🔊 27 free sounds · iPhone & Android
Alarm Sounds
Find an alarm sound that actually wakes you up. Answer one question, hear your sound, download it free.
Which alarm sound fits you?
The finder above gives these answers. Here they are all at once, best pick first.
If a whisper wakes you
Pick something melodic and soft. You don’t need volume, and a gentle start leaves you less groggy.
- Music box 2/5 · slow waltz melody
- Wind chimes 1/5 · random soft chimes
- Birds chirping 1/5 · steady birdsong
- Harp glissando 2/5 · rising harp sweeps
- Singing bowl 1/5 · one long, fading tone
If you’re a normal sleeper
Go for a clear sound with a tune or a rhythm: easy to notice, not stressful.
- Reveille (bugle call) 4/5 · fast trumpet melody
- Rooster 3/5 · one crow (repeats)
- Cuckoo clock 3/5 · twelve "cuckoo" calls
- Church bells 3/5 · deep, ringing strikes
- Old phone ring 4/5 · ring, pause, ring
If you sleep through everything
You need loud, high and sudden. These hit hard from the first second.
- Air raid siren 5/5 · rises, holds, falls
- Shrill alarm clock 5/5 · piercing beeps, slowly rising
- Air horn 5/5 · one huge blast (repeats)
- Old alarm clock 4/5 · nonstop bell ringing
- Dog bark 4/5 · bark and growl (repeats)
If you just want to laugh
Silly sounds grab your attention because they don’t belong in your bedroom.
- Duck quack 2/5 · quacks, then a takeoff
- Rubber chicken 3/5 · squeaky squawks
- Cat meow 2/5 · one meow (repeats)
- Slide whistle 3/5 · whistle up, whistle down
- Cartoon boing 2/5 · boing! (repeats)
Browse alarm sounds by type
All 27 alarm sounds, strongest first
| Sound | Wake power | Loudness | Length | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air raid siren | 5/5 | Very loud | 0:30 | Loud |
| Shrill alarm clock | 5/5 | Very loud | 0:54 | Loud |
| Air horn | 5/5 | Loud | 0:03 | Loud |
| Dog bark | 4/5 | Very loud | 0:03 | Funny |
| Digital alarm clock | 4/5 | Loud | 0:24 | Loud |
| 1920s klaxon horn | 4/5 | Loud | 0:22 | Loud |
| Old phone ring | 4/5 | Loud | 1:01 | Classic |
| School bell | 4/5 | Medium | 0:20 | Classic |
| Reveille (bugle call) | 4/5 | Medium | 0:48 | Classic |
| Alarm clock buzzer | 4/5 | Medium | 1:03 | Loud |
| Old alarm clock | 4/5 | Soft | 0:31 | Classic |
| Slide whistle | 3/5 | Very loud | 0:06 | Funny |
| Rubber chicken | 3/5 | Very loud | 0:05 | Funny |
| Rooster | 3/5 | Loud | 0:02 | Nature |
| Church bells | 3/5 | Loud | 0:48 | Classic |
| Cuckoo clock | 3/5 | Medium | 0:11 | Classic |
| Harp glissando | 2/5 | Loud | 0:35 | Gentle |
| Kalimba | 2/5 | Loud | 0:11 | Gentle |
| Music box | 2/5 | Loud | 0:59 | Gentle |
| Cat meow | 2/5 | Loud | 0:02 | Funny |
| Cartoon boing | 2/5 | Loud | 0:02 | Funny |
| Duck quack | 2/5 | Medium | 0:26 | Funny |
| Ocean waves | 1/5 | Medium | 1:37 | Nature |
| Rain | 1/5 | Soft | 0:42 | Nature |
| Birds chirping | 1/5 | Soft | 0:50 | Nature |
| Wind chimes | 1/5 | Soft | 1:29 | Gentle |
| Singing bowl | 1/5 | Soft | 1:12 | Gentle |
How we rate the sounds
Same volume, fair comparison
Recordings come in at very different volumes. We raised or lowered each file so its loudest moment hits the same level (−1 dB), and changed nothing else. Now a "loud" label means the sound itself is loud.
Measured, not guessed
For every sound we measure its length, its loudness (the level of its loudest 10%) and how it starts: full blast right away, or slowly fading in. Those numbers are on every sound’s page.
Wake power, 1 to 5
Our own rating of how hard a sound is to sleep through, based on those measurements plus how sharp and high it is. 1 = only light sleepers will notice, 5 = nobody sleeps through this.
Beeps or melodies? What the research says
In a 2020 study from RMIT University in Australia, people who woke up to a melodic alarm reported less morning grogginess than people who woke up to a harsh beep. The researchers think a melody's rising and falling notes help the brain come out of sleep, while a sudden beep can confuse it.
Our take: if you wake up easily, try a melodic sound like the music box orreveille. If you sleep through everything, a beep or bell still wins, so start with the loud alarm sounds.
Source: McFarlane et al., "Alarm tones, music and their elements", PLOS ONE, 2020.
Where the sounds come from
Every sound is a real recording shared on Freesound under CC0, the public domain license. That means they are free for you to download and use however you like. We picked, volume-matched, measured and described them, and each sound’s page credits the person who recorded it.
Questions people ask
What is the best alarm sound to wake up to?
It depends on how deeply you sleep. For most people a melodic sound (like reveille or a music box) is a good start: a 2020 RMIT University study linked melodic alarms to less grogginess than harsh beeps. Heavy sleepers need something loud with a sharp start, like the air horn or the shrill alarm clock. The finder above picks one for you.
Are these alarm sounds free to use?
Yes. Every sound is a CC0 (public domain) recording from Freesound, so you can use it for anything, even in your own videos or apps, without asking or paying. We still credit each recordist on the sound’s page.
Why are there two download files?
iPhones use the .m4r ringtone format, which can be at most 40 seconds long; longer sounds are cut to 30 seconds with a short fade. Android phones (and most other devices) play the .m4a file, which is the full-length sound.
How do I set a downloaded sound as my alarm?
On Android, open the Clock app, tap your alarm’s sound and add the downloaded file. On iPhone, add the .m4r file as a ringtone (with GarageBand or a Mac), then choose it in Clock → Alarm → Sound. Our guide has every step.
Can I compare how loud the sounds are?
Yes. We raised or lowered every file so its loudest moment hits the same level, so the loudness labels compare the sounds themselves, not how loudly they were recorded. Your phone’s alarm volume still decides how loud they play.