Whoop vs. Fitbit Air: I tested both health and fitness trackers, and this model wins

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Fitness bands are making a comeback, and Google wants in on the party. Recently, I had the opportunity to review the latest Fitbit Air.

$100 fitness band aims popular offers like Whoop as an inexpensive alternative to premium health trackers (annual subscriptions start at $200, go up to $360). While the Whoop caters to an athletically-minded audience, the Fitbit Air goes further, designed for casual users at an affordable price point (and no subscription required).

Also: I’ve been wearing Google’s Fitbit Air to track my health for a week, and it’s a serious Whoop competitor for less money.

The machines are the same. They ditch the screen to find a band type and use apps as a health tracking information center. Both track activity, sleep, recovery, and stress, and, of course, have sophisticated AI assistants (although Google’s AI Health Coach is only available through its premium membership tier).

So which should you buy? That depends on how much you are willing to spend and what you want. While I haven’t tried the Fitbit Air yet, I compared the specs of both devices and considered their product offerings to break down the pros and cons.

At a glance

You should buy a Whoop band if you…

1. You want long battery life

The Whoop’s battery lasts 14 days, while the Fitbit Air only lasts seven. A high-end device will last twice as long as the Fitbit Air, so you won’t have to charge it as often.

2. You want comprehensive data on demand

Google’s Fitbit Air offers a similar health tracking experience to other Google products, such as the Pixel Watch. The app provides insights into your sleep, steps, and fitness. With Google Health Premium, you can use the AI ​​Health Coach to get more data visualizations or compare several metrics at once, but you’ll have to do one more step and ask it to generate this.

Plus: Your Whoop app isn’t just about fitness anymore – you can order blood tests with it now

Whoop, on the other hand, offers extensive data visualization that you don’t have to generate or ask an AI assistant for (Whoop offers its own AI assistant, and was one of the first health wearable companies to do so). It’s a device that tracks daily activities, but with a strong emphasis on how these daily decisions create longevity. Whoop’s Healthspan feature is a good example of this: Whoop users can see how their exercise, stress, and sleep have affected their Whoop physical age and their aging speed, that is, how much their behavior affects their lifespan. It’s a pretty bio-hacky feature you won’t find on the Fitbit Air.

The app maps your recovery and strain to show the relationship between your body’s recovery from extreme exertion. Another chart analyzes your sleep to determine if you are getting enough or not. Whoop’s Health Monitor monitors your key biometrics to detect variations in heart rate, heart rate variability, and body temperature, and notifies you of potential problems or illness.

3. You want more from your health tracker

There are some small, premium features packed into the Whoop that you might not find in Google’s Fitbit Air. For example, Whoop can detect when you’ve traveled to another time zone, provide guidance on jet lag during sleep, bright light, caffeine, and hydration. It specializes in personal grooming, and its offerings are marketed to an affluent, lifestyle-ready audience.

Also: I’ve been wearing the Whoop 5.0 for a month – it combines the best of the Oura Ring with the Apple Watch

Unlike the Fitbit Air, which can only be worn on the wrist, the Whoop also offers bicep and bra straps to track your health data across your body for more accurate data.

You should buy a Fitbit Air if you…

1. You’re looking for a budget-friendly tracker

The Fitbit Air is designed for the general fitness audience — not so much the fitness- and biohacking-obsessed audience of the likes of Whoop. It is also reasonably priced. Aside from the $100 annual Google Health subscription, the Fitbit Air costs $100. In contrast, annual Whoop subscriptions start at $200, with the top “medical grade” tier at $360.

While I enjoyed the premium experience of interacting with Google Health Coach, which is only available through the membership tier, I don’t think it’s necessary for everyone. You can easily use this device without its AI trainer. It will still track your sleep, your workouts, and key biometrics, notifying you of days of low fitness and whether you’re meeting your weekly cardio goals.

Also: iFixit demolishes the ‘most repairable smartwatch’ – and it’s not from Apple

Notably, unlike Whoop, Google doesn’t force you to pay an annual subscription fee. You can take or leave the Google Health Premium membership and still track the basics, like steps, recovery, sleep, and activity.

2. You don’t want data overload

Those who have never used a health tracker before may not need extensive data capture, and all the charts comparing these biometrics may be more stressful than understandable.

Google’s Fitbit Air (and its other devices) are aimed at a casual, enthusiastic crowd that doesn’t care about learning whether their biometrics put them ahead or behind their actual age (as is the case with Whoop’s audience). The Fitbit Air smartly tracks the basics, like steps, weekly cardio, sleep, recovery, and stress — leaving universal data at the door. This makes the device a great first health tracker that will not go overboard.

Also: I tracked 3,000 steps on my Apple Watch, Google Pixel, and Oura Ring – this one was very accurate.

With a Premium Membership, you can ask Google Health Coach to generate more detailed data to visualize your recovery and intensity, or your sleep needs, versus sleep time. I’ve enjoyed using Health Coach to log meals, ask for suggestions on off days, and better understand my sleep and energy scores.

I’ve even imported exercise data from other apps, asking Coach to rewrite weight training exercises into a strength training session I logged into Fitbit. But the Fitbit Air emphasizes the basics, and that’s enough for most people.

3. You want a simple device

The Whoop weighs 26 grams, while the Fitbit Air weighs only 12 grams. This makes the budget-friendly device much lighter and less comfortable to wear throughout the day. I loved wearing the Fitbit Air and found it comfortable. In addition, its neutral belt is integrated with the clothes without calling attention to it. My only gripe is that it is not waterproof, so it was always a little wet after washing my hands or showering with it.

Author’s choice

After reviewing both fitness trackers, thank you very much Fitbit Airs emphasis on accessibility and accuracy. It’s great to see some new competition in a space that’s been largely dominated by Whoop. Throughout my time as a wearables expert, I have seen the growing popularity of screen-less health trackers, such as smart bands and rings, but there are still very few active fitness bands available.

Even better, the Fitbit Air comes with an optional Google Health Premium subscription, unlike Whoop, whose tiered subscriptions are mandatory and expensive.

I would recommend the Fitbit Air as a good first fitness tracker. It has everything you need to keep up with your life, sleep, and work, but deliberately avoids data overload. The Whoop is best suited for fitness trackers and biohacking veterans looking for a durable device with extensive data coverage.