What is the best Chrome extension to block YouTube in 2026?

For most people it's the free option that doesn't require an account or cap your blocklist. Focuh fits that — add youtube.com, commit to a challenge, and YouTube redirects to a block screen in every Chrome tab. LeechBlock NG is the best pick if you want to block YouTube only during work hours or block Shorts while keeping the main site, thanks to its URL-pattern rules. StayFocusd works but is owned by an ad-intelligence firm, and BlockSite caps the free tier at three sites.

How do I block only YouTube Shorts and not all of YouTube?

Use an extension that blocks by URL pattern rather than whole domain. In LeechBlock NG you can block the path youtube.com/shorts/* while leaving the rest of YouTube reachable, so research videos still work but the Shorts feed is gone. Plain domain blockers like the basic BlockSite tier block all of youtube.com or nothing. If Shorts is your specific problem, pattern-based blocking is the precise tool.

Can a Chrome extension block YouTube for free with no account?

Yes. Focuh, LeechBlock NG, StayFocusd, and Strict Workflow are all free and require no signup — your blocklist lives locally in Chrome. The common exception is BlockSite, which makes you create an account and limits free users to three blocked sites. If you only ever want to block YouTube, three sites is plenty; if you want to add Reddit and X too, you'll hit the cap and the upgrade prompt.

Will blocking youtube.com break embedded videos on other sites?

It can. If you block the youtube.com domain outright, embedded YouTube players on news articles, documentation, and course pages may fail to load too, since they pull from the same domain. If that's a problem, use a pattern-based blocker to block only the YouTube watch and Shorts paths rather than the whole domain, or accept the tradeoff during deep-work sessions where you don't need embeds anyway.

Can I block YouTube on Chrome but still use it for work?

Yes, with the right tool. LeechBlock NG lets you block YouTube on a schedule — locked during work hours, open in the evening — or block only the homepage and Shorts feed while allowing direct video URLs you paste in. That way you can watch a specific tutorial without exposing yourself to the recommendation feed. Whole-domain blockers don't make this distinction; they're all-or-nothing on youtube.com.

Does a Chrome extension block the YouTube app or YouTube in other browsers?

No. A Chrome extension only controls Chrome. It can't block YouTube in Safari, Firefox, or Arc, and it can't block the YouTube app on your phone, TV, or the desktop. If you block YouTube in Chrome and then open it in Safari, the extension does nothing. For blocking that survives switching browsers, you need system-level blocking like the Focuh Mac app, which works across every browser at once.

Can YouTube blocking extensions be bypassed?

Yes. Any Chrome extension can be disabled from chrome://extensions in a couple of clicks, so no browser extension is truly unbreakable. The point isn't a prison — it's friction. A block screen interrupts the autopilot click to YouTube, and for most people the urge passes in the few seconds it takes to read it. If you need blocking you genuinely can't lift early, a system-level Mac tool is harder to switch off mid-session.

Is the Focuh Chrome extension or the Mac app better for blocking YouTube?

The Chrome extension is the faster fix if your YouTube habit is Chrome tabs — install, add youtube.com, start a challenge. The Focuh Mac app blocks at the operating-system level, so YouTube stays blocked across Safari, Firefox, Arc, and Chrome simultaneously, which matters if you tend to escape to another browser. Both are free, so a common setup is the extension for Chrome plus the Mac app for everything else.

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Best Chrome Extension to Block YouTube (2026)

June 20, 202610 min readFocuh

The best Chrome extension to block YouTube is the one that's free, doesn't make you sign up, and matches how strictly you need it gone. For a clean all-or-nothing block, Focuh is the simplest free pick; for blocking Shorts while keeping research videos, LeechBlock NG's pattern rules win. The honest limit on all of them: a Chrome extension only blocks Chrome, so if you'll just reopen YouTube in Safari or on your phone, an extension alone won't hold.

This guide compares the YouTube blockers worth installing in 2026 and covers the trickier asks — blocking only Shorts, keeping embedded videos, and allowing YouTube for work.

Why YouTube is harder to block than most sites

Blocking YouTube isn't as simple as adding youtube.com to a list, because YouTube isn't one thing. There's the homepage recommendation feed that eats afternoons, the Shorts feed that's TikTok by another name, embedded videos on pages you actually need, and the legitimate tutorial you're allowed to watch. A blunt domain block kills all four. A good blocker lets you draw a line between them.

