I’ve tested most of the popular fitness trackers on the market, and here are my top recommendations that match your fitness level
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I have spent years testing fitness trackers, and these are the top models to help you reach your personal goals.
Whether you are preparing for a marathon or starting a workout routine for the first time in months, a fitness tracker provides health and exercise data to help you better understand your progress. Most devices include heart rate monitoring, GPS, and activity tracking, while many also offer insights into your sleep and recovery. I regularly evaluate fitness trackers and smartwatches, having tested dozens over the years. Below, I share some of the best options on the market along with advice on finding one that suits your specific needs.
Best overall
Garmin Vivoactive 6
$229.99
$299.99
Amazon
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Best for beginners
Fitbit Charge 6
$85.45
$159.95
Amazon
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Best screenless
Google Fitbit Air
$undefined
$99.99
Amazon
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Best for runners
Garmin Forerunner 570
$549.99
$547.00
Amazon
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The best fitness trackers of 2026
My top recommendations come from well-known brands like Fitbit, Apple, and Garmin. Every device on this list was provided by the manufacturer for testing purposes.
The Garmin Vivoactive 6 features a subtle, understated aesthetic while retaining many of the brand’s most powerful features.
The Garmin Vivoactive 6 strikes an excellent balance between fitness tracking, smartwatch functionality, battery life, and price, all housed in an accessible design. During my evaluation, I was consistently impressed by the depth and variety of its features, especially considering this is one of Garmin’s more budget-friendly watches.
The Vivoactive 6 monitors your health, sleep, and fitness activity, providing detailed metrics and analysis for each. The fitness tracking is particularly strong, offering tools like Body Battery, workout recovery estimates, Garmin PacePro, and Garmin Coach, which includes running and strength training programs.
One standout feature I enjoy is the workout animation; the watch displays short videos of a silhouette demonstrating specific exercises. This is most prominent during Garmin Connect workouts—such as HIIT, cardio, strength, and yoga—but I find it most useful for Move Alerts. The watch reminds me to move, offers a few activity options, and then plays an animation of that movement to follow. It made taking breaks at my desk much more engaging.
The Garmin Connect app is less intuitive than those from competitors like Fitbit and Apple, so be sure to give yourself time to get accustomed to it before making a final judgment.
The Fitbit Charge 6 is slim and subtle on the wrist.
Many staffers use and appreciate Fitbit trackers for their lightweight construction and user-friendly features. The Charge 6 is a compact, beginner-oriented device that is both light on the wrist and light on the wallet. It feels intuitive after only a few minutes of navigating the watch and app, which feature bright, colorful, and easy-to-read graphs and metrics.
The Charge 6 tracks and displays your heart rate, daily step count, distance, fitness activities, calories burned, and nightly sleep. It does not monitor advanced running statistics like cadence, stride length, ground contact time, or vertical oscillation as some of my other selections do.
New additions to the Charge 6 include Google Wallet, Google Maps navigation, and YouTube Music controls. It also features a side button on the left that returns you to the home screen or pauses your workout. One important detail to note is that you cannot power off the device; instead, it enters a power-saver mode after 10 minutes of inactivity.
The Amazfit Active 2 is one of the most attractive fitness trackers at this price point.
The Amazfit Active 2 offers such incredible value that I was initially skeptical, but after weeks of testing, I highly recommend it. While the software could use some refinement, every other aspect is excellent for a tracker at this price.
The build quality is the standout feature; it does not look or feel like a $100 device. It features a medium-sized, bright screen encased in stainless steel that looks sleek and sophisticated, arguably more so than the Fitbit Charge 6 or Garmin Vivoactive 6. The watch also includes a built-in speaker, allowing it to announce metrics like mileage during runs or turn-by-turn directions during navigation.
The primary drawback is the software, as the Zepp app could benefit from further polish. Like Garmin, it presents a vast amount of data and settings, which can become confusing as you explore deeper. You can learn more in my Amazfit brand guide.
