In recent years, numerous apps and websites have popularized the Pomodoro Technique, a time-management strategy traditionally involving 25-minute periods of focused, deep work followed by short 5-minute breaks.

Perhaps the most convenient digital Pomodoro timers take the form of Chrome extensions. But with dozens available, choosing which to download can be overwhelming.

So, to simplify your search for the perfect Pomodoro Chrome extension, here are five of the very best. With additional features from a to-do list to ambient sounds to website blockers, there's a Pomodoro Chrome extension here for everyone.

1. Marinara: Pomodoro Assistant

Core feature: A simple Pomodoro timer.

Marinara is certainly one of the more popular Chrome extensions on this list. And there's a good reason for this—it's so incredibly simple.

Unlike many of the other Pomodoro timer extensions in this list, Marinara has no dropdown menu. Instead, to activate a work session with Marinara, you simply click on the extension's icon. This displays a 25-minute countdown overlaid on the icon.

Once a session is up, an alarm will sound and Marinara will redirect you to a new Chrome tab asking whether you'd like to begin a short break of 5 minutes, which once activated will also be shown on the icon.

Now, if you prefer to work in longer or shorter periods, Marinara is fortunately customizable. Right click on the icon and select Options to change the time of the work session as well as the short and long breaks. You can also turn off notifications and sounds.

Under the Options tab, you can also view your past daily, weekly, and monthly work sessions with detailed graphs. For those just looking for a simple Pomodoro timer to add to their browser, you can't go wrong with Marinara.

Download: Marinara for Chrome (Free)

2. Focus To-Do

Core feature: A Pomodoro timer and to-do list combo.

Focus To-Do, as its name suggests, is a Pomodoro timer merged with a to-do list.

And it's no average, simple to-do list either. You can schedule tasks, create projects, set reminders, indicate task priorities, add sub-tasks, and track your progress with detailed graphs and pie-charts.

To get started on a task, simply set a customizable Pomodoro timer for it and get working. Then, check it off once completed. Focus To-Do also has mobile and Mac apps that sync with the extension so you will always have access to your to-do list from any device.

While this all might be too complex for many, if you are on the search for both a Pomodoro timer and a comprehensive to-do list, Focus To-Do might just work for you.

Download: Focus To-Do for Chrome | Android | iOS | Mac (Free)

3. Noisli

Core feature: A Pomodoro timer and ambient sound player.

With Noisli, the Pomodoro timer is a secondary feature. The core selling point is the ambient sounds to block out distracting external noises. Noisli is primarily a website with a variety of sounds, but its Chrome extensions provides a more convenient way to access the central features.

The extension involves a dropdown menu with curated playlists of combined ambient sounds categorized under titles like Productivity, Random, and Relax. To change the mix of sounds, simply click on the category. Noisli also allows you to save your favorite mixes and access them during later work sessions.

And of course, at the top of the menu is the classic Pomodoro timer that can be changed to any time length.

While all these features are available for free, Noisli limits the amount of time you can spend streaming their sounds each day. To unlock unlimited streaming, as well as additional sounds, oscillation and shuffle modes, new background colors, and stats of your sessions from the past month, there is a subscription version available.

Download: Noisli for Chrome (Free, subscription available)

Related: Step Up Your Pomodoro Productivity With These Methods

4. Forest

Core feature: A Pomodoro timer and gamified website blocker.

Forest combines the Pomodoro Technique with a website blocker, keeping you from browsing distracting websites like social media during your work or study sessions.

To do this, Forest brilliantly turns an otherwise frustrating website blocker into a bit of a game.

At the start of each timed session, a virtual tree sapling is planted in the Forest Chrome extension's dropdown menu. For the next 25 minutes (or whatever time length is set), if you visit a website on the Blocklist your tree will wither. However, if you can stay focused on the task at hand, your sapling will blossom into an adult tree.

Fortunately, there is an Allowlist mode to let you browse sites on your Blocklist during sessions.

Forest also has a mobile app that syncs with the Chrome extension. On the app, you can check your stats, view a virtual forest of trees successfully grown from past work sessions, and unlock new species of trees to plant.

Download: Forest for Chrome (Free) | Android (Free)

Download: Forest for iOS ($1.99)

5. Otto

Core feature: Another Pomodoro timer and gamified website blocker.

Also a gamified Pomodoro Chrome extension, Otto resembles Forest in a couple of ways. Like Forest, Otto's main feature is a website blocker. But instead of protecting a tree by not visiting blocked sites, you are protecting a blue cartoon character named Otto.

If you visit a blocked site, Otto's health drains. I haven't yet let Otto's health reach zero, so I don't know what happens then. And I don't really want to know.

Of course, the work and break times are customizable. After a work session is up, Otto automatically begins a break session at the sound of a chime.

Unlike Forest, Otto has no option to allow sites on the blocklist when being used. Other additional features include a Daily Distraction Graph of how many times each day you visited blocked sites and Auto Block, which will block a website if you spend over a specified amount of time on it.

Download: Otto for Chrome (Free)

Which Is the Best Pomodoro Chrome Extension?

Naturally, it depends on what you're looking for. Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to productivity techniques and tools, and with a Pomodoro Chrome extension, it's no different.

Marinara is perfect for those seeking just a simple, minimalist timer. If you need a to-do list as well, then go for Focus To-Do. If you enjoy ambient sounds to work or study to and are willing to pay for unlimited streaming, then Noisli is fantastic. Or maybe you enjoy turning everything work-related into game, in which case either Forest or Otto is perfect.