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Disconnect from the morning mobile drain and get a more traditional alarm to start your day.
Taylor LeameySenior Writer
Taylor Leamey writes about all things wellness, specializing in mental health, sleep and nutrition coverage. She has invested hundreds of hours into studying and researching sleep and holds a Certified Sleep Science Coach certification from the Spencer Institute. Not to mention the years she spent studying mental health fundamentals while earning her bachelor’s degrees in both Psychology and Sociology. She is also a Certified Stress Management Coach.
ExpertiseSleep, Mental Health, Nutrition and SupplementsCredentials
Ditch the old routine of waking up to the sudden sound of your phone ringing followed by struggling to get out of bed because you’re sucked into your screen. Having your phone near your bed isn’t good for your sleep quality, and switching to a more traditional alarm could be a good way to break the habit. Many alarms now have a much more soft and smooth way to wake up in the morning.
Today’s best alarm clocks come with modern conveniences like voice assistants, interactive displays and even sunrise simulation, making them much more than a basic wake-up tool. They can also serve as great budget gifts as we enter the holiday season.
Choosing the perfect everyday alarm clock can be challenging, with so many features, prices and brands to consider. To save you the work, we did the testing for you. Here are our picks for the top alarm clocks you can buy right now.
Watch this: Tips to know when buying an alarm clock
Best alarm clocks
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
If you’re looking for a simple, straightforward alarm clock, you’ll like the Travelwey Home LED alarm clock. You’ll like its reasonable price tag even more. There are only a few easy-to-use buttons and a prominent classic red time display. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that some of the other best alarm clocks on the list have, but if you’re looking for a simple alarm clock to get the job done, Travelwey Home LED is a solid pick.
You can adjust the Travelwey alarm clock’s brightness, but during testing, we found that it doesn’t cast a glow that would disrupt your sleep at the highest setting. It also has a night-light feature if you’re into that. It has a standard 9-minute snooze time, and you can switch between a soft or loud sound setting.
Pros:
Travelwey is the best overall alarm clock because it’s basic but dependable. All the classic features are well implemented.
Travelwey Home’s alarm clock also features a backup battery if you lose power at night.
Cons:
You can’t change the tone or sound of this alarm clock. It only features two volume options.
Additional details:
Display color: Red
Battery backup: 2x AAA
Snooze length: 9 minutes
Wake-up options: Two volume choices
Price: $
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
The digital alarm clock industry has changed a lot. No longer is your alarm clock just something that wakes you up. Many smart alarm clock options function as an interactive hub where you can access your alarms, weather and music. The Amazon Echo Show 5 is one of the best smart alarm clocks, thanks to its varied features and voice assistant connectivity.
This smart alarm clock has unique alarm settings that allow you to use your music or a customizable tone as your alarm as well as a choice of a digital or analog clock. If that’s not enough, it also has a sound ramp-up feature designed to gracefully bring you out of sleep instead of scaring you awake. The screen also gradually gets brighter like a sunrise alarm clock, starting fifteen minutes before your alarm sounds.
You can use voice commands to access the Alexa voice assistant. This smart alarm clock’s touchscreen allows you to check the weather, make video calls or control your smart home. It’s more than an alarm clock and can set multiple alarms throughout the day. If you want to use your alarm clock for everything, consider the Amazon Echo Show 5.
Pros:
Amazon Echo Show 5 is a highly customizable smart alarm clock that allows you to use your music or sound. The ramp-up screen and sound feature are less jarring than traditional alarms.
Cons:
The screen does cast a glow at night, even with the adaptive brightness feature.
You can’t adjust the snooze time.
Additional details:
Display color: Customizable
Battery backup: None
Snooze length: 9 minutes
Wake-up options: Sunrise light, a variety of tones, streaming music
Price: $$
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
A sunrise alarm clock is designed to gradually wake sleepers up with light rather than a blaring alarm. We found that the Philips HF3500 is one of the best sunrise alarm clocks you can get thanks to its orange display, light function and price tag.
Visually, it’s unique — it looks like a UFO with a kickstand. There are simple buttons at the center, under the time display. But the majority of the surface area of this alarm clock is devoted to the light feature. Thirty minutes before your alarm time, this Philips sunrise alarm clock will gradually increase its brightness level until it reaches the maximum you set. To ensure you wake up, it also starts beeping with increasing intensity.
