Forest app alternative
Forest helped you put the phone down. Now the work needs long sessions on a laptop, and a record you can read week to week. Forest grows a tree while you stay off your phone; trydeepwork times one task on a full-screen clock and logs the hours. Which one you need depends on whether the problem is the phone or the shape of your week.
21 days free · no card · $5.99/mo after
Keeping you off your phone
Forest is stronger here
Forest
The whole design. Leave the app and the tree dies. Deep Focus blocks other apps during a session, and it's free.
trydeepwork
trydeepwork doesn't block anything. It's a clock and a record, and the rest is up to you.
Price
Forest is stronger here
Forest
Free to start, with an optional Plus subscription. Plus pricing varies by region and platform.
trydeepwork
21 days free, no card. Then $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year.
Platforms
About even
Forest
iPhone, iPad, Android, and a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox.
trydeepwork
Any browser, installable to a phone home screen, and a terminal app for macOS, Windows and Linux. No store app.
What's on the line
About even
Forest
Your tree. In Plant Together, everyone's tree dies if one person gives up.
trydeepwork
Optionally, a $5 credit on a booked session. Start on time and finish most of it, and the credit comes back.
Length and breaks
trydeepwork is stronger here
Forest
You pick a focus length and plant a tree. Pausing is a Plus feature, up to 5 minutes each time.
trydeepwork
5 minutes to 4 hours. Break time builds up as you work, 5 minutes for every 25, and you take it at a stopping point.
Booking
trydeepwork is stronger here
Forest
Sessions start when you start them.
trydeepwork
Book a session for a real time. It syncs both ways with Google Calendar, with reminders 60, 30, 10 and 1 minute before.
What you can read back
trydeepwork is stronger here
Forest
Your forest shows every session. Tags and stats are in the app; custom tags and deeper breakdowns need Plus.
trydeepwork
Hours against a daily goal, the week against your 4-week average, and how hours split across up to three objectives.
Forest details as of October 2026.
If your phone is what pulls you out of work, Forest is built for exactly that, and trydeepwork is not. Leaving the app kills the tree. Deep Focus blocks other apps while the session runs, you can't switch it off mid-session, and it's free. trydeepwork doesn't block any website or app, so against a phone that keeps winning, it won't help.
The tree is also a light nudge. Nothing is at stake except a small picture, and for many people that is enough to leave the phone alone. Forest is free to start, and its Plant Together rooms let friends grow one tree together across iOS and Android.
Forest also plants real trees. Coins you earn go toward trees planted with Trees for the Future, and Forest covers the cost. trydeepwork has no equivalent.
trydeepwork is built for the long block on a laptop. Sessions run from 5 minutes to 4 hours, with one task, one clock and a dark full-screen view. Break time builds up as you work, 5 minutes for every 25, and you take it when you reach a stopping point instead of when a timer interrupts you.
The second difference is the record. Every session is logged. Home shows today's hours against a daily goal. The week page shows cumulative hours against your 4-week average, and how those hours divide across up to three objectives, the things you said matter most. A forest shows that you stayed focused. This shows how many hours went where.
Sessions can also be booked. Pick a real time and it syncs both ways with Google Calendar, with reminders 60, 30, 10 and 1 minute ahead by email, push or Telegram. If you want a commitment with a cost, buy session credits ($9.99 for 2, $24.99 for 5) and stake one on a booked session. Start within 10 minutes and finish at least 75% of it, and the credit comes back; otherwise it's used up. Scheduling itself stays free.
It runs in any browser, in a terminal app on macOS, Windows and Linux, and in ChatGPT over MCP in developer mode. Sessions sync to Toggl and Beeminder. trydeepwork users logged 29,420 hours of focus in 2025.
Neither tool decides which work matters, and neither does it for you. A grown tree and a logged hour both show that time passed with attention on something. Whether it was the right something is your call.
Cal Newport's advice in Deep Work is to keep a tally of your deep hours. Hours measure effort, not progress; the post linked below covers how to read them without confusing the two.
Name what matters, book a time, then show up. Every session is logged, so by the end of the week you know how many deep hours you did, not roughly how many.