5 Fitness Trackers That Don’t Lock Core Features Behind A Monthly Subscription

Pricing of fitness trackers can be a bit confusing. For example, let’s say the $399 Oura Ring 5 seems to be within your budget at first glance. But to make it remotely useful, you’ll have to pay an extra $6 per month or $70 per year. After just two years your total cost increases to approximately $550. (And if you hang onto it for five years, you’re looking at at least $750.)

Ora is not even the most serious subscription-based offender in this area. The popular screenless fitness tracking band Whoop requires a subscription starting at $199 per year. Granted, this includes the device itself, unlike others. But you don’t need to be a math expert to understand how quickly its costs can add up over the long term.

That’s why Google’s recently released Fitbit Air is so interesting. It’s basically a whoop, with a one-time cost of $100. You can use most of its features without any additional subscription. What a concept! Let’s take a closer look at the landscape following Fitbit Air’s entry to see where you can cut through the paywall noise.

The Fitbit Air, starting at just $100, is a direct competitor to the company’s Whoop. Importantly, Google’s screenless band gives you all of its core features without any monthly fees. Only Gemini-powered Al Coach and other features (like workout videos) require a Google Health Premium subscription. If you opt for this, you will have to pay $10 per month or $100 per year. But still, it’s more of an add-on than a necessity.

The device’s battery life is about seven days, which is half the Whoop’s 14-day uptime. But the Fitbit Air charges quickly, so this shouldn’t be a big deal. For example, our review unit went from 36 percent to 58 percent in just five minutes.

The Fitbit Air works with both Android and iOS phones. However, it requires the Google Health app and won’t sync natively with Apple Health.

Unlike the Fitbit Air and Whoop, the Vivosmart 5 has a narrow, monochrome OLED display. This, combined with its slim profile, makes it a solid way to split the difference between a full-on fitness watch and a screenless tracking band.

The device logs your heart rhythm, sleep, steps and workouts. And Garmin’s Body Battery Score estimates how long to wait before your next intense workout. Like the Fitbit Air and Whoop, the VivoSmart 5 lacks built-in GPS and instead uses GPS connected through your paired phone.

The best part is that there are no monthly fees, so your $150 upfront investment unlocks everything the device can do.

The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is compatible with Android and iOS. Its companion Garmin Connect app can sync with Apple Health and Google Health.

Although it has its limitations, the $400 Samsung Galaxy Ring also works 100 percent of the time without the monthly fee. It tracks sleep (duration, phase and skin temperature) and activity. It can automatically detect walking and running and provide detailed metrics for both. On a single charge it can last for at least six days.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy Ring doesn’t work with iPhones. And while it works fine with Android phones from other manufacturers, the Galaxy AI features and its double-pinch gesture controls require a Samsung device.

Okay, maybe we’re cheating a little by including a full-fledged smartwatch here. But the Apple Watch Series 11 has plenty of health-tracking features without the monthly fee.

This latest model has a longer battery life than the previous generation: up to 24 hours with regular use. On the health front, this model adds high blood pressure alert. The watch can monitor your heart rate and blood oxygen levels, track your sleep (including sleep scores), and log a long list of workouts.

The downside is that the Apple Watch Series 11 starts at a hefty $400. It’s also only for iOS, so people with Android phones miss out.

At the opposite end of the pricing spectrum is the Xiaomi Smart Band 10. The budget fitness tracker costs around $50 and has no subscription fee. It’s hard to beat him.

The device has a larger, brighter and sharper display with a better screen-to-body ratio than its predecessor. It covers the basics including heart rate monitoring and sleep tracking. It can last for 21 days on a single charge. As a unique bonus, you can also wear it as a necklace or attach it to your shoes.

What has been compromised at this extremely low price? First of all, the Xiaomi Smart Band 10 lacks built-in GPS. Its set of sensors is also limited: it can’t sense ECG, blood pressure, skin temperature, barometer, altimeter, or HRV. Its sleep tracking also gets mixed reviews. This isn’t the device if you want premium health monitoring; It’s more about keeping costs down.

The Xiaomi Smart Band 10 comes bundled with the Mi Fitness app, which is available on iOS and Android.