The Google Fitbit Air is one of the smallest, lightest fitness trackers on the market.
If you want to track your health and fitness stats with maximum simplicity, choose the Google Fitbit Air. It is a screenless tracker that functions as a simple band, available in a variety of colors and styles that you can swap out.
Because it lacks a screen, you manage everything through your phone and the Google Health app, which displays stats and scores for steps, weekly cardio goals, sleep, readiness, and more. It is simple, intuitive, and easy to navigate, making it a great choice for beginners, much like the Fitbit Charge 6.
The band automatically logs walks and workouts, though it is not always perfectly accurate or reliable; I recommend manually starting and stopping activities like outdoor runs and bike rides.
There is also an optional Google Health Premium subscription for $9.99 per month, which adds an AI-powered fitness and health coach to the app. My experience with Google Health Premium was mixed; I found it required significant time to personalize to my needs, and even then, I did not find it particularly valuable. However, you can always try it for a month and cancel if it does not suit you.
The Oura Ring 5 has a sleek design that is much smaller than previous versions.
If you dislike wearing watches or anything on your wrists, a smart ring is the best way to monitor your health and fitness. The Oura Ring 5 is the best option available; I have tested it for months, and it represents a major improvement over the already excellent Oura Ring 4.
It tracks metrics such as heart rate, body temperature, blood oxygen, sleep stages, stress levels, and exercise data, storing them in the Oura app. It automatically detects walks and exercise, though I find it most effective to manually start and stop outdoor workouts for the most precise data. The app itself is among the best I have used, featuring a detailed yet accessible design that is helpful at a glance and very informative as you dive into trend reports.
I appreciate that the Oura Ring 5 is 40% smaller than the Oura Ring 4, making it feel more like a standard ring on my finger rather than a bulky piece of technology. It is available in six colors and a variety of sizes. If you want access to more than just the current day’s statistics, the Oura Ring requires a membership, which costs $6 per month.
The square screen of the Apple Watch SE 3 displays significantly more information at once than most of its competitors.
The Apple Watch is one fitness tracker that almost always remains on my wrist, and this is the brand’s most affordable model. It costs significantly less than the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3, yet it includes nearly all the same fitness tracking features and metrics.
The Apple Watch SE 3 is simple to use, especially if you are already familiar with an iPhone. The apps are similar or identical to those on the phone, and the square shape of the watch makes it easy to scroll through texts and notifications. It provides detailed workout, health, and sleep metrics. You can also use the Siri voice assistant to make requests and send voice texts, which I have found much easier than typing while running.
The watch offers up to 18 hours of battery life according to the manufacturer, which is less than many competitors. However, it charges quickly, reaching nearly a full charge in just 45 minutes. It is available in two sizes with a wide variety of watch band options.
The Google Pixel Watch 4 is one of the more stylish recommendations on this list.
The Pixel Watch has improved annually to the point where it is now one of the best fitness trackers and smartwatches for Android users. It performs all the functions you would expect from a top-tier smartwatch: notifications, texting, calls, tap-to-pay, media controls, offline maps, and more.
For fitness, the watch includes built-in tracking with over 50 workout types, offering more in-depth data than other Fitbit models like the Charge 6. You can create custom workouts, including runs with specific stages, intervals, and more. The watch can also automatically detect walks, runs, bike rides, and other activities, starting a workout session on its own. I frequently forget to log my walks, so this is one of my favorite features.
New to the Pixel Watch 4 is satellite SOS emergency assistance on the LTE version, multi-band GPS for more accurate data, improved battery life, and much more.
I tested the 42-millimeter Garmin Forerunner 570, which fit my wrist much better than the 47-millimeter version.
If you are serious about your running, the Garmin Forerunner series is for you, and the Forerunner 570 is my top recommendation. It includes more than enough tools for runners and racers and is available in two sizes, allowing you to find the best fit for your wrist.