Pros:
This sunrise alarm clock has 10 brightness levels that you can choose from.
Philips HF3500 is a simple yet effective sunrise alarm clock worth the money.
Cons:
Snoozing the Philips HF3500 sunrise alarm clock is a little weird initially. There’s no button. Instead, you press the top half of the light.
Additional details:
Display color: Orange
Battery backup: None
Snooze length: 9 minutes
Wake-up options: Sunrise light and buzzing
Price: $
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
Heavy sleepers can be almost impossible to get up. If you’re someone who sleeps through their alarm and needs something more heavy-duty, we recommend the Sonic Alert Sonic Bomb alarm. It’s one of the best alarm clocks for heavy sleepers.
The Sonic Alert Sonic Bomb alarm comes with two parts — the classic display and incredibly loud buzzer and the vibrating attachment that you can slip under your pillow. You can customize the alarm with controls our team thought were easy to figure out.
Pros:
It’s the best alarm clock for heavy sleepers thanks to its loud buzzer and shaker attachment.
The Sonic Alert alarm clock is customizable with easy controls.
Cons:
It’s a great alarm clock for heavy sleepers, but if you’re not a heavy sleeper, it could be an unpleasant experience.
Additional details:
Display color: Red
Battery backup: 9 volt
Snooze length: Customizable between one and 30 minutes
Wake-up options: Loud buzzing and vibrating accessory
Price: $
Hatch
Finding a kids’ alarm clock that meets all your child’s needs can be hard. The Hatch Restore alarm clock is a sound machine and smart light in one. This alarm clock for kids has many features that other options can’t compete with. Not only do you get white noise sounds, but there’s a digital alarm clock display and soft control buttons.
The Hatch Restore Sound Machine and Smart Light can grow up with your child. It has an app you can access on your phone, which allows you to personalize the clock to suit your growing child. You can create sleep and wake routines with light dimming or brightening for your child like a sunrise alarm clock.
Pros:
Hatch Restore Sound Machine is one of the best alarm clocks for kids because it’s packed with helpful features and allows for personalization.
There’s an easy-to-use app you can access from anywhere.
Cons:
This isn’t the most budget-friendly option. It’s on the more expensive side, but it’s the type of alarm clock that will last.
Additional details:
Display color: Customizable
Battery backup: None
Snooze length: 9 minutes
Wake-up options: Sunrise light or sound
Price: $$$
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
Not everyone wants to spend a lot of money on their alarm clock, especially if you don’t want all the added features. That’s where the RCA RCD30 alarm clock comes in. Similar to the Travelwey, the RCA RCD30 is our pick for the best budget alarm clock because of its simple design.
It features the classic red number display that offers two brightness levels. During testing, we found that neither level glows to the point where it would interrupt your sleep. It has an easy-to-find snooze button. It doesn’t have any added features like a night light or lights. It is a straight-to-the-point classic alarm clock that will get the job done.
Pros:
RCA RCD30 is one of the best budget alarm clocks you can get. It’s great for people who don’t want anything special.
It’s cheap and small enough that most people would find this to be one of the best travel alarm clocks as well.
Cons:
Since it’s so basic, resetting or adjusting alarms will take longer.
Additional details:
Display color: Red
Battery backup: 9 volt
Snooze length: 9 minutes
Wake-up options: Simple buzzing
Price: $
Best alarm clocks compared
Travelwey Home LED Alarm Clock
Amazon Echo Show 5
Philips HF3500
RCA RCD30
Sonic Alert Sonic Bomb
Hatch Restore
Price
$18
$45
$60
Currently unavailable
$42
$100
Display color
Red
Customizable
Orange
Red
Red
Customizable
Battery backup
2x AAA
None
None
9V
9V
None
Snooze length
9 min
9 min
9 min
9 min
Customizable between 1 and 30 minutes
9 min
Radio
✘
✘
✘
✘
✘
✘
Wake-up options
Two volume options
Sunrise light, a variety of tones, streaming music
Sunrise light and buzzing
Simple buzzing
Loud buzzing and vibrating accessory
Sunrise light or sound
Other features
Night light
Amazon’s Alexa for voice commands, touchscreen display for videos, shortcuts for smart home controls
Can use as reading light
None
Multiple volume and tone settings, multiple alarms
Personalization, sleep and wake routines, app accessible
Other alarm clocks we’ve tested
We’ve tested a lot of alarm clocks, not all of which made this best alarm clock list. But they’re still worth mentioning and might be the right fit for you.
