Waking up to the sun can be a more pleasant way to start the day than being jolted awake by a blaring smartphone alarm or the sound of morning shock jocks on the radio. Of course, the sunrise isn’t always going to align with your schedule—but a dawn-simulating alarm, which emits light that gets gradually brighter, can consistently deliver this less jarring wakeup experience. There are many clocks on the market that deliver on the sunrise concept to varying degrees of brightness and effectiveness, so we spoke to sleep experts and tested 12 firsthand to pinpoint the most reliable, best-looking options. These are our three top picks to transform your mornings.

Philips SmartSleep Connected Sleep and Wake-Up Light HF3670/60 is the model we recommend most for its effective light progression, assortment of soothing sounds and elegant design. It also includes sleep tracking and other special features you can control remotely via a smartphone app.

If you’d like to read how we vetted and tested these sunrise alarm clocks and which experts we consulted, scroll down for more detail.

This sunrise alarm clock has a bright, even white light and is packed with high-end features.

While it’s at least $40 pricier than the majority of other models we tested, the Philips SmartSleep Connected Sleep and Wake-Up Light HF3670/60 is the sunrise alarm we recommend for most people. Its light is brighter than many of the others we tried, which means it’s more likely to wake you, and it is smartly designed with features some competitors are lacking—most notably, a backup alarm and a smartphone app for setting the clock and providing sleep insights.  

The HF3670’s light cycles through 25 degrees of brightness for a gradual sunrise or sunset effect during whichever time interval you set—for example, 30 minutes before you want to get up or just five minutes. Using a light meter, we measured the maximum as 660 lux from a one-foot distance. That’s at least about 15% brighter than the median of those we tested. (The only two that are about 25% brighter than this clock, the Hatch Restore and Lumie Bodyclock 300, are significantly inferior in functionality.)  The HF3670 also offers eight different wake-up sounds— “Nepal bowls” and “morning Alps” were our favorites—along with an FM radio tuner, for people who want to listen to the radio in the morning. 

This clock’s modern, rounded design is a plus too. “Orbs and spheres are softer in form so they tend to have a more soothing aesthetic than rectangular or boxy alarms,” says Los Angeles-based designer Sarah Barnard, who points out organic shapes are also “versatile and minimalist” enough to fit into various design schemes. The orange glow of the display panel is easy to read and the touch controls are simpler to use than those of most other clocks in this category.

The HF3670’s reliability is also better than most others in the face of a power outage; it comes with a backup battery designed to hold the time and your settings for eight hours when there’s no electricity, plus a backup alarm that’s automatically activated and beeps for a minute at the wake-up time you set if the clock loses power. 

Unlike other app-enabled clocks we tested, this one gives you the ability to set functions on the clock itself or via Philips’ optional SleepMapper app (available for both iOS and Android). We found the app to be a useful tool for setting up the HF3670 and monitoring a range of sleep conditions. You can use it for basic functions like setting your alarms, controlling the intensity of the light and tuning the FM radio as well as more advanced ones, such as enabling bedtime routines including a breathing exercise or a sunset glow with rain sounds. And for people who like data or want to monitor and optimize their sleep, there’s a sleep-tracking setting and sensors that let you keep an eye on your bedroom’s temperature, humidity, light and sound levels, with the app suggesting ideal conditions for each. 

This sunrise alarm has a full slate of features but displays time only in a 24-hour (military time) format.

There’s a lot to like about the Lumie Bodyclock 300, the company’s highest-end model. It’s one of the brightest lights we tested at 875 lux—brighter than the Philips HF3670—meaning it’s more likely to wake deep sleepers, and it has a rounded design with a fabric overlay that feels sleeker and more sophisticated than others. It comes with a decent number of features, including adjustable sunrise duration and brightness, an FM radio tuner, 15 wakeup and background noises, and the ability to set wakeup times for each day of the week. This clock also has the largest array of sunrise durations, ranging from 15 to 90 minutes in 5-minute increments. 

The main reason the Bodyclock 300 isn’t our top pick is that it displays only 24-hour military time, which can be a dealbreaker for some people. (Lumie is based in the U.K., where this format is more common.) Additionally, while the backup battery will save your settings and keep the time for up to 30 minutes in a power outage, there’s no backup alarm. The controls are a little tedious and non-intuitive, but we got used to them pretty quickly and you likely won’t be adjusting the settings often. 

$56 at Bed Bath & Beyond

iHome’s sunrise alarm clock is about 60% as bright as Philips’, but it offers a slew of features that are particularly impressive at this price.

If you love the idea of a gentler wake-up but aren’t keen on spending $200 or so to make it happen, iHome’s Zenergy Sunrise Bedside Sleep Therapy Machine iZBT3 is for you. It’s about a third of the price of the Philips HF3670 and offers a similar sunrise-mimicking wakeup cycle. The artificial sunlight starts 20 minutes before your alarm time, gradually brightening over that period. (However, unlike most other sunrise alarms, this one doesn’t allow you to adjust the wake-up duration.) 

