The Best Sunrise Alarm Clocks and Sleep Gadgets (2026)

Waking up to a blaring alarm in a dark room is a jarring way to start a day. Sunrise alarm clocks take a gentler approach: they brighten the room gradually over the half hour before your alarm, so you drift toward waking instead of being yanked out of sleep. Pair one with a decent wind-down routine and the whole bookend of your day improves. This guide covers the 2026 picks worth your nightstand space.

Best overall: sunrise plus a wind-down routine

The Hatch Restore 3 is the most well-rounded pick. It is less a clock and more a bedtime-and-morning system: a sunset routine and sound library to wind down at night, a gradual sunrise to wake to, and physical buttons on top so you can turn off the alarm and control sounds without reaching for your phone. That last part matters more than it sounds, because keeping the phone out of bed is half the benefit. It leans on an app for setup and some content, which is the main caveat.

Best pure light therapy

If your priority is the brightest, most convincing sunrise rather than routines and sound libraries, the Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light is the strongest performer. In testing it did the best job of actually filling a bedroom with light and pulling sleepers awake, with a sunset fade at night too. It is controlled mostly on the device itself, so it is a good fit if you would rather not manage another app.

Best budget: the no-app option

You do not need to spend $180 to get a sunrise. The Dreamegg sunrise alarm clock covers the core experience — a gradual brightening light and a set of wake sounds — at a fraction of the price, and it is operated entirely with on-device buttons, no app required. The light quality and sound library are not on the level of the Hatch or Philips, but for most people it does the job it sets out to do.

A sleep gadget worth adding: white noise

A sunrise clock handles the morning, but a noisy or restless environment ruins the night before it. A dedicated white noise machine like the LectroFan Evo masks disruptive sounds with a range of fan and noise options, and unlike a phone app it does not glow or buzz with notifications. It is an inexpensive complement to any sunrise clock that does not include strong sound options.

Bottom line

The Hatch Restore 3 is the pick for most people because it handles both ends of the day and keeps your phone off the nightstand. If you only care about the brightest possible wake-up light, the Philips SmartSleep is stronger, and the Dreamegg covers the basics for far less. Add a white noise machine like the LectroFan Evo if your nights are noisy.