Honest comparison
Is Alarmy still the one to beat?
Alarmy built its identity on the thirty seconds after the alarm goes off, and it is genuinely good at those thirty seconds. Tock is interested in the eight hours before them.
In short
If all you need is a harder alarm, Alarmy has more dismissal tasks than Tock and a free tier, so it is the sensible pick. Tock is worth paying for when you want the night tracked and the ring moved earlier into light sleep, with a mission still standing between you and the off button.
- wake-up missions
- 9wake-up missionsmind, body and place
- wake tones
- 18wake tonesor use your own audio
- minute smart-wake window
- 30minute smart-wake windowit rings early, never late
What Alarmy does better
The hard-to-dismiss alarm. Its whole identity is making you complete a task before the noise stops.
- The sheer range of dismissal tasks, including some Tock does not have
- Available on Android, where most of the mission-alarm audience is
- A free tier exists, which Tock does not offer at all
Runs on iPhone, Android. Tock is iPhone only, on iOS 26 and later.
Alarmy is a very good answer to one question
The question is: how do we stop you switching this off half asleep. Alarmy answers it with a wide range of dismissal tasks, some of which Tock simply does not have, and it leans loud and gamified on purpose.
If that is the whole problem you are trying to solve, you do not need a sleep tracker attached to it.
Tock treats the mission as one part of a night
Tock has nine missions in three families. Mind ones like Math, Digits, Tiles, Order and Phrase. Body ones like Shake and Steps, counted by the pedometer. Place ones where you photograph a saved spot or scan a barcode you chose. It keeps ringing until you solve one.
The difference is what happens before that. Tock tracks the night with the microphone and accelerometer, then uses it to ring you up to 30 minutes early at a lighter moment, so the mission lands on a brain that is already closer to awake.
The free tier is a real reason to stay
Alarmy has one. Tock does not, at all. After onboarding, Tock asks for a subscription from $39.99 a year with a 3-day trial, and there is no cut-down free mode waiting behind that.
That is a fair thing to weigh. Paying for an alarm only makes sense if you want the rest of what comes with it.
Alarmy also runs on Android, where a lot of the mission-alarm audience actually is. Tock is iPhone only.
Two different temperatures at 6am
Alarmy is loud, bright and openly gamified. Tock is dark, quiet and tries to be the least annoying thing in the room while still not letting you back to sleep. Neither is correct. It is a preference, and it is worth knowing which one you are before you pay for either.
| What we compared | Tock | Alarmy |
|---|---|---|
| Range of dismissal tasks | 9 missions, 3 families | A wider task list (stronger here) |
| Free option | None, 3-day trial only | Free tier available (stronger here) |
| Where it runs | iPhone only | iPhone and Android (stronger here) |
| Persistence | Rings until you solve one (about the same) | Rings until the task is done (about the same) |
| The night before | Tracked, and it moves the ring (stronger here) | Not what it is for |
| Morning report | Score, clips, estimated stages (stronger here) | Task done, alarm off |
| Temperature | Quiet and dark (about the same) | Loud and gamified (about the same) |
Which one you should actually pick
Pick Tock if
Pick Tock if you want the mission plus a night that explains why the morning felt the way it did, and you want the alarm to ring on Apple's own framework.
Pick Alarmy if
Pick Alarmy if you want the widest set of ways to be forced out of bed, if you are on Android, or if you are not willing to pay for a sleep app. Its free tier alone settles it for a lot of people.
Questions people ask
Does Tock have a free version?
No. Onboarding ends at a subscription, from $39.99 a year, with a 3-day free trial. If a free alarm is the requirement, Alarmy or the built-in Clock app are the honest answers.
Is Tock as hard to switch off as Alarmy?
It keeps ringing until you solve a mission, so it is hard in the same way. Alarmy has more kinds of task, including some Tock does not offer, so if variety is what makes it stick for you, Alarmy is ahead.
Can I move my Alarmy alarms and settings over?
No. There is no import between them, so you set your alarms again in Tock. It takes a couple of minutes, but it is worth knowing before you switch.
If Tock is not in the running
Plenty of people land here already choosing between two other apps. These go through those pairings without us in them.
Other comparisons
The same treatment, applied to the rest of the category.
- Tock vs Sleep CycleSwitch to Tock if you want the alarm itself to be different: a system alarm that rings on silent and through a Focus, moved up to 30 minutes earlier into a lighter moment, with a task before it stops. Stay with Sleep Cycle if you have years of history in it, or if someone in the house is on Android.
- Tock vs the iPhone Clock appIf you want an alarm and nothing else, keep the Clock app. Tock rings on the same Apple framework it does, so the reliability argument is a draw. Tock is only worth paying for if you want the night before the alarm to change when it goes off, and you want a morning report and a mission before it stops.
- Tock vs Sleep as AndroidSleep as Android is Android only, so an iPhone owner cannot have it at any price. Tock is the nearest thing on iOS in spirit: sleep tracking from the phone, a smart wake window, snore detection and a task before the alarm stops. It is not as deep, and it does not talk to your smart bulbs.
- Tock vs PillowStay with Pillow if you track on your wrist, because it runs on the Watch and Tock does not. Choose Tock if your phone is the only thing on the nightstand and you want the alarm to be the centre of the product rather than a feature of the tracker.
Elsewhere on the site
A different corner of the same problem.
- RoundupsThe best white noise apps, and when a fan beats all of themIf you want one sound forever, a hardware noise machine or a cheap fan beats every app here and costs less over two years. If you want to change what you sleep to, layer sounds together and have the same app wake you up in the morning, Tock is the better pick.
- Wake timesWaking up at 5:30amBedtimes by sleep cycle for a 5:30am alarm.
- BedtimesGoing to bed at 10:00pmWhere to put the alarm after a 10:00pm lights-out.
- Sleep by ageHow much sleep preschoolers needThe American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that children aged 3 to 5 years sleep 10 to 13 hours per 24 hours, including naps, on a regular basis. This is the final band where daytime sleep counts toward the total; from age 6 the figures are given per night.
- NapsThe 60 minute napA 60 minute nap includes a substantial amount of slow wave sleep, which is useful for recovery and for some kinds of memory, and it usually ends before the cycle completes. That means the benefit is real and the wake-up is often groggy, so it suits situations where the hour afterwards is flexible.
- Wake tonesSunrise alarmA sunrise alarm clock is a bedside lamp that brightens over roughly 20 to 30 minutes before your set time, and the light is the part you are paying for. Tock is an iPhone app with no light hardware at all, so it takes the timing half instead: a soft wake tone rung at a lighter moment inside the last 30 minutes rather than at a fixed time.
The alarm is the part we actually rebuilt
Tock rings on silent and through a Focus because it is a system alarm, moves earlier when it finds a lighter moment, and asks for one small task before it stops.