If you search for alarm apps on the Google Play Store, you'll find a lot of options available. It's hard to find ones that go above and beyond the stock Android alarm clock, so we've hunted down the top alarm apps for Android and compiled them here for you.

Here are the best alarm clock apps for Android, including how each one stands out.

1. Early Rise Alarm Clock

If you hate the shrill sound of your alarm clock when you wake up, try the Early Rise Alarm Clock app. Instead of loud beeps and buzzes, this alarm uses natural sounds and meditation guides to help you start your day. You can choose what type of meditation you wake up to, from relaxing and de-stressing to keeping your anxiety down. This makes Early Rise the best alarm app for relaxing, calm mornings.

Unfortunately, many features are locked behind a paywall. Without paying, you can only select from four soundscapes and one meditation course. However, the cost of the premium plan isn't much and unlocks everything at once.

Download: Early Rise Alarm Clock (Free, premium version available)

2. Alarm Clock Beyond

If you struggle to get out of bed in the morning and need some motivating words, Alarm Clock Beyond is the Android alarm for you. It lets you wake up to a wide range of choices: your ringtone, music, playlists, and online radio. You can customize how gradually the alarm fades in and whether you're allowed to snooze it.

To assist your wake-up, you can have the app dish out some words of your choosing, spoken in a soft automated voice. Plus, you can even add some challenges like math problems or walking targets that you must complete before the alarm turns off.

Download: Alarm Clock Beyond (Free, premium version available)

3. Alarm Clock Xtreme

Alarm Clock Xtreme is the best alarm app for Android phones when it comes to customization. You can set how you turn off the alarm, from tapping the screen to shaking the phone. You can make a puzzle pop up for you to solve, or have an app launch when you dismiss the alarm.

Plus, Alarm Clock Xtreme has some daily planning tools you can use to better schedule your day. You can sync the app up with your calendar to see any upcoming events and set reminders for important tasks. These reminders have a lot of customization available; you can change the alert tone for each one and adjust how much of the screen they take up when they fire.

Download: Alarm Clock Extreme (Free, premium version available)

4. Alarmy

It's all too easy to keep snoozing your alarm and stay in bed. Overcome that challenge thanks to Alarmy. It sets you missions to complete in the morning, like a memory puzzle, squat challenge, or math question. You need to be successful to make them alarm turn off, by which time you should be well awake.

Alarmy can also provide a wake-up check, to make sure that you haven't fallen back to sleep after turning off your alarm. This is perfect for those days when you really need to get out of bed for an appointment or meeting.

Download: Alarmy (Free, subscription available)

5. Sleep Cycle

Sleep Cycle is an alarm that can track your sleep quality. All you have to do is sleep with it next to you on the bed and it tracks sleep behavior using your phone's microphone to detect movement.

Once it gets to know you, Sleep Cycle knows when you're in the lightest phase of sleep. It uses this knowledge to wake you up in that phase, which minimizes grogginess and makes you feel well-rested and relaxed. You can set a custom wake window that Sleep Cycle will try to stay within.

Other features include sleep notes, in-depth graphs, and statistics to help you analyze what affects your sleep. For instance, if you're an avid coffee drinker, you can take note of when you have a late-night drink, then compare the notes to your statistics to see if caffeine is disrupting your sleep.

Download: Sleep Cycle (Free, subscription available)

6. AMdroid

AMdroid has a great selection of features that you don't find in every alarm clock app. For example, you can set wake up challenges, customizable alarm profiles, and an option to automatically disable alarms on public holidays.

One of its smartest features is its location awareness. If you're not at a set location when an alarm triggers, it won't sound. This means no more stray exercise alarms going off when you're out at a party, for example.

Download: AMdroid (Free)

7. Loud Alarm Clock

If there's something that you desperately need to wake up in time for, try out Loud Alarm Clock. As the name suggests, it's an incredibly loud alarm, of which there's no chance you'll sleep through. This is because it contains volume-boosted sound files, and mixes up the alarm sound so that you don't get used to it.

You probably don't want to use this every day, simply because the volume is obnoxious and it's not a pleasant way to wake up, but it's a great choice for the occasional use.

Download: Loud Alarm Clock (Free, premium version available)

8. AlarmMon

AlarmMon is one of the most fun-loving alarm apps on Android. It has a range of characters you can choose from for your alarm. If you're a light sleeper, you can use a quiet character with a fun mini-game to play to wake you up.

If you sleep through everything, you can select a noisier character who will play a loud animation until you shut it up. This ranges from loud animal noises to a rendition of the Psycho theme, making AlarmMon a customizable evil alarm clock. Don't worry; it's only as evil as you allow it to be!

The alarm also has a history feature that details what time the alarm went off, which character alarm you used, and how long it took for you to turn the alarm off. This makes AlarmMon a great way to see where you're slipping on your alarms and when you may need a louder character to get you out of bed.

Download: AlarmMon (Free, in-app purchases available)

9. Early Bird Alarm Clock

If you find it hard to pick one sound to wake up to, why not choose them all? Early Bird Alarm Clock lets you pick more than one sound as an alarm. Then, when it goes off, it randomly picks one of the sounds to play. If you find that you tend to sleep through an alarm as your body adjusts to it, use this app to mix it up and keep you on your toes.

Early Bird comes with additional handy features, such as the local weather and an egg timer. Early Bird also keeps track of every alarm that goes off, how long it sounded for before you turned it off, and how many times you hit the snooze button.

Download: Early Bird Alarm Clock (Free, in-app purchases available)

10. Sleep as Android

Sleep As Android is all about getting a good night's sleep. If you burn the midnight oil a little too much, the app can alert you that it's bedtime so that you don't miss it.

Once you're asleep, Sleep As Android gets to work. It uses the microphone to check how deep your sleep is and compares this to your sleep cycles. Once it gets an idea of how you sleep, it can wake you up in the lighter phases to stop you from feeling groggy.

To achieve this, Sleep As Android uses a "smart period" for alarms. The app will choose the optimal time during that period to wake you up, instead of going off at a specific time. For instance, an alarm set at 8am with a smart period of 30 minutes will go off between 8:00 and 8:30, depending on when it's best.

Download: Sleep as Android (Free, premium version available)

Enhancing Your Alarm for Better Mornings

While the stock alarm feature in Android is useful, it may not appeal to everyone's tastes. Thankfully, there are lots of high-quality alarm apps on the Play Store, whether you're looking for meditation advice or a sleep quality monitor.

Alternatively, if you don't like to keep your phone next to your bed, consider investing in a smart alarm clock.