My favorite training tools are Training Readiness, Training Status, and HRV (heart rate variability) status, which work together to help optimize your training and recovery. Training Readiness combines multiple metrics to provide a high-level score regarding how beneficial your training will be. In practice, it helps me decide whether to take a rest day or push myself harder than usual.
It also offers advanced running metrics like power, cadence, stride length, and ground contact time, as well as multi-band GPS for the most accurate and consistent distance and time statistics possible. It is expensive, however; if you are just beginning your running journey, my other top picks or the Forerunner 70 provide more than enough tools and data.
I tested the Whoop MG with the Whoop Life subscription. It features a built-in ECG reader, unlike the lower-tiered Whoop subscriptions.
For athletes, Whoop’s minimalist design and highly detailed stress and recovery metrics are an excellent fit. Like the Google Fitbit Air, it is a small, screenless tracker that is lightweight and inconspicuous on your wrist. That is where the similarities end, however.
Whoop distinguishes itself by focusing heavily on recovery and strain. It assigns all of your activities a strain score between zero and 21 and emphasizes heart rate zones and strength training more than other trackers. Using Whoop encourages me to focus on the quality and intensity of my workouts rather than just distance or time. Again, this is more beneficial for athletes or individuals training toward a specific goal.
The required Whoop subscription is quite expensive. There are three tiers: Whoop One ($199 a year), Whoop Peak ($239 a year), and Whoop Life ($359 a year).
I have tested dozens of fitness trackers and smartwatches. I am a runner and cyclist, and I use these devices to monitor my pace, heart rate, and distance. I test each model for at least two weeks, utilizing all available features, including sleep tracking. I often wear multiple trackers simultaneously to compare data such as heart rate, average pace, mileage, elevation, and sleep scores, incorporating external heart rate monitors when appropriate.
To select the best fitness trackers, I focused on the following factors:
Comfort: A fitness tracker is only useful if you enjoy wearing it. I wore each device day and night to determine if they became uncomfortable, disrupted my sleep, or irritated my skin.
Data tracking: Fitness trackers collect various biometric data and present it in different ways. I chose trackers that collect a range of insights and present them in helpful, easy-to-understand formats.
Battery life: I used each tracker for at least two weeks and noted how frequently I needed to charge the device.
GPS tracking: Many fitness trackers include built-in GPS. I noted how long it took to connect to satellites and how consistent the data was, especially when compared to other devices.
Compatibility: Not every fitness tracker works with every smartphone. I included options compatible with both iPhone and Android devices.
How to shop for a fitness tracker
When shopping for a fitness tracker, price and compatibility should be your primary concerns. Beyond those, I recommend prioritizing the following:
Buy something you’ll actually wear
A fitness tracker is only useful if you actually want to wear it. Otherwise, it is just a piece of technology sitting in a drawer. Ensure you buy something that feels comfortable on your wrist or finger for hours and fits your lifestyle and aesthetic. Try on different trackers in person if possible; this provides a better sense of size and weight than online photos. If you purchase online, check the return policy before checking out in case the fit is not what you expected.
If you never wear rings, you likely will not find the Oura Ring comfortable. Similarly, if you dislike wearing watches, you may find the Apple Watch or Google Pixel Watch bothersome. Know your preferences and how much effort you are willing to put into adjusting to a new accessory.
I believe everyone can benefit from the data fitness trackers provide if you understand your specific wants and needs.
Think about the data you care about most. If you love outdoor exercise stats like pace and power, a Garmin watch may be the best match. If you want broad exercise and health data combined with the latest apps, a smartwatch from Apple or Google is a better fit.
Fitness is not one-size-fits-all. Take stock of your goals and requirements before making a purchase.
Why trust this coverage?
I am a reporter who covers technology and fitness, including stories on workout headphones, walking shoes, and cameras. I have been testing fitness trackers for years, constantly trying new models and comparing them against previous versions and competitors. I leveraged my experience testing trackers, smartwatches, and smart rings to select the best options on the market today.
