Mar 15, 2024 11:00 AM

The Best Sunrise Alarms to Help You Rise and Shine

If you can't wake up naturally to a genuine sunrise and drift to sleep along with a real sunset, try a machine that simulates them.

Homelabs Sunrise Alarm Clocks in various colors

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Alarm clocks can be a terribly jarring way to wake up in the morning. The digital blaring is effective, but harsh. Waking up to a sunrise alarm is, by stark contrast, downright pleasant, and falling asleep to one of its artificial sunsets (if your model is capable of it) is a far gentler way to slumber. And if you're like most of us, you need more sleep.

Sunrise alarms simulate gradual sunsets at night and gradual sunrises in the morning to help you fall asleep and wake up more naturally by tricking your biological hardware. I've tested the best sunrise alarm clocks, and a few of the worst. These are my favorites.

Check out our many other sleep-related buying guides, such as the Best Mattresses for Side Sleepers, Best Organic Mattresses, Best Bed Sheets, Best Bed Frames, Best Mattresses on Amazon, Best Sleep Gadgets, Best Weighted Blankets, Best Pillows, and Best Sleep Trackers.

Updated March 2024: We've added the Dekala Sunstone, Hatch Restore 2, and Jall Wake-Up Light, as well as updated our copy for the redesigned iHome Zenergy. We've also updated pricing and availability.

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Why You’d Want a Sunrise Alarm

Your body is built to wake naturally with the sunrise and feel sleepy as it sets. The sun rises at a deeply orange 2,000 kelvin and transitions to a rich, golden 4,000 K on its way to a bluer midday sun around 5,600 K. Sunsets do the reverse. My apartment was the perfect lab for testing these alarms. In my bedroom, I hang blackout curtains because I live on a busy city street that's almost as bright at night as it is during the day.

I'm a heavy sleeper who doesn't have a problem waking up, but that doesn't mean I enjoy it. When I woke up with (most of) these sunrise alarms, I had an easier transition into consciousness. If you don't have access to a window in your bedroom, or maybe you use blackout curtains like me, a sunrise alarm could make your mornings or nights a little easier.

Photograph: Amazon
Best Overall
Homelabs Sunrise Alarm Clock
The build quality, comprising a solid metal stand and touch-sensitive buttons, for a bit over $40 impressed me right away. The artificial sunrise did a good job of casting enough light when it was the only lamp in my otherwise dark bedroom, but it's a bit on the small side, and because of its headlamp-like shape it shines most in a particular direction. The light is also not as diffused as the higher-end alarms on this list—certainly enough to read by before bed, but not quite as able to bathe the whole room in light. It's still plenty bright to help wake you up, though.
You can dim or turn off the LED display. For people like me, who have always hated seeing glowing numbers in an otherwise dark room, the latter is a great option. This alarm is a steal at about $40, especially with the extras like multicolor mood lighting, access to an FM radio, a center snooze button that's easy to hit, and nature sounds, like birds and ocean waves, to help you wake up, too.
$43 at Walmart
Photograph: Matt Jancer
A Nice Upgrade
Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light (HF3520)
The Philips HF3520 oozes build quality and is easily the nicest alarm in this guide. It has the usual features, such as an audible alarm, five natural wake-up sounds, and an FM radio. The lens is convex, and some light shines through the back of the casing, so it casts light in more directions than other headlight-shaped sunrise clocks I reviewed, like the Homelabs.
Its light is beautifully diffused, which keeps the rays from being blinding. That's especially nice in a dark room when your pupils are enlarged and particularly susceptible to harsh light. The more upscale Philips SmartSleep model (below) barely beats it out in the quality of light, but the HF3520 has the second-nicest light quality in this roundup. The clock display and touch controls are a cut above the cheaper alarms. This alarm is worth the price if you have a particularly large bedroom and want the extra light for reading as you settle into bed.
$135 at Walmart
$90 at Amazon

