A wake-up light is an alarm clock that starts getting brighter before it makes a sound. Set it for seven, and from half past six the lamp climbs from a dim red glow through orange to a bright white, so that by the time the alarm plays the room already looks like morning. In December, when the actual sun is not up until eight, that is the whole point of the thing. The ten below were all checked live on Amazon on the day of writing, and the price and stock under each heading come from Amazon’s own data, refreshed on a schedule, not from this text.
Two things to say before the list. First, several listings in this category, including the Philips, the Hatch and the Lumie, make claims about sleep, mood or health. This guide does not repeat them; it judges the lights as gadgets, on what their listings say they do: how long the sunrise ramp is, how bright they get, what sounds they offer, whether they need an app, whether the clock face can go fully dark. Second, the cheap and the expensive units are more alike than their prices suggest. What the listings actually document as different is size, build, the sound and radio features and the software, and the entries say which of those you are paying for.
If the real problem is a cold bedroom rather than a dark one, the heated mattress pads and heated blankets on this site are the other half of a winter morning.
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How to choose a wake-up light
Ramp length. Most units let you set how long the sunrise takes: 10 to 60 minutes is the common range on the budget clocks, and Lumie’s goes to 90. Longer is gentler; shorter suits people who already wake easily. Brightness. Very few listings give a figure. Only one of the ten here states one (500 lux at 35 cm, on the ANTDALIS); the others give a count of brightness levels or nothing at all. What the listings do give is size: the Philips is a round lamp weighing 2.45 lb, the Lumie an 8.3 by 7.1 inch globe, the JALL a 7.2 inch full-screen panel, and the rest are clock-sized. How much light reaches your pillow from each is not a figure any of those listings states. Sound. Every one of the ten has a sound alarm as a backstop; the differences are in how many sounds, whether there is FM radio, and whether the speaker doubles as a Bluetooth speaker for music. App or buttons. One pick (the Hatch) is built around its phone app; five listings describe setting the unit with its own buttons, dials or touch panel (Odokee, both JALLs, the UTCG and the ANTDALIS), and three say outright that no app is needed (Odokee, the JALL dimmer and the Dreamegg). Display dimming. If a glowing clock face keeps you awake, look for a unit whose display can be dimmed to off: the JALL full-screen has a blackout mode and the ANTDALIS can turn its display off and bring it back for the alarm.
The ten at a glance
| Pick | Best for | Sunrise length (listed) | Sounds (listed) | FM radio (listed) | App needed (listed) | Price | Stock | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1. Philips SmartSleep HF3520 | The benchmark lamp-style wake-up light | Not stated | 5 | Yes | Not stated | $121.36 | In stock, low |
 | 2. Odokee Sunrise Alarm Clock | The no-app clock with the big following | 5 to 60 min | 25 + 7 alarm sounds | Not stated | No (buttons and dials) | $59.99 | In stock |
 | 3. JALL Sunrise Alarm Clock (full-screen) | The full-screen budget favourite | 10 to 60 min | 25 | Yes | Not stated | $37.99 | In stock |
 | 4. UTCG Sunrise Alarm Clock with Sound Machine | The light-sleeper pick with 30 sounds | 10 to 60 min | 30 | Not stated | Not stated | $33.99 | In stock |
 | 5. Vicsoon Sunrise Alarm Clock | The simplest sunrise clock here | 30 min | 5, incl. a beep | Not stated | Not stated | $29.59 | In stock |
 | 6. JALL Full Screen Dimmer Sunrise Alarm Clock | The budget pick with Bluetooth and FM | 10 to 60 min | 25 | Yes | No | $36.99 | In stock |
 | 7. ANTDALIS Sunrise Alarm Clock | The one that states its brightness | 30 min | 7 | Yes | Not stated | $29.98 | In stock |
 | 8. Dreamegg Sunrise 1 | The fabric-covered travel-size clock | Not stated | 29 | Not stated | No | $56.99 | In stock |
 | 9. Hatch Restore 3 | The smart clock built around its app | Not stated | 80+ | Not stated | Yes | $169.99 | In stock |
 | 10. Lumie Bodyclock Shine 300 | The longest sunrise any listing here states | 15 to 90 min | 15 | Yes | Not stated | $169.00 | In stock |
Prices and availability as of 17:01 EST – details
Best overall and for heavy sleepers
1. Philips SmartSleep HF3520
The HF3520 has by far the most ratings of the two lamp-shaped lights on this page, close to 15,000 at the time of writing. The listing gives a coloured sunrise and sunset simulation, five natural wake-up sounds, FM radio, a tap-to-snooze top and a display that dims automatically, plus a reading-lamp mode with 20 brightness settings. It is round and lamp-shaped rather than a clock, and at 2.45 lb the heaviest unit here that states a weight. The listing does not state a lux figure or a ramp length, and it makes several health claims that this guide leaves aside. It runs from the mains with a lithium battery for backup. If you want the HF3650, the step-up model with a phone-charging dock and a guided-breathing light, the only listing on the day of writing was an Amazon Resale (open-box) one, so it is not a pick here.
