Free Pomodoro timer
Pomodoro timer
Twenty-five minutes of work, five minutes off, a longer break every fourth round. Name the task, press start, and let the timer hold the boundary.
Name the task
Runs in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent.
Four focus blocks make a set. After the fourth, take fifteen to thirty minutes away from the desk.
Timer
One block at a time.
How to use it
What the Pomodoro technique actually asks of you
Francesco Cirillo named the method after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer he used as a student in the late 1980s. The rules are short: pick one task, work on it for about 25 minutes without switching, then stop and take five minutes away. After four blocks, take a longer break of fifteen to thirty minutes.
The part people skip is the break, and it is the part that makes the method work. A block is sustainable because it ends. If you run four blocks back to back with no gaps, you have not done four Pomodoros — you have done a hundred-minute slog with a timer watching.
One task per block. The timer is a commitment device for single-tasking. If you find yourself switching mid-block, the task was probably too vague — split it into something you could finish or visibly advance in 25 minutes.
Why it helps with procrastination
Most avoidance is concentrated at the start of a task, not in the middle of it. A 25-minute block is a small, bounded promise: you are not committing to finishing the report, only to looking at it until the beep. That is usually enough to get past the resistance, and once you are in, continuing is easy. There is more on the mechanism in how to stop procrastinating.
If even 25 minutes feels like too much today, it probably is. Drop to a two-minute session and let the smaller version carry you in — the two-minute rule exists for exactly this situation.
Choosing your block length
- 25 / 5 — the default, and a good starting point for most work.
- 15 / 3 — for days when focus is short, or for tasks you actively dislike.
- 50 / 10 — for deep work you are already in the habit of doing, where the warm-up cost is high.
The ratio matters more than the numbers: roughly five parts work to one part rest, with a longer break every fourth round.
Counting the blocks
Each finished block adds a punch to the row under the timer. Four punches is a set; eight to twelve in a day is a genuinely productive day for most people, and if you are regularly clearing sixteen you are either superhuman or counting blocks you did not really finish.
The count on this page disappears when you close the tab, which is fine for a single day. If you want the count to persist — "ten study sessions this week, then the reward" — put it on a card instead. Our guide to being consistent covers the part that comes after a good day.
Track it with a punch card
Punchcard turns any habit or countable goal into a card of punches on your iPhone home screen, with reminders, rewards, and shared cards for up to four people.
Get Punchcard freeFrequently asked questions
What is the Pomodoro technique?
A time-management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s: work in focused blocks of about 25 minutes, take a five-minute break after each, and a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes after four blocks.
Why is a Pomodoro 25 minutes?
It is short enough that starting feels manageable and long enough to get properly into a task. There is nothing magic about 25; the method works with 20, 30 or 50-minute blocks as long as the break is real.
What do I do in the five-minute break?
Something that is not another screen: stand up, get water, look out of a window, stretch. Scrolling during the break tends to carry the distraction back into the next block.
What if I get interrupted mid-Pomodoro?
Note the interruption in a line and carry on if it was brief. If the block is genuinely broken, stop the timer and start a fresh one rather than counting a half-finished session.
Is the Pomodoro technique good for ADHD?
Many people find bounded blocks with a visible countdown easier to start than open-ended work, but responses vary and shorter blocks often suit better. Adjust the length rather than abandoning the method.
Does the timer keep running if I switch tabs?
Yes, the countdown continues in the background in most browsers and it beeps at the end if sound is allowed. The session count resets when you close the page.