Fella vs Opal:
fixed rules or flexible controls?

Opal is built to be tuned. It offers sessions, schedules, and several strictness levels. That flexibility is useful when you want different rules for different situations.

Fella uses one blocking behavior in every session. Start a session manually or let a routine start it on schedule. Each session includes one 5-minute emergency unlock, then the selected apps lock again automatically.

Fella costs $9.99 a month or $34.99 a year, with no free trial. Opal offers more modes and settings, while Fella keeps the session rule fixed.

Opal actually offers three difficulty levels, and the top one isn't a gimmick. Normal sessions can be cancelled anytime. Timeout adds increasing delays before you're allowed to snooze. Deep Focus is the real thing: once it's running, blocked apps genuinely aren't reachable until the timer runs out, and deleting the app itself doesn't undo the block.

That's a hard block Fella doesn't dispute. The catch is what it takes to get there. Deep Focus sits behind Opal's paid plan, and even once you're paying, it's a mode you have to select before each session starts, not the app's resting state. On the days you most need the strict version, you also have to be the one who remembers to choose it.

Fella skips the strictness selection. There is no Normal, Timeout, or Deep Focus choice. Every manual or routine-scheduled session uses the same rule and one 5-minute emergency unlock.

Opal's free tier caps you at 1 Rule (Schedule, Time Limits, or Open Limits). Most of the controls that make Opal worth comparing to a dedicated blocker, Deep Focus among them, sit behind the paid plan. Trying Opal for free mostly tells you what the app could do, not what it will do for you day to day. For a wider view of no-cost choices, see our free and paid app blocker options.

Opal Pro isn't cheap either. Pricing runs from roughly $8 a month on an annual plan up to around $20 billed monthly, with a $399 lifetime option for anyone who wants to stop paying altogether. That's a real range to weigh against Fella's flat $9.99 monthly or $34.99 annual.

Fella has one plan, one price, and nothing gated behind it. There's no free trial and no limited preview: the app you pay for is the same product you use every day.

No mode-picking. There's no "strict mode" you have to remember to switch on before it's too late, and no softer setting waiting for the day your willpower gives out. Blocking is just how Fella works, every single session, whether you feel strong or not.

A real limit, not a suggestion. One 5-minute unlock per session, and that's it. When it's gone, it's gone. No pleading with yourself for a second round, no quiet exception that turns into a habit. The limit holds even on the nights you don't want it to.

A shorter setup. Fella still requires you to choose apps and either start sessions or create routines, but it does not ask you to choose a different strictness level for each session.

Opal's flexibility is a real advantage for some people. If you want different rules on weekdays versus weekends, a strictness level you can adjust as you build the habit, or detailed usage insights to review later, that configurability is genuinely useful, not just a weakness dressed up as a feature.

Fella is the better fit for a narrower problem. If you've already tried the dials and schedules and keep finding the setting that lets you back in, you don't need more configuration, you need less. That's the specific gap Fella is built to close.