Photograph: LANDON SPEERS/Casper
Most Intuitive Design
Casper Glow Light
You've got to hand it to Casper for intuitive design. To start the sunset program before bed, just flip the alarm over. There's a button on top to pause and unpause it, and when it's sitting on the charging pad, just turn it to adjust the brightness. Everything else, like setting wake-up schedules and adjusting the length of the sunsets and sunrises in 15-minute increments (up to 90 minutes), is controlled through the app.
It has only one shade of light, and while you can adjust the brightness, you can't make it warmer (yellower) or cooler (bluer). But it's a gorgeously warm yellow light. You can pair several together, and they'll sync so you can have one in the living room and another in the bedroom, which will ease your whole apartment into a sunset as you near bedtime. Or just have two on both nightstands. They recharge on a pad the size of a coaster.
Of all the sunrise alarms I tested, this was the best at evenly lighting up a dark room. It's also the only wireless model I tested, so I could start a sunset in the living room and bring it with me into the bedroom later. It's about $40 cheaper than it was when we first tested it, but it doesn't have a clock, a radio, or an audible wake-up buzzer. If you ban your phone from your nightstand every night and need an alarm that can be programmed to scream at you precisely at 6:30 am, you'll need a different sunrise alarm.
$91 at Amazon
$91 at Target
$129 at Casper
Photograph: Amazon
Most Connected
WiiM Wake-Up Light
The WiiM is the easiest alarm I've used. There is very little learning curve. Just load the Light app onto your smartphone, and plug the lamp into an outlet. As soon as you open the app, it'll automatically discover the lamp. Well-designed screens walk you through the setup. The WiiM's app explains everything clearly, and there are physical buttons for snooze, brightness, volume, light modes, and mute.
Via the WiiM app, you can link your phone and wake up to your own favorite music or use any of the preprogrammed sleep sounds. None can match a dedicated sleep machine. The WiiM's light could get quite bright—almost on the threshold of hurting my eyes if I lay on my bed facing it with the brightness all the way up. Obviously, just dial back the brightness if it's too much for you. But bright is good, because it's available when you want it. The digital clock and settings display is bright and clear, one of the best on any sunrise alarm. It also comes with Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant built into it, which you can enable or disable at will.
$129 at Amazon

Photograph: Philips
The Super-Premium Pick
Philips SmartSleep Connected Sleep and Wake-Up Light Therapy Lamp
The SmartSleep, formerly known as the Somneo, nails the basics of what a sunrise alarm should be, then piles on a bunch of customizable features you won't find on other devices. Its light is somewhat directional, but the hole in the middle and convex shape casts light at wider angles than other directional alarms, so it covers more of the room, so the light quality is slightly ahead of the other premium alarms on this list, and you can select from four light profiles.
Setting it up was simple. As soon as I plugged it in, the alarm lit up with directions to download the Philips app on my phone. You can control it through the touch-sensitive controls on the alarm's face, but the best way to operate all its features is through the app, (Don't bother with the non-Wi-Fi model.) You can even follow a guided breathing exercise through the light to relax before bed, and the wake-up sounds aren't gimmicky—I loved waking up to the gentle chirping of birds that sounded at least somewhat realistic.
$278 at Walmart
$220 at Amazon
Photograph: Walmart
Best for Sounds
iHome Zenergy
The Zenergy's new casing looks slick and modern, a welcome change from the older model, which is now called the Zenergy Dream Mini. Most of the 15 relaxation sounds are pleasant, natural-sounding, and offer a very calming effect. Storm, Chimes, and River were my favorites. There's also a guided breathing exercise where a voice instructs you when to take in breaths, hold them, and release them over a soothing track in the background, and it got me in the mood for bed every time I used it. However, there's no sunset feature that gradually lowers the light before bed.
You can set these sounds to activate in the morning along with the sunrise function, if you like. Twenty minutes before your set wake-up time, the Zenergy will gradually begin to brighten and your chosen sound will gently grow louder until both are at their maximum settings. Waking up to the Chimes and River sounds were the most relaxing to me as my brain slowly woke. The wide choice in available sounds allows you to add some variety to your mornings so that you don't get tired of them. Like the older Zenergy, this one doesn't light up the room nearly as much as the other alarms, though, so if you're looking for a very bright alarm or have a particularly large room, consider another choice.
$50 at Walmart
$60 at Amazon

