Focus Valley vs Forest
If your phone is what pulls you away, get Forest. If you lose the hour at your computer, with the tab open, the timer running and your attention gone, that is the problem Focus Valley's desktop app was built for.
Side by side
| Focus Valley | Forest | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Browser, plus Windows and Linux | iOS, Android, browser extension |
| Price | Web free; desktop from $2.99/mo | Free tier; Plus varies by region |
| Gamification | Sparks, streaks, weekly world board | A tree that dies if abandoned |
| When you get distracted | Desktop app pauses, covers screen | Tree dies; Deep Focus blocks apps |
| Free timer in a browser | Yes, the whole thing | Extension only, no web timer |
| Real trees | None | Over 2.1 million since 2014 |
Every figure in the Forest column comes from forestapp.cc and its Chrome and Firefox store listings, checked on 7 August 2026. Both apps work offline, so that row is not in the table. Focus Valley has no macOS build and no mobile app.
Where Forest is better
On most of what people actually buy a focus app for, Forest is ahead of us.
- It has a real user base. Its site says “Trusted by 60 million since 2014”. Focus Valley opened in July 2026, and a leaderboard needs other people on it.
- Native mobile, done properly. iPhone, iPad and Android, refined over a decade. We have no mobile app and none planned.
- It plants real trees. Over 2.1 million since 2014, out of Forest's own revenue. We plant nothing. If that matters to you, this comparison is over.
- Twelve years of shaking out the bugs, against our few months.
- A free tier that does not expire, on the devices most people carry.
Where the two actually differ
They guard different devices, and that one difference explains the rest.
Forest is mobile-first, and it works because you do not touch your phone. The tree is a promise to yourself: leave the app and it dies. Excellent design for that distraction, and it only works while the phone is the thing pulling at you.
Focus Valley is desktop-first, and it does not take your word for it. The desktop app asks the operating system one number: seconds since your last keypress or mouse move. Past sixty it pauses the timer and covers the screen until you come back. It reads one integer, never what you type. A browser tab cannot do this, which is why our own free web timer cannot either.
The honest ending
If you work at a computer, Forest cannot see what you do there. It sees a phone lying untouched and counts the session as a success, whether you spent it writing or reading the news in another window.
And if your distraction is your phone, Focus Valley cannot see it. We do not block apps and we are not on your phone at all. Two different problems, and nothing stops you running both.
Try the free web timer. No account, nothing to install. Then read how it works, or see the other comparisons.