Do You Really Need a Fitness Tracker Subscription?
WHOOP and Oura won't work fully without a membership, and Fitbit dangles Premium. Here's what these subscriptions really buy — and how to get excellent tracking without paying one.
Draft · Openly AI-powered
The fitness-tracker industry has quietly discovered recurring revenue. Two of its most talked-about products — WHOOP and the Oura Ring — don't fully work without a paid membership, and Fitbit nudges every user toward its Premium tier. Before you sign up for a bill that renews forever, it's worth understanding what these subscriptions actually get you.
The three models
Subscription-only (WHOOP). WHOOP doesn't sell hardware at all — you buy a membership from $199/year, and the band is a paperweight the moment you stop paying. The upside is the best recovery and strain coaching in the category. The downside is that you never actually own anything.
Membership-required (Oura). You buy the Oura Ring outright ($399+), but almost all of its data lives behind a $5.99/month membership. Cancel and you're left with three basic daily scores. You've paid for the hardware and still can't use it fully for free.
Free-core, paid-extras (Fitbit). Fitbit keeps the essentials — heart rate, sleep stages, SpO2, AFib checks — free forever, and sells Premium ($9.99/month) for deeper trends, a Gemini-powered coach, and guided content. Crucially, you can ignore Premium and still get a genuinely useful device.
When a subscription is worth it
Pay for one only if you'll actually use what it unlocks. WHOOP earns its fee for serious athletes who live by its recovery coaching. Oura's membership makes sense if sleep and readiness are your whole reason for buying and you value its polished insights. Fitbit Premium is worth it if you want the coaching and long-term trends — most people don't need it.
How to track your health for free
If subscriptions rankle, you have excellent options. The Amazfit Active 2 gives you built-in GPS and full tracking for $99 with nothing to pay afterward. The Xiaomi Smart Band 10 and Samsung Galaxy Fit3 cover the basics for under $60. Garmin's Vivosmart 5 even gives away Body Battery and advanced sleep with no paywall. And the Fitbit Air delivers WHOOP-style screen-free tracking for a one-time $99.
The honest bottom line: a subscription buys you deeper coaching and analysis, not fundamentally better raw data. For most buyers, a good buy-once tracker is the smarter long-term value. See our subscription-free picks, or weigh the trade-off directly in our Fitbit Air vs WHOOP 5.0 comparison.