Focus Valley vs Pomofocus
Two free Pomodoro timers that run in a browser tab, and they are not trying to do the same thing. Pomofocus is a task tracker with a timer attached. Focus Valley is a timer that, on the desktop, refuses to count minutes you were not there for.
Side by side
| Focus Valley | Pomofocus | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Web free; desktop from $2.99/mo | Free, with a paid Premium plan |
| Ads | None, in either version | Yes in the free version |
| Task list with estimates | No, neither version | Yes, in the free tier |
| Reports | Sparks per week, desktop app | Daily and weekly free; CSV Premium |
| Notices you walked away | Desktop app only, full-screen alert | No |
| Gamification | Sparks, streaks, weekly world board | None |
| Integrations | None | Todoist and webhooks, both Premium |
| Platforms | Browser, plus Windows and Linux | Browser, plus Mac, Windows, Linux |
| Running since | July 2026 | 2019, by its own footer |
Everything in the Pomofocus column comes from pomofocus.io and its own legal notice, checked on 8 August 2026. The price of their Premium plan is not published on their site, so it is not in this table. Removing the ads is one of the things Premium is sold on.
Where Pomofocus is better
On the thing most people open a Pomodoro app for, which is writing down what you will do and seeing whether it took as long as you thought, Pomofocus wins outright.
- It has a task list, and we do not. Tasks, a pomodoro estimate against each, and the time you should be finished. If planning the session is the part you want, stop reading here.
- Reports about your work, not your score. Daily, weekly and monthly, free. Our chart counts sparks, which is a number about the timer.
- It has been running since 2019 by its own copyright line. Focus Valley opened in July 2026.
- Integrations. Todoist and webhooks. We have none.
Where the two actually differ
One of them carries ads. That is a normal way to fund a free tool, and it is also worth knowing about an app whose whole job is to stop things grabbing your attention. Our web timer has never had ads, because the desktop app pays for it.
Only one of them can tell that you left. A tab knows it lost focus; it cannot tell whether you went to your editor or to a video. The Focus Valley desktop app asks the operating system how long since your last keypress, and past sixty seconds it pauses and covers the screen. Pomofocus does not do this, and neither does our own free web timer: how it works says where the line falls.
One counts pomodoros, the other counts minutes. A finished pomodoro means twenty-five minutes elapsed. A spark means one minute the desktop app saw you at the keyboard. Which you want depends on whether your problem is planning the work or doing it.
The honest ending
If you know what you are going to do and want it recorded properly, Pomofocus already does that well and costs nothing to try. Nothing we ship replaces it.
If your problem is the other one, where the timer runs and forty minutes later you could not say where they went, a browser tab is the wrong tool no matter whose it is. That is the hole the desktop app fills, and the two do not conflict: run Pomofocus for the planning and our app for the honesty of the number.
Try the free web timer. No account, nothing to install. Then read what the desktop app adds, or see the other comparisons.