The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 has a 4-inch touchscreen which can show you the weather, your commute and even your calendar. It’s connected to Google Assistant, so you can use voice commands to schedule your alarms. It’s not the most robust smart display out there — you won’t be watching videos or playing your music — but it’s still pretty handy.
The Lenovo Smart Clock also has a sunrise alarm clock feature, meaning the screen gets brighter 30 minutes before your scheduled wake-up time. One drawback of the Lenovo Smart Clock 2 is the display always glows, no matter which clock face you choose. At the moment, you can only find it available as part of a bundle with a Lenovo smart bulb. Read our Lenovo Smart Clock 2 review for more details on this clock.
Amazon Echo Dot with Clock
The Amazon Echo Dot with Clock displays the time, alarms and weather, with the display’s brightness adapting to the room. It’s still a smart speaker first, responding to voice commands through Alexa, but it works well as a basic smart alarm clock. Read our hands-on breakdown of Amazon’s latest Echo Dot for everything you need to know.
American Lifetime Day Clock
If you’re someone with impaired vision, you’ll like the large-print design of the American Lifetime Day Clock. You can program your alarms to include reminders that will be displayed on the screen, like “time to take your medications.” That said, it isn’t the best alarm clock we’ve tested. There is no snooze button. The display is bright, even in the dimmest setting. You must scroll through a menu to schedule alarms, which can get confusing.
iHome IBT29BC
If you’re someone who values all the bells and whistles, consider the $40-ish iHome iBT29BC. It has a built-in radio and two alarms; it doubles as a Bluetooth speaker and even has an auxiliary cable. The iHome IBT29BC allows you to customize it by adjusting the colors and sounds it uses to wake you up. The light doesn’t adjust, but it does come on when your alarm sounds. This alarm clock is a jack of all trades but doesn’t shine in any category.
HomeLabs Home Sunrise Alarm Clock
The HomeLabs Home Sunrise Alarm Clock has many features — the light changes colors and fades up. There’s a radio with various wake-up sounds, including classical music and nature sounds. With this Alarm, you get what you pay for, the buttons aren’t the most responsive and it is more difficult to set alarms. The brightness ramp-up isn’t as seamless as other options, but for less than $25, it’s a good option.
How we tested the best alarm clocks
There are a lot of features that go into alarm clocks, and we tested them all. When testing the best alarm clocks, we assessed each option on their display, sound and ease of use. We considered how long the snooze button was set for, how customizable the alarm is and additional light features you need to know about.
Once we had the data of each alarm clock compiled, we made sure to compare each alarm clock to each other to ensure this best alarm clock list is the best reflection of the current market.
What to consider when buying an alarm clock
When shopping for the best alarm clock for your needs, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with hundreds of options. It’s understandable. A wide variety of alarm clocks are available that differ by features and price. Keep these things in mind when looking for ideal fit:
Price: The alarm clock market is wide — with both budget and luxury options. Defining your budget early will help you narrow down your options and keep you from getting wowed by features you may or may not need.
Features: First and foremost, you must decide if you want to stick to the basics or dive into the ocean of alarm clock features. Do you want your alarm clock to charge your phone? Play music? Or would you rather just have a basic alarm clock with a clearly labeled snooze button? The good news is that there are so many combinations of features that you’re sure to get an alarm clock that fits your needs.
Display: Deciding how elaborate the display of your alarm clock is also important. Some have super bright screens, while others have simple red or orange numbers that don’t cast as much glow.
How it wakes you up: No longer are you limited to a loud blaring screech to wake you up. Alarm clocks have come a long way and now offer gentle wake-up with sound or light that progressively gets louder or brighter. But if you’re a heavy sleeper, you may want something louder.
How “smart” you want it to be: Many of the best alarm clocks are compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri, making scheduling alarms easy.
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