feels fair and you have no reason to fight it. This guide shows how to set that up in Chrome, including overnight windows, exceptions, and pauses, with a sample weekday setup at the end.

Does Chrome have a built-in scheduled blocker?#

Not for regular users. Chrome has no setting where you type in a site and pick hours to block it. The built-in options are aimed at other situations:

• Family Link lets parents block or allow sites for a child's Google Account under Controls, then Google Chrome and Web. Google's help page describes block and allow lists, not per-site schedules (Google For Families Help).
• The URLBlocklist policy lets Chrome Enterprise admins block URLs on managed devices. It is set by an admin, not from your own settings, and the help page does not describe time-based schedules (Chrome Enterprise Help).

So for your own browser, a scheduled blocker means an extension. For the wider picture, see the complete guide to blocking websites on Chrome.

How to schedule website blocking with Redirect#

Redirect is a Chrome extension that sends distracting sites to your goals instead of showing a blocked page. Each rule has its own schedule, exceptions and pause settings. It works in Chrome and other Chromium browsers like Arc, Brave and Edge.

1. Add the site

Open the Redirect dashboard (Alt+Shift+F) and add a rule. You have three options:

• Whole site, like youtube.com. This covers subdomains such as m.youtube.com.
• A specific path, like youtube.com/shorts, if only one part of a site is the problem.
• A wildcard pattern, like ://.reddit.com/r/*, for more precise matching.

The recommended list has one-click rules for YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, X, TikTok, Facebook, Netflix and Twitch.

2. Set the schedule

Pick the weekdays and the hours the rule should be active. Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm is the classic starting point. Outside those hours the site works normally.

Overnight windows work too. If late night scrolling is your problem, a rule from 11pm to 7am covers the whole night in one window, without needing to split it at midnight.

Because each rule has its own schedule, you can mix them. News might be blocked all workday, while YouTube is blocked only during your morning deep work block.

3. Add exceptions for what you actually need

Work often needs a sliver of a site you otherwise want gone. Exceptions let you keep that sliver open. For example, block youtube.com but allow a single channel like youtube.com/@mitocw, or block Reddit but allow the one subreddit your team uses for support. Everything else on the site still redirects during the schedule.

4. Decide what a pause costs

A schedule you can switch off in one click is a schedule you will switch off. Redirect lets you take a pause from a rule, but first you complete a short task you choose for that rule: type a paragraph exactly, write a reason, solve arithmetic in your head, do a 4-7-8 breathing cycle, wait out a 60 second countdown, or no task for sites you trust.

Then set the pause length (1 to 60 minutes) and an optional daily pause limit. A small floating timer shows how much pause time is left, and when it runs out Redirect sends you back to your goals, even mid scroll.

Loosening an active rule, like adding an exception, allowing longer pauses or removing the intervention, requires that rule's task too, so you cannot quietly edit your way out of it at 10am.

5. Set your goals

When a blocked site redirects, you land on your Focus dashboard, which shows up to three goals plus your stats. Write goals you would actually want to see at 2pm on a slow Wednesday: short, concrete, and yours. You can also send a rule to a custom URL instead, like your task list or the doc you are supposed to be writing.

A sample weekday setup#

Here is a starting point you can copy and adjust. Lunch is left open on purpose, so there is a guilt-free window to check things.

A few notes on the table:

• Each rule has one time window. To leave lunch open, add two rules for the same site, one for the morning and one for the afternoon, as with YouTube and Reddit above.
• For Shorts, the simplest option is to turn pauses off for that rule entirely. Use that only for sites where you truly never need access.
• Match the effort to the risk. Put the hardest task in front of the site you lose the most time to, and a lighter one in front of sites you only drift to now and then.

For site specific tips, see how to block YouTube, Reddit or news sites. Feeds that pass for work are worth a rule too: you can block LinkedIn or block Facebook during focus hours, and a Netflix block from 23:00 keeps a late episode from eating tomorrow morning.

Tips for scheduling that sticks#

• Start with two or three sites. Blocking everything on day one feels like a punishment. Add more once the first rules feel normal.
• Leave a lunch window. An hour of open access in the middle of the day makes the rest of the schedule much easier to respect.
• Batch your checking. Instead of checking messages and news whenever you feel like it, pick two or three set times. The schedule protects the time between them.
• Match the schedule to your energy. If your best focus is 9 to 11, protect that block hardest, even if the afternoon is looser.
• Review weekly. Your Focus page shows redirects per day and your recent pause reasons. If one site keeps showing up, tighten that rule. If a rule never fires, you may not need it.

Other options#

Redirect is not the only way to do this. Several other Chrome extensions support scheduled blocking, and some people prefer a device level tool that also covers apps. If you want to compare, see our roundup of the best website blockers for Chrome and the Redirect vs LeechBlock comparison.

Redirect is free for one site, with Pro and Lifetime plans for unlimited sites (pricing). Your rules and stats stay in your browser, with no account needed.

Close the tab. Open your goals.

Redirect sends distracting sites to the goals you wrote down, and makes every pause a choice.

Add to Chrome, free to start