2. Odokee Sunrise Alarm Clock
The Odokee is one of the three best-selling units on this page by Amazon’s past-month count, and its listing is unusually specific. The sunrise brightens over a ramp you set between 5 and 60 minutes; there are 25 sounds for falling asleep, including white, pink, brown and blue noise as well as waves and rain, with a sleep timer; a 5 W stereo speaker that also streams over Bluetooth; and a clock display that dims from 100 per cent to 0. The night light has 12 colours, one of them a sunset tone. You can wake to light and sound, sound only, or light only, and the listing stresses that there is no app: everything is set with labelled buttons and dials. It is a putty-coloured unit about 7 inches across. For most people who do not want to spend Philips money, this is the one.
3. JALL Sunrise Alarm Clock (full-screen)
With more than 28,000 ratings this is the most-reviewed unit on this page by a distance, and the listing explains why: it does a great deal for the money. The front of the unit is a full-screen light panel, 7.2 inches across; the sunrise runs over 10 to 60 minutes before the alarm. There are two alarms with separate everyday, weekday and weekend settings, a snooze you can set between 5 and 20 minutes, 25 natural sounds and white noises with a sleep timer up to 480 minutes, a built-in FM radio with auto-scan that can be used as the alarm tone, 17 lighting effects and a 5 W Bluetooth speaker. The detail that matters for light sleepers is the L0 blackout mode, which turns the screen fully dark. It runs from USB power with an AA battery for backup, and it syncs its clock with your phone over Bluetooth, so you never set the time by hand.
Budget picks and kids’ rooms
4. UTCG Sunrise Alarm Clock with Sound Machine
A tall, narrow unit, about 7 inches high and under 4 inches across, whose listing is written for light sleepers and people who hate loud alarms. The sunrise can be set anywhere from 10 to 60 minutes, or left on a default 30-minute ramp. Brightness is adjustable in 13 steps and volume in 32, and the listing describes a “light-first” wake-up with the sound as the backstop. The sound machine side has 30 sounds (10 white noises and 20 nature sounds), a sleep timer from 30 to 480 minutes, continuous play and a memory function, with a five-level dimmer for the display and backlit buttons. There is no mention of FM, Bluetooth or an app on the listing, which for a bedside unit many people will count as a virtue.
5. Vicsoon Sunrise Alarm Clock
The simplest clock on this page: a 30-minute sunrise simulation, seven wake-up options (a beep, birdsong, a stream, rain and ocean waves, plus sound-only and light-only modes), three levels of warm white light and six colours for use as a bedside or night light, and a sleep timer of 10, 30 or 60 minutes during which the warm light fades down. That is the whole feature list, and it is enough: a child’s room, a guest room, or anyone who wants a gentler alarm without learning a menu. The listing itself suggests pairing it with your usual alarm clock for heavy sleepers, which is a fair description of where it sits.
6. JALL Full Screen Dimmer Sunrise Alarm Clock
JALL’s second entry is the one to pick if you want music in the bedroom. It has the same light-first sunrise, brightening from 10 to 100 per cent over 10 to 60 minutes before the sound, with 25 sounds through a 5 W speaker that also plays from your phone over Bluetooth, and an FM radio with manual and auto tuning. There are two alarms with daily, weekday and weekend modes, a 9-minute snooze, a sleep timer up to 480 minutes and auto shut-off, and the ambient light has 17 colours at 20 brightness levels, which the listing pitches as a nursery light as much as an alarm. It plugs in with a 47-inch cord and needs no Wi-Fi or app. Against the full-screen JALL above, you give up the time sync and the blackout mode; it is here for the radio and the speaker at a budget price.
7. ANTDALIS Sunrise Alarm Clock
The one listing on this page that puts a number on its brightness: 500 lux at 35 centimetres, with stepless dimming. The sunrise runs over 30 minutes from a soft red through orange to bright white, after which the chosen natural sound plays, and you can set the light to wake you without any sound at all. There are two alarms, seven sounds at ten volume levels, a tap-to-snooze top that gives nine more minutes, an FM radio with auto-scan, eight colours and three warm white levels for the night light, and an auto-off timer from 30 minutes to 12 hours. The clock display can be dimmed or switched off entirely, and the listing says it comes back at the third brightness level when the alarm goes off the next morning. The controls are on a touch panel on the front. It is sold as a kids’ and adults’ clock, and the touch panel is the one thing a small child may find too easy to use.
