To set a website time limit in Chrome, install an extension that enforces a daily per-site budget and shows the remaining time. MonkeyBlocker does this with per-site Daily Time Limits and a visible floating timer, and pairs them with schedules for work hours so a limit is strict when it matters and relaxed later.
Why time limits can beat total blocking
Blocking a site outright is easy to set and easy to abandon, because real life keeps needing the thing you blocked. Time limits solve a subtler problem: they let a site stay available when you genuinely need it, while stopping it from silently swallowing your afternoon. You are not banning YouTube or Reddit — you are giving each one a budget.
Daily limits per distracting website
The core mechanism is a per-site daily budget. Give YouTube 20 minutes, Reddit 10, a news site 15; when the budget is spent, that site is done for the day while everything else keeps working. Because the limit is specific, it does not punish focused work — it only caps the sites that tend to run away with your time.
The visible timer as an awareness layer
MonkeyBlocker's differentiator here is the visible timer: the remaining budget stays on screen, which makes a limit far harder to ignore than a silent cut-off. The pain "time disappears unnoticed" maps directly to this floating timer, which keeps live usage in view so the moment of "I should stop" arrives before the limit does, not after.
Schedules for work hours and evenings
Limits get stronger when they only apply when they matter. Smart Schedules let a 10-minute cap run strictly from 9am to 6pm on weekdays and lift in the evening, so your tools stay disciplined during work and relaxed on your own time. When a soft limit is not enough for a particular site, add a hard block on a schedule instead.
Example setups for YouTube, Reddit and social media
A realistic configuration: a 20-minute daily limit on YouTube with the floating timer on and the Social Cleaner hiding Shorts and recommendations; a 10-minute weekday limit on Reddit with an Impulse Check before it opens; and scheduled limits on your two worst social platforms during work hours. Sites stay usable; they just stop being bottomless.
Add to Chrome — free
No account, no credit card, about a 2-minute setup. Works in Chrome and Chromium browsers like Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi and Arc.
Related reading: the broader Chrome website blocker setup and using MonkeyBlocker as a focus extension for deep work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I limit a website without blocking it completely?
Yes. That is exactly what daily time limits do: the site stays available until its budget is spent, then it stops for the rest of the day while everything else keeps working.
Can I set different limits for different sites?
Yes. Each site gets its own daily budget — for example 20 minutes for YouTube and 10 for Reddit — and the floating timer shows the remaining time for whichever site you are on.
Can I limit sites only during work hours?
Yes. Smart Schedules apply limits only when you choose, such as weekdays 9am to 6pm, and leave evenings and weekends unrestricted.
Is MonkeyBlocker a good fit for this?
Good fit if you want soft, visible limits rather than a hard block; less suited if you want sites fully removed with no countdown, or if you need this on the mobile app rather than in desktop Chrome.