Photograph: Philips
Custom Routine With Philips Hue
Using Smart Bulbs
Smart bulbs are one of the best aspects of the smart home concept today. With the right bulbs and a bit of tinkering, you can set up sunrise and sunset routines using your existing lamps and overhead lights. There are lots of good smart bulbs. I used Philips Hue for this article.
You'll need a Hue Bridge for $60 to control your smart bulbs away from home, and also Hue bulbs that fit your light fixtures. The 60W-equivalent A19 for $35 is the most common bulb for a typical lamp. Make sure you buy the White Ambiance or Color model (not the base White) so that you can change the color temperature (measure of whiteness to yellowness).
You can set “At Sunrise” and “At Sunset” routines through the Hue app, and choose from custom scenes to vary the light quality as the lights fade in or out gradually at your preferred time. With a color temperature of 2,200 to 6,500 K, Hue bulbs give a wide range of light, from Super Walmart–white to melted-butter yellow. The downside is that if you don't already have light fixtures in your bedroom, it's an expensive way to build a sunrise-and-sunset system. And unlike many sunrise alarms, you won't get sleep sounds, although you can always check out our guide to the Best Sound Machines if you need a little noise to nod off.
Photograph: Matt Jancer
More Sunrise Alarms
Decent Alternatives
Lumie Bodyclock Active 250 for $140: Looks aren't everything, but it's hard to ignore that this Lumie looks and feels like something designed more than a decade ago because it was designed more than a decade ago. Operating it is a pain. Even with the manual in front of me, working the various controls was a headache. Yet it fills up a dark room better than the more directional lamps, although the large vents on the back of the lens cast a peacock pattern of light on the walls. It does a good job of diffusing the light, and it has the usual list of features—a loud alarm, a dimmable clock, a snooze button, and buttons to adjust brightness and the duration of sunsets and sunrises. The Lumie isn't bad, just expensive for what you get in a market full of newer designs.
Hatch Restore 2 for $200: With its solid build and fabric-covered front, through which glows the modern, digital clock numbers and main sunrise bulb, the Restore 2 looks and feels like a premium product. It's also available in three earth-tone colors to blend in (or stand out) from your home design, including green-gray Slate, khaki Putty, and muted-bronze Latte. Its light bulb is directional, rather than domed. It had sufficient light but didn't light up my whole bedroom much, but on the nightstand next to my bed, it had enough light to rouse me in the mornings and lull me asleep at night.
You can customize your wake-up and bedtime routines by choosing from various light settings of different intensity and color temperature. One of the Restore 2's strengths is how its smart app works with its sound machine features. Virtually all of the relaxing nature sounds and white noise sounded realistic, high-quality, and soothing. The crackling campfire and falling rain were my favorites, although sea breezes, birds singing, and wind chimes were particularly pleasant, too.
One thing that sticks out is the Hatch+ Membership, for $5 per month or $50 per year. All the important stuff, such as the crucial sunrises, sunsets, and library of sleep sounds, is available without the membership, but Hatch+ adds channels of curated music, sound routines, guided rest exercises, and “sleep stories,” which are relaxing stories. In my opinion, it's not necessary to pay for the membership. The Restore 2 includes plenty of functionality without it. The channels are interesting to have but not at all crucial, and I'd rather keep my $5 per month. The star content of the Restore 2—the sunrise/sunset features and sound library—are included for free anyway.

Photograph: Matt Jancer
Avoid These
Amazon Echo Glow for $30: One of almost endless varieties of Amazon Echo devices, the Echo Glow is marketed specifically for kids and so it prioritizes intuitiveness over features. It's not a hub and doesn't have a microphone, so you need to pair it with an Echo device in order to control it with your voice, although you can control it through the Alexa app without a hub. The Echo Glow reaches a maximum brightness of 100 lumens, but it doesn't seem to get any brighter than a cheap nightlight. It's like jumping straight to the halfway point of a sunset.
You can set various colors and automatic color-shifting schemes, as well as custom schedules, but that's about it. There are no other features, although it does seem durable enough to survive a toddler's room. Even for $20, its value is weak. You're better off buying your kid our top pick, the Homelabs. Or if you want something intuitive that your kid can use without an app, spring for the Casper Glow Light.
Dekala Sunstone for $50: The Sunstone just didn't reach the brightness levels we're looking for in a sunrise alarm. Even at full brightness, it was less like waking up to a sunrise and more like waking up to someone waving a dim lantern around the room. It's a shame, because it's quite an attractive, modern-looking alarm that didn't feel as cheap as its $50 price.
Jall Wake-Up Light for $39: This affordably priced alarm offers 20 brightness levels in a cheap package, but while its seven alarm tones (bird song, waves, etc.) offer a decent (but not great) variety, they all sound a bit tinny and cheap. The Jall won't fool you even for a moment into thinking you're hearing real birds or waves lapping. This light also lacks a sunset feature. It may only be $40, but for that money you can purchase the Homelabs light and not give up the sunset feature, which is a major draw of having a sunrise alarm.
Lexon Mina for $30: It might only cost $30, but I wish Lexon hadn't chosen to give it a rechargeable battery rather than just let the user plug it into a wall socket. A bedside alarm clock is not something that needs to work wirelessly. It never moves, so that was a baffling design decision. It lasts for about 12 hours on a charge, which is more than enough for a night's sleep, but it was annoying having to recharge it constantly. The included cable was a USB-C to USB-A, with the USB-C side plugging into the lamp itself, so you may need an adapter or a new cable to charge it. The lamp was also very dim on its brightest setting.

Matt Jancer is a staff writer for WIRED who focuses on reviewing outdoor gear. Previously, he spent a decade as a freelance writer covering automobiles, motorcycles, and lifestyle stories for magazines. Some of his longest gigs were at Car and Driver, Outside, Esquire, Playboy, and Popular Mechanics.

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