Is this Pomodoro timer free?

Yes. It is a free Pomodoro timer, with no sign-up and nothing to install. Your settings and a running timer are saved only in your own browser, so nothing goes to a server.

Does the timer keep counting when I switch tabs?

Yes. The timer works from the clock rather than counting seconds, so it stays accurate in a background tab, and the tab title shows the time left. On a phone, the chime may not ring while the screen is locked or the browser is in the background, but the time is right when you come back.

What is the best Pomodoro timer?

The best Pomodoro timer is the one that starts the moment you need it and stays out of the way. Apps add task lists and statistics; a Pomodoro timer web page like this one works on any computer, including a work laptop where you can't install software.

Do I need a Pomodoro technique app?

No. The method needs a timer and a task, nothing more, so a Pomodoro technique website like this one is enough. If you want a record of your sessions, a notebook with a tally mark for each finished pomodoro works as well as any app.

How long is a pomodoro?

A pomodoro is 25 minutes of focus, followed by a short break of about five minutes. After four pomodoros you take a longer break, usually 15 to 30 minutes. This timer uses 15 by default.

How many pomodoros should I do in a day?

Count backward from your calendar. Each pomodoro plus its break is about 30 minutes, so a day with three hours of meetings leaves room for eight to ten. Planning six or eight on a busy day is more realistic than sixteen.

Can a team use a Pomodoro timer on Zoom?

Yes. One person shares this tab on Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet, everyone works in silence during the session, and the group talks in the breaks. Our team focus session steps above walk through an hour.

Does the timer work offline?

Yes. Once this Pomodoro website has loaded, the timer runs entirely in your browser, so it keeps working if your connection drops.

Free Pomodoro method timer for focused work

Press Start and focus until the chime. 25 minutes of work, a 5-minute break, a long break after four. Free, no sign-up.

KraftyLab TeamUpdated Oct 20268 min read

Focus

25:00

Pick one task, then press Start.

A red tomato-shaped kitchen timer beside a laptop, a notebook and a coffee mug on a sunny wooden desk.

This Pomodoro method timer runs 25 minutes of focus and a 5-minute break, four times over, then a 15-minute long break. It starts the moment the page loads: no account, no app, nothing sent to a server. The time left shows in your browser tab, and it stays correct while you work in another one. Below the timer: how the Pomodoro Technique works, how to use it at work, how to run a team focus session on a video call, and what to do with the breaks.

How to use this online Pomodoro timer

Five things to know, and then you can forget the timer is there.

Pick a rhythm. 25 / 5 is the classic. 50 / 10 suits longer tasks. Custom lets you set any focus length from 5 to 120 minutes and a break from 1 to 30.
Press Start, or the space bar. The time left shows in the browser tab, so you can switch to your work and still see it.
Stop when it chimes. The break starts on its own. When the break ends, the next session waits until you press Start.
Watch the dots. Each dot is a finished session. After four, you get a long break: 15 minutes on 25 / 5, 30 on 50 / 10.
Reset and Skip. Reset restarts the current timer; press it again to start over from session one. Skip jumps to the next step.

The bell icon mutes the chime. Your rhythm, custom lengths and a running timer are remembered on this device, so if you close the tab and come back to this Pomodoro site later, it picks up where you left off.

What is the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro Technique is a way to work in short, timed bursts with breaks in between. Francesco Cirillo came up with it in the late 1980s, when he was a university student, using a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato. Pomodoro is Italian for tomato, and each 25-minute block of work is called a pomodoro.

The five steps

Choose one task. Something specific, like "draft the project update," not "work on the project."
Set the timer for 25 minutes. Each block of focus is one pomodoro.
Work until it rings. If a new thought or request shows up, jot it on paper and go back to the task.
Take a short break. About five minutes, away from the task.
After four pomodoros, take a longer break. Usually 15 to 30 minutes. Then start the next round.

Why it helps: a fixed end makes a task easier to start, the timer gives you permission to ignore everything else for a while, and the breaks keep the afternoon from turning into a slog. It also shows you, in honest numbers, how many focused blocks a task really takes.

Pomodoro Technique and Pomodoro are trademarks of Francesco Cirillo. KraftyLab isn’t affiliated with him or his company; this timer is our own.

How to use the Pomodoro method at work

Office work is meetings, messages and interruptions, which is exactly where an online work timer helps. Six places it pays off:

Deep work. Block two or three pomodoros in your calendar for the task that needs real thinking, and put your status on do not disturb for that stretch.
Email and chat batching. Close the inbox during focus sessions. Spend one pomodoro before lunch and one late in the day answering everything at once.
Meeting prep. One pomodoro before an important meeting: read the doc, write your three points and one question.
The admin sweep. Expenses, timesheets, approvals. Set one 25-minute timer and see how many you clear. It turns a dreaded hour into a race.
The task you keep avoiding. Promise yourself one pomodoro, not the whole task. Starting is the hard part, and 25 minutes is easy to agree to.
Learning something new. A course module, a new tool, a long report. Short blocks with breaks keep you reading instead of skimming.

