The best smart alarm clocks
It doesn’t matter if you’re an early bird or a night owl, having a trusty alarm clock on your bedside table is a great way of maintaining a healthy sleep schedule. While the blue light from late-night smartphone sessions could disrupt your natural sleep-wake cycle, that doesn’t mean you have to banish all forms of technology from the bedroom.
One of the most convenient ways to upgrade your sleeping setup is by investing in a smart alarm clock. These internet-connected devices not only show you the time but also let you set alerts, and listen to music or news briefings with your morning coffee.
They can also control other smart home gadgets like lights, locks, cameras and thermostats with quick voice commands, all while leaving your smartphone away from your bedside. We recommend looking into the best sunrise alarm clocks and considering DAB radios with alarm functions. To reduce blue light exposure, consider switching your phone to a Kindle to read before you sleep.
Here are the best smart alarm clocks to buy right now:
How the GH Tech Team tests smart alarm clocks
We test the best smart clocks by setting them up in a bedroom and scheduling multiple daily alarms to find out how effective they are at helping us to wake up in the morning.
But that’s not all: we also check out the capabilities of the voice assistant, the speaker volume and build quality, while (if applicable) judging how clear and smooth the screen is to use. Lastly, we find out how easily they integrate with other smart home devices.
Amazon Echo Spot (2024)
The 2024 version of the Amazon Echo Spot is one of our favourite smart alarm clocks for its blend of functionality and style to suit any bedroom. Its compact design makes it a great fit for a bedside table, and we can confirm it won't take up much space at all. It has a dinky 2.83-inch screen to comfortably display essential information like the time, weather, and your next alarm. You can also personalise the clock face to your preferences.
What makes the Echo Spot particularly appealing is its versatility. It not only functions as a reliable alarm clock but also integrates smoothly into Alexa-based smart home setups. You can easily set alarms using voice commands, and the device can gently wake you with your favourite music or radio station. At night, the screen dims automatically, so you can still see the time without it lighting up the whole room.
While the audio performance may not match larger speakers like the Echo or Echo Dot, it's good enough for casual listening in smaller spaces like bedrooms or offices. We like that its smart functionality makes it more than just an alarm clock, but that it doesn't add a camera for calls, something that's arguably unnecessary for your bedside.
Amazon Echo Show 5
With Alexa software smarts, the Show 5 is a wifi-connected display that’s also one of our favourite bedside smart clocks.
Unlike the Echo Dot with Clock, this has a five-inch touchscreen so you can access apps like Netflix, Audible, Prime Video or Spotify and customise what pictures are showing (via Amazon Photos or Facebook) on the screen alongside the time and weather.
It can also be controlled with your voice instead of touch, used to set reminders, hear the news, set timers or interact with other Alexa devices installed around your home, like the Ring Video Doorbell or the Amazon smart plug. Who is it for? Anyone who wants an Alexa-powered alarm clock that’s also a lovely little smart display.
Amazon Echo Show 8
If you want an even larger screen and prefer Amazon's voice assistant over Google, we'd advise going for the Echo Show 8. As the name suggests, you’re getting a more expansive 8-inch colour touch display, plus a few upgrades over its smaller sibling.
Compared to the Echo Show 5, the built-in camera is 13MP instead of 2MP, an adaptive mode adjusts screen brightness and colour to your surroundings, it has a faster processor, and it has better speakers with support for spatial audio. That’s about it, though, the Echo Show 8 is essentially a bulkier Echo Show 5 and it’s also identical in terms of its smart home compatibility, app support and button layout.
This model tracks your physical movements on a video call, but we don’t think that’s too much of a big deal when it comes to using it as an alarm clock. Still, for anyone who loves Alexa and finds a big screen a bit more comfortable to look at, this is one of the best options.
Amazon Echo Dot
One of Amazon's most affordable speakers, the Echo Dot has an identical design as the version with the clock, but this can only tell you the time via the Alexa voice assistant.
While we much prefer the Echo Dot with Clock as a bedside helper, this is a great budget-friendly option if you don't mind not getting the LED display.
For the most compact option Amazon makes, you could also pick the Echo Pop, which is about half the size of an Echo Dot. It's by far the most affordable way to get Alexa integrated into your home setup.
What to consider when buying a smart alarm clock
Don't buy before considering these points:
Voice assistant
You can control all the smart alarm clocks on our list with your voice, and they run on either Google Assistant (triggered with the term “Hey Google”) or Alexa (“triggered with the word “Alexa”). Google doesn’t let you change the wake word, but Alexa can be changed to Amazon, Computer, Echo or Ziggy.
In day-to-day use, the two assistants are almost identical in terms of how they work and reliability. So, choose the one that fits best with the rest of the tech around your home as the assistant and gadgets of the same brand are designed to connect seamlessly. If you have lots of Amazon products installed, they will work best with Alexa. The same is true of Google.
Display
You can physically see the time on all our favourite smart alarm clocks – but not all come with a large touch screen.
That means you’ll need to consider what you need from the device. If you want it to double as an entertainment hub for watching videos or work as a digital photo frame, get a more powerful model like the Nest Hub or Echo Show, but if it’s just the basics you’re after, ditch the screen to keep costs down.
Dimensions
If your bedside table has limited space, you’ll need to consider the size of the alarm clock. None of our top choices are huge (if you have zero room you can check out the wall-mountable Echo Show 15) but some models are certainly more discreet.
The Echo Dot is a ball shape that blends into your decor due to its smaller stature, but larger devices like the Echo Show 8 or Google Nest Hub are impossible to miss.
Power
A small but important consideration: all of the smart alarm clocks on our list are wired, so they will all need to be placed close to a plug socket.
App support
The software is limited on basic smart alarm clocks, but the big-screen models are also full-blown smart speakers and displays that can access apps like Netflix, Prime Video, Audible, Spotify, YouTube, Philips Hue and Twitch.
Each model on our list has an official app (Alexa or Google Home) that’s used to change settings and manage routines, but only the larger devices with screens can act as entertainment hubs, make video calls, view daily calendars, show your family photos or read dinner recipes.
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