Fitness
The best Fitbit in 2024
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Fitbit’s wearables do almost everything. From tracking step counts and running mileage to monitoring sleep patterns and stress levels, the best Fitbit can help improve your well-being. And there are a variety of Fitbit models designed for different types of users.
Our top pick is the Fitbit Sense 2. Although it’s an average smartwatch, it’s a quality health and fitness tracker offering multi-day battery life, a suite of health-monitoring tools, and comprehensive activity tracking. For a budget pick, we recommend the Fitbit Inspire 3. It’s an entry-level wearable with basic health and fitness tools for less than $100.
We chose our list based on tracking accuracy, fit and comfort, battery life, and ease of use. Although every Fitbit offers similar activity-tracking capabilities, some are better for certain users. Picking the best Fitbit depends