COMPARISON
Solace Dusk vs f.lux and Windows Night Light
A bright, blue-white screen at 11 PM is harsh. Windows has a fix built in, f.lux has been the classic answer for years, and Solace Dusk is our paid option. Here's how they compare. Competitor facts come from Microsoft's and f.lux's own pages, checked October 10, 2026. Solace Dusk facts come from our own hands-on test on Windows 11.
At a glance
| Solace Dusk | f.lux | Windows Night Light | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $13.79 one-time, with 12 months of support | Free for personal use (also allowed on a work PC with your employer's permission). Corporate Edition is $24 per device for the first 10, then $12 per device, with 1 year of updates | Free, built into Windows 10 and 11 |
| Schedule | Sunrise and sunset for your city or coordinates, or set times by hand | Follows your location's sunset | Sunset to sunrise, or set hours |
| Colour control | Separate day and night temperatures (2500 to 6600 K in the app), plus transition length and offset | Presets from Ember (1200 K) to Sunlight (5500 K) and custom sliders. Warmer modes need "Expand Color Range" (admin and a reboot) | One Strength slider |
| Dimming | Day and night brightness (10 to 100%) | Alt+PgDn / Alt+PgUp hotkeys | Not part of Night Light |
| Pause | Per-app and fullscreen pause settings are in the app. The product page also lists disabling from the tray (we didn't test that) | Disable for an hour, and Movie Mode (2.5 hours) | Turn off by hand |
| Hotkeys | Toggle and warmth/brightness nudges (off until you set them) | Yes | Not documented |
| City lookup | Offline, built-in list (GeoNames cities) | You set your location in f.lux; its own FAQ calls the automatic setting "pretty bad", especially outside the USA | "Sunset to sunrise" follows Windows' sunset times for your location |
| Updates and network | No updater and no network calls (0 connections in our test) | Personal version updates itself. Corporate Edition turns off auto-updates and website interactions | Windows Update |
| Code-signed | No (we publish a SHA-256 to verify) | Not stated | Part of Windows |
Sources: Microsoft Support: Night light, f.lux FAQ, f.lux Corporate Edition, Solace Dusk.
What we measured in Solace Dusk
We tested on Windows 11 (Intel Arc, 2880x1800):
- Typing "Denver" found the city offline, with sunrise at 7:04 AM and sunset at 6:28 PM for October 10. Those times are correct. Coordinates and manual times worked too.
- Night mode at 3900 K and 85% applied right away, and switching back to day restored 6600 K at 100%. A 24-hour preview ran through day, night and day in about 10 seconds.
- A network monitor on the app for its whole run, including city searches, saw zero connections.
- No account, no sign-in and no update option.
- We confirmed the per-app pause, the fullscreen pause and the hotkey settings are all in the app. We didn't trigger them on our test PC, so we're not claiming more than that.
- Known gaps: very warm settings may need Windows' extended gamma range, which needs admin approval once. The spelling "Ulaanbaatar" isn't found, but "Ulan Bator" is. Screen-reader labels are weak.
When Windows Night Light is enough
- Windows Night Light works on your PC, and one slider is enough. Then use it. It's built in and needs no install.
When Solace Dusk makes sense
- When Night Light is broken or stuck after a driver update. Dusk works through the display gamma ramp rather than the Night Light toggle. We haven't tested it against every broken driver, so treat it as worth trying, not a guaranteed fix.
- When you want warmth and dimming on one schedule, with a manual schedule if you work nights.
- On locked-down or privacy-sensitive PCs. Dusk has no updater, no account and no network calls, and your location never leaves the PC.
- For business use at a lower cost. Dusk is $13.79 one-time, while f.lux Corporate is $24 a device for the first 10.
Heads-up: the ZIP is unsigned, so SmartScreen will warn you on first launch. Check the SHA-256 on the product page. Dusk changes screen colour, not your monitor's backlight, and it isn't a medical or sleep treatment.
Try it
Solace Dusk, $13.79 one-time →
You get 12 months of support and a 14-day refund if the package can't start its core check (see the purchase terms on the product page).
Questions: solacesoftware@smilingface.cloud.