A woman typing on a laptop at a sunny home desk, with a red tomato-shaped kitchen timer beside her.

A sample workday in pomodoros

Eight pomodoros around two meetings and lunch. Plan the tasks first thing, then let the timer run the day.

9:00: Plan the day: pick the task for each pomodoro (5 min)
9:05: Pomodoros 1 and 2: the most important task of the day
10:05: Pomodoro 3: email and chat, all at once
10:30: Team meeting
11:00: Pomodoro 4, then a long break away from the desk
12:00: Lunch
13:00: Pomodoros 5 and 6: the second big task
14:00: Meetings and calls
15:30: Pomodoro 7: the admin sweep
16:00: Pomodoro 8: email and chat, then write tomorrow's first task

Running the team meeting in that 10:30 slot? Our team meeting agenda builder times it to the minute, and a two-minute round of check-in questions is a good way to open it.

Team Pomodoro sessions on a video call

A shared focus session, sometimes called body doubling, is a video call where everyone works on their own task in silence, together. Seeing other people working makes it easier to keep going, and the breaks give remote teams a few minutes of easy conversation. Here is how to run one hour:

Send a calendar invite. Call it something plain, like "Focus hour," and say it's optional and cameras are optional too. An hour fits two 25-minute sessions with breaks.
Open with goals in the chat. In the first two minutes everyone types the one thing they'll work on. Saying it to a group is what makes this work.
Share this timer. The host shares this browser tab so everyone sees the same clock, then everyone mutes.
Work in silence. No talking and no chat during the session. People who want company keep their camera on; others turn it off.
Use the break to talk. Unmute, stretch and chat for five minutes. This is the part people end up looking forward to.
Close with a done list. In the last two minutes everyone types what they finished. Then end on time.

Run it weekly at the same time and it becomes a habit. Some teams use the long break for a quick game or a 5-minute team building activity.

Pomodoro variations: 50/10, 52/17 and 90-minute blocks

25 minutes is a starting point. These are the rhythms people switch to most often. All of them work with the timer above.

Classic. 25 min focus, 5 min, 15 to 30 after four break.
Most work, and anyone new to the method. The short blocks make starting easy.
50 / 10. 50 min focus, 10 min break.
Writing, coding, design: tasks where 25 minutes ends just as you get going.
52 / 17. 52 min focus, 17 min break.
A rhythm made popular by a time-tracking company that looked at its users' habits. Set it with Custom: type 52 and 17.
90-minute block. 90 min focus, 20 to 30 min break.
One long run at a hard problem, once or twice a day. Use Custom: 90 and a 20-minute break.
15 / 3. 15 min focus, 3 min break.
Low-energy afternoons, or a task you dread. Short enough that you'll start.

Try one rhythm for a full week before you judge it. Most people settle on whatever lets them stop at a natural pause, not the one with the best story behind it.

What to do in a Pomodoro break

The break is half the method. Get away from the screen, move a little and let your mind wander.

Six desk stretches for a 5-minute break

Neck side stretch. Ear toward shoulder, hold for 20 seconds, switch sides.
Shoulder rolls. Ten slow rolls backward, then ten forward.
Chest opener. Clasp your hands behind your back and lift them a little, chest up, for 20 seconds.
Wrist and forearm stretch. Arm straight, palm up, gently pull the fingers back with the other hand. Switch.
Seated twist. Sit tall, turn to hold the back of your chair, breathe three times, switch sides.
Calf raises. Stand, rise onto your toes and lower slowly, fifteen times.

Move gently and skip anything that hurts.

Other short breaks

Refill your water and drink it standing up.
Look out a window or across the room for a full minute.
Walk to the farthest restroom or the kitchen and back.
Water a plant, tidy one thing on your desk, or open a window.
Three slow breaths: in for four counts, out for six.
Play one round of a quick game, like our memory game.

Long break ideas

Take a walk outside, phone in your pocket.
Eat something away from your desk.
Call or message a coworker about anything except work.
Do a 10-minute stretch routine or a few yoga poses.
Make a proper coffee or tea, slowly.

Want a game for the break? Our free memory game takes about two minutes a round. For more ways to unwind as a team, see these stress management activities.

Common Pomodoro mistakes

Most people who say the method didn't work for them made one of these.

Working through the break. It feels productive, and it's why the third pomodoro of the day is harder than the first. Stand up when it chimes.
Filling the break with your phone. Scrolling keeps your eyes and your head on a screen. Move your body instead.
No task before you press Start. "Work on the report" is not a task. "Write the summary section" is. Name it first.
Letting every ping in. Notifications stay off during a session. Anything that pops into your head goes on a paper list for later.
Being rigid about 25 minutes. If 25 is too short for your work, use 50 / 10 or Custom. The point is the rhythm, not the number.
Scheduling every minute. Meetings and interruptions happen. Plan six or eight pomodoros on a busy day, not sixteen.