Chrome has no per-site blocker. Here are your options (and a lighter one)

If you searched for how to block a website in Chrome, you probably expected a setting called "Block this site". There isn't one. Chrome on a personal computer has no switch that stops you opening a particular address.

This post covers what Chrome does and doesn't give you, the usual ways to block a whole site, and a narrower option for the common case where the site is fine and the endless feed is the problem.

What Chrome gives you out of the box

Chrome's site settings control pop-ups, redirects and notifications. You can put an address on a "not allowed" list so it can't send notifications, but the site still opens.

Whole-site blocking exists in two places, and neither is aimed at someone managing their own habits:

• Managed devices. On work or school machines an administrator can push a policy that blocks addresses. Users can't change it.
• Parental supervision. Parents can manage which sites a child's account can reach through Google's family tools.

An adult on a personal laptop is outside both.

Ways to block a website

A blocker extension. It keeps a list of addresses and replaces those pages with a notice. Good for a site you want gone for a while, like a news site during a deadline. The weak point: anything you can install, you can switch off, and the urge to switch it off peaks at exactly the wrong moment.

Operating system controls. Screen time and parental controls limit app use or filter categories. They fit when you want one rule across every browser and app, and fit badly when you want "this one site, evenings only".

The hosts file or a DNS filter. Point the address at nothing in /etc/hosts, or block categories at the router or DNS level. These sit outside the browser, which makes them strong and also blunt. They are easy to forget and awkward to undo on the day you need the site. They also affect everyone on that machine or network.

A separate Chrome profile. No saved logins, no history for the distracting sites. It blocks nothing, but signing in from scratch each time is friction, and friction often wins.

When a full block is the right call

Block the whole site when you don't need it, or need it only at set times:

• a site you've decided to leave
• a fixed work window, such as nine to five
• a shared or child device, where supervision tools beat an extension you can disable

The weakness is that blocking treats the whole site as the problem. You may need YouTube for a tutorial, Reddit for a technical answer, LinkedIn for a message from a recruiter. Block the domain and you lose the useful part with the harmful part. Then the familiar cycle starts: block, get annoyed, switch the blocker off, scroll for an hour, block again.

When you only want the feed gone

For many people the problem is narrower than "this website". It's the surface with no bottom: the Reels tab, the Shorts shelf, the For You page, r/popular, the trending list. Those sit next to the features you came for.

The useful question then is how to keep the site and lose the loop. A tool that removes the infinite part and leaves search, messages, profiles and the videos you open on purpose never has to be overridden for a legitimate task, so there is less reason to disable it.

What the Stillfeed extension does

I make Stillfeed, a free browser extension for desktop. There is no account, and it runs inside your browser. Its privacy section says it sends nothing to Stillfeed or anyone else.

It works on eight sites: Instagram, YouTube, X, Reddit, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn and Snapchat. It is not a general website blocker and can't block an arbitrary address. On those eight it hides feed surfaces, on by default and switchable per site from the toolbar popup:

• Instagram: sends the Reels page to your home page, hides Reels in the left menu, collapses Reels and suggested posts in the feed, hides the Explore grid. Search still works.
• YouTube: hides or blocks Shorts in the menu, in shelves and on Shorts pages.
• X: opens the home timeline on Following and hides Trending and the right-column trends.
• Reddit: blocks r/popular and r/all.
• TikTok: hides For You, Explore, LIVE and Short dramas in the menu and sends you to Following.

Facebook, LinkedIn and Snapchat have their own short lists on the extension page. Messages, profiles, posts you open, search and sign-in are left alone.

It also has five time tools that work on all eight sites:

• Daily limit: a total for the day. When it's used up, those sites close until midnight, with five extra minutes available once per visit.
• Session timer: two, five, ten or fifteen minutes per visit.
• Quiet hours: named schedules that close chosen sites on chosen days, overnight included.
• Pause before opening: a five or ten second wait before a site loads.
• Grayscale: drains the colour from the page.

These apply in the browser where you set them.

Install

Chrome, Brave, Edge, Opera and Arc install it from the Chrome Web Store. Firefox users get it from Firefox Add-ons. Both are linked from stillfeed.pro/extension.

Questions

Does Chrome have a built-in website blocker? Not for a personal profile. Blocking addresses is available through administrator policy on managed devices and parental supervision of a child's account.

Is the Stillfeed extension a website blocker? No. It hides feed surfaces on eight named sites and adds time limits for them.

Can I turn it off for one site? Yes, each site has its own switch in the toolbar popup.

Is it free? Yes, with no account. The time tools are part of it.

This is an adapted version of the guide first published at stillfeed.pro.