Smart and premium
8. Dreamegg Sunrise 1
The Sunrise 1 is sold, in its own title, as a sound machine first with a sunrise lamp built in. The listing gives 29 sounds, including nature sounds, meditations, lullabies, white, brown and pink noise and fan sounds, a nine-colour night light that is controlled separately from the alarm, and a setup that needs no phone or app: everything is on the device. The case is covered in a cotton-linen fabric, and the listing describes it as hand-sized and suitable for travel, which no other pick here claims. The listing does not state the sunrise ramp length, FM or Bluetooth. It is the pick for someone who already sleeps with a sound machine running and wants the light added to the same box.
9. Hatch Restore 3
The Restore 3 is the one smart clock on this page and the best seller of the ten by Amazon’s past-month count, with 8,000-plus bought in the past month on its listing at the time of writing. It connects over 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and is set up and run from the Hatch Sleep app, which is where you build a wind-down routine of light and sound pairings, choose from its 80-plus sleep sounds and set the sunrise alarm; the clock face is dimmable. What the app model means in practice is that the Hatch is the only unit here that needs your phone to set up. The listing also states that the purchase includes a 30-day trial of Hatch+, a paid subscription for extra content; the listing does not say which features need it, and it is worth knowing that there is a subscription in the box at all. The listing’s claims about sleep quality are not repeated here. Hatch’s own category is listed under Health and Household rather than clocks.
10. Lumie Bodyclock Shine 300
Lumie is the Cambridge company that, by its own account on the listing, invented the wake-up light. The Shine 300 has the longest sunrise that any listing on this page states: the ramp can be set anywhere from 15 to 90 minutes, and the same range applies to the fading sunset at night. There are 15 sleep and wake sounds or FM radio, an auto-dimming display that responds to the light in the room, and a smooth plastic globe with a grey cloth over the speaker. The listing describes its LEDs as having reduced blue content; this guide reports that as a specification and makes no claim about what it does for you. At 8 inches across it is a lamp, like the Philips, and it is the alternative to the Philips for anyone who wants the long, slow ramp above everything else.
Buyer’s guide: what the listings do and do not tell you
Where to put it
On the bedside table at about arm’s length, roughly level with your face when you are lying down, and with nothing between the lamp and your eyes. The 500 lux figure the ANTDALIS listing gives is measured at 35 centimetres, which is about the right distance; move any of these units a metre away and the light at your pillow drops to a fraction. No listing here states how its light falls off with distance, so keep whichever you buy close.
Light first, sound second
Every unit here still plays a sound at the alarm time, and that is the backstop that gets you up on the mornings the light does not. If you want to try light alone, three of the listings (Odokee, Vicsoon and ANTDALIS) describe a light-only mode. If you share a bed with someone who gets up later, the light-only mode and a short ramp are the considerate settings.
App or no app
Three listings make a point of needing no app (Odokee, the JALL dimmer and the Dreamegg). One is built around one (Hatch); the others do not say. The trade is between a clock you can set in the dark with your thumb and a clock you can program in detail from the sofa; neither is wrong, but if the clock is for a parent or a child, buttons win.
What a wake-up light is not
It is not a light-therapy lamp. The 10,000-lux boxes sold for bright-light therapy are a different product with different claims, and they are left out of this guide on purpose. A wake-up light is a gentler alarm clock. Whether it changes how you sleep is a question for your doctor, not for an Amazon listing or for this page.
Frequently asked questions
How does a wake-up light work?
You set the alarm time and a ramp length. Starting that many minutes before the alarm, the lamp brightens gradually, usually from a red or orange glow to a white light, and at the alarm time it plays a sound; three of the listings here (Odokee, Vicsoon, ANTDALIS) describe a light-only mode without it. Some (Philips, Lumie, Vicsoon) also run the sequence backwards at night, dimming over a set time as you fall asleep.
How long should the sunrise be?
The listings here offer 5 to 90 minutes. Thirty minutes is the common default and a sensible place to start; go longer if you wake too abruptly, shorter if you find yourself awake and waiting for the alarm.
Will it wake a heavy sleeper?
The light alone may not, which is why every pick keeps a sound alarm. No listing here states how bright it gets except the ANTDALIS (500 lux at 35 cm), so judge by size and by the ramp and sound features. One listing (the Vicsoon) suggests keeping your usual alarm as well for heavy sleepers, and that is honest advice.
Does the Hatch need a subscription?
The Restore 3 listing says the purchase includes a 30-day trial of Hatch+, which is paid after that. The listing does not say which features need the subscription and which work without it, so check Hatch’s own site before buying if that matters to you.
Related guides
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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.