 In our testing, the iZBT3’s backup alarm worked as expected, beeping at its preset time when the power was off. The time is displayed along the lower third of the iHome’s oval-shaped face, and all the controls are physical buttons found on the top. They’re relatively easy to use, though not quite as seamless as the HF3670’s app-based controls. 

iHome’s alarm is also noticeably dimmer than the HF3670 and many others we looked at, and unlike the HF3670’s even glow across its entire surface, this one has three distinct bright points of light. Its light-color options include a deep orange “sun” setting; “glow,” which alternates between different colors; “hue,” similar to a red dusk; and “day,” with a blue tint; and all four modes have 20 brightness levels. What secured the iHome as our lower-price pick is that it includes many of the same features as the HF3670 (like relaxation sounds and a phone charger), plus Bluetooth so you can use the clock as a wireless speaker for your phone too.

Philips’ SmartSleep Sleep and Wake-Up Light HF3650/60 is nearly identical to the HF3670 but it has fewer features—the most glaring omission is the companion smartphone app, which means no temperature, humidity, light or sound reporting. It’s also slightly dimmer. For only $20 more, you could purchase the brand’s most feature-packed model.

Philips’ SmartSleep Wake-Up Light HF3520/60 falls in between the HF3670 and the iHome iZBT3 in terms of lumosity, features and price. It doesn’t have any relaxation sounds (so you can’t use it as a white noise machine) or a phone charger, and it has a limited range of sunrise durations ranging from 20 to 40 minutes. It’s a little brighter than the iHome, but that doesn’t justify its $75+ price tag. 

Hatch’s Restore was the brightest sunrise alarm we tested, measuring 900 lux at a 12-inch distance, but the light was uneven, with the most intense point at the bottom, so this clock doesn’t look as nice as its more evenly lit competitors. It works with  a smartphone app that Hatch requires you to use for all settings, such as adjusting alarms or choosing which sounds to play. You’re also obligated to create an account with an email address, which, of course, signs you up for the company’s mailing list. There’s an optional $5/month or $60/year subscription with extra content that you can sign up for during the setup process, and it’s easy to miss the “X” in the top left corner of the screen to opt out. 

Homelab’s Sunrise Alarm Clock offers an impressive set of features for its low (under $30) price, including both sunrise and sunset modes and an FM tuner. But its light is not as bright as the models we recommend and we found the speaker to be poor quality. It could be a good option for a kid’s room, or if you want to test out sunrise wakeups before making a larger investment. 

DaqiConcept’s Chirp is a beautiful lamp, well-deserving of its place in the MoMA Design Store, but the small, bird-shaped device has the dimmest light we tested. Additionally, the clock display is on top of its marble base so it can be hard to read. 

Casper’s Glow Light didn’t make the cut for our top picks because it’s missing a clock display, though we did like its clever take on the sunrise-simulating concept. The 5.25-inch-high, battery-powered device looks like a cylindrical smart speaker and is controlled through a combination of a smartphone app and gesture controls. You can set a gradual sunrise wakeup, flip it over on its charging pad to initiate a winddown mode, and pick it up and shake it to use as a soft lantern at night. The Glow Light also supports mirrored-pairing with another unit so that adjusting one automatically adjusts the other, and you can buy a bundle of two for a slight discount.    

Lumie’s Bodyclock 100 does offer a 12-hour display mode, unlike the Bodyclock 300, but its audio alarm option is an annoying beep. We’d like it a lot more if there were more natural, soothing sounds to wake to like those our top picks offer. Lumie’s Bodyclock 150 has 10 wake-up sounds, but you need to remember to turn the alarm on every night before you go to bed. 

Philips’ Wake-up Light HF3500/60 doesn’t have a sunset mode, and the wake-up light is accompanied by an audio alarm (a gradually increasing beeping) that cannot be disabled or adjusted in volume.

I have been a tech and gadget reviewer for more than a decade, covering categories ranging from headphones to printers to cocktail machines. To get a full understanding of what to look for in a sunrise  alarm clock, I spoke to Michael A. Grandner, Ph.D., M.T.R, director of the Sleep & Health Research Program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. (Grandner has consulted with sleep-company Casper, whose Glow Light we mention above, but he doesn’t have a current financial relationship with the company or any other sunrise-alarm maker.) I also interviewed Barbara Ficarra, R.N., B.S.N., M.P.A., a New York City–based design and wellness expert, and Sarah Barnard, a Los Angeles–based WELL and LEED accredited designer who specializes in restorative spaces incorporating nature and art. 

Sunrise alarm clocks that mimic natural sunlight can make mornings smoother by easing you into awakening. These are the criteria we used to determine the models worth your money. 

We tested 12 finalists by following their included instructions to set the clock and alarms and toggle through the different settings, light profiles and sounds. Using a light meter in a darkened room, we measured each lamp at its brightest setting from one foot away. We narrowed down to the three alarm clocks with the best combination of brightness, audio alarms and other features, and then slept with each for two or more nights to evaluate how they work in a real-life setting.  

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