That's the question to ask before installing anything: do you want YouTube gone entirely, or do you want the feed gone while real work survives? Your answer points to a different extension.

Best Chrome extensions to block YouTube, compared

Extension	Truly free?	Block Shorts only?	Schedule support	Account	Best for
Focuh	Yes	No (whole domain)	Challenge length	None	A clean, total YouTube block for days or months
LeechBlock NG	Yes	Yes (URL patterns)	Yes, granular	None	Blocking Shorts or work-hours only
StayFocusd	Yes	Limited	Daily budget	None	A daily time allowance for YouTube
BlockSite	No (trial)	No	Paid only	Required	Blocking YouTube and two other sites

If you want YouTube completely blocked while you focus, the simplest free tool is Focuh. If you need surgical control — Shorts blocked, tutorials allowed — LeechBlock NG is the one extension here that can do it.

Best for a total block: Focuh

Focuh is a free Chrome extension built for commitment rather than daily rationing. You add youtube.com to your blocklist, pick a challenge length — 30, 91, or 180 days, or a custom number — and YouTube redirects to a block screen in every Chrome tab for the whole run. There's no account, no email, no cap on sites, and no telemetry; your blocklist lives in local Chrome storage.

The reason a long challenge beats a daily budget for YouTube specifically: a 20-minute allowance is just permission to open the feed, and the feed is the trap. Removing the negotiation entirely is what actually breaks the reflex. For the exact setup steps, see how to block YouTube on Chrome for free.

The tradeoff is that Focuh blocks the whole domain, which also blocks embedded YouTube players on other pages. During deep-work sessions that's usually fine — you don't need embeds when you're heads-down — but it's worth knowing.

Best for blocking Shorts only: LeechBlock NG

If your actual enemy is Shorts, not all of YouTube, LeechBlock NG is the free extension that can target it. It blocks by URL pattern, so you can block youtube.com/shorts/* while leaving the rest of the site reachable. Tutorials, documentation embeds, and direct video links you paste in still work; the endless vertical feed is gone.

LeechBlock NG also handles schedules better than anything else free — block YouTube during work hours and open it in the evening, or require a delay before a blocked page loads. The cost is complexity: the options page is dense, and pattern rules take a few minutes to get right. For a dedicated walkthrough of the Shorts case, see how to block YouTube Shorts on Chrome.

What about StayFocusd and BlockSite?

StayFocusd built its reputation on the daily-budget model — allow yourself, say, 15 minutes of YouTube a day, then it locks. It's free and still works, but it's owned by Sensor Tower, an ad-intelligence company, and is no longer actively developed. Reasonable to keep if you've used it for years; harder to recommend to a new user in 2026.

BlockSite is polished and hugely popular, but its free tier requires an account and caps you at three sites. For blocking YouTube alone that's fine. The friction shows up when you want to add Reddit, X, and Instagram to the same list and run into the cap. For the wider field of free options, see the best free website blocker for Chrome in 2026.

The honest limit: an extension only blocks Chrome

A Chrome extension governs Chrome. That's the whole reach. If you block YouTube in Chrome and then open it in Safari, or quit the browser and open the YouTube app, the extension can't help. And it never touches your phone or TV, where a lot of YouTube watching actually happens.

For desktop blocking that survives switching browsers, you need OS-level blocking. The free Focuh desktop app for Mac blocks YouTube at the operating-system level during a focus session, so it's unreachable in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Arc at once — and it can block native apps too. It runs through macOS Accessibility APIs rather than chrome://extensions, so it's harder to disable mid-session. If you keep escaping a Chrome block to another browser, that's the upgrade that fixes it.

Which YouTube blocker should you install?

Want YouTube gone completely while you focus, with no signup and no cap? Install Focuh and start a 30-day challenge. Want to keep tutorials and embeds while killing the Shorts feed or limiting YouTube to evenings? Choose LeechBlock NG and use URL patterns. Only need to block YouTube and a couple of other sites and don't mind an account? BlockSite covers it.

And if your real pattern is closing the blocked Chrome tab to reopen YouTube somewhere else, add the free Mac app on top of the free Chrome extension. Both cost nothing, and together they block the tab and every browser the tab would lead you to.