The Best White Noise Machines, Sleep Apps, and YouTube Videos for Great Sleep Anywhere

This white noise machine delivers lots of features for its $20 price point. While a few Amazon customers mention too much range between volume settings and that defaults need resetting after it’s plugged back in, overall it’s a great value, with a 4.1 rating. There are five nature sounds in addition to straight up white noise and a timer that can be set for 15, 30 or 60 minutes. It’s great for travel—it comes with a 110-240V AC adaptor to use internationally—plus it’s battery operated and compact at about 4 inches wide. The buttons are on top rather than the front, which makes it easier to turn off if you’re semi-awake and want to snooze in silence a little longer. Snooze buttons were invented for a reason. 

Our pick for best overall noise machine is this little guy’s much bigger older sibling, but we’re hard-pressed to find anything better for travel. It’s powerful despite its size—just under 3 inches wide and less than five ounces, it fits in the palm of your hand. Features include 10 sounds, a swivel design that allows you to point it in the direction of your pillow, and a wireless Bluetooth speaker with a built-in microphone. It’s also rechargeable and lasts for 16 hours using white noise or about six hours for other audio. The volume adjusts at one-decibel increments, too, so you don’t have to deal with it being louder than necessary. It’s available in white or black with silver detail, and comes with a USB power cable. Make space in your carry-on for this dream machine. 

The Sound Sleep machine has 30 non-looping recordings, excellent sound, and the smarts to gauge the level of noise in your environment and adjust accordingly. It also has a higher price tag than our other picks. The main reason to shell out extra cash for the Sound Sleep machine is for its high-fidelity speakers and quality of sound. It has other plusses too, including the ability to connect to earbuds or a sleep pillow, a timer ranging from 30- to 120-minutes, and an auto-dimming front panel. This is the white noise machine you need if you’re visiting an all-night kind of city like Manhattan, Hong Kong, or Mumbai. 

It’s hard to overlook nearly 45,000 reviews and a five-star rating when considering the awesomeness of an app. Android users go ga-ga for this freebie, and we bet you’ll have a clue as to why the word “generator” is in its name. The average Joe (or Josephine) can play DJ and create custom white-noise mixes by adjusting the sound effects. Even better: You don’t need to be a soundboard master to play. It’s a snap to start with chirping birds and add in, say, a babbling brook. The downside is that free means ads at the bottom of the screen, but the timer is a bonus. You really can’t put a price on free sleep. 

The Atmosphere Android app has an average five-star rating from about 45,000 users, and customizable sound mixes—with more than 100 recordings available. Atmosphere is a 2.0 white noise app, following the trend toward pink noise rather than high-octane white noise (see below for the difference). The catalog of sounds has options including coffee shop chatter, the whoosh of a passing train, and standard nature sounds, like a beach and forest. There’s also a timer to safeguard against accidental phone battery drains. Not bad for a mere $2.49. Note, this app has a free option with fewer features and is also available for IOS.

The Rain Rain Sleep app has been around for ages, and fans stand by the adage of “don’t mess with what works.” It comes with 35 versions of—you guessed it—rain recordings, with choices such as “rain on a tent” and “rain dripping” and “rain in the car” to lull you to sleep. The best feature (which other apps charge for) is the custom mixing to adjust volume and dream up your ultimate rain-sound fantasy, like a crackling campfire with rain in the background. Like most freebie apps it includes ads, but with this, they’re fairly small and at the bottom. There’s also a fade-out timer and options to control sound fade and balance. This app is the second best thing to taking a nap during a real rainstorm. 

Sleepers who want fun features like noise mixing tools that are easy to figure out but don’t want to compromise on quality of sound should take a look at White Noise. There are 40 tracks to try out in the full version (there’s also a free and pro option available), plus more than 20 alarm sounds with fade-in and background playback, which allows you to listen to frogs croaking or cats purring while using other apps. Another perk: The platform gives hopeful white-noise-mixing stars a place to show off and share recordings with other users. The full version of the app is $1.99, and is also available for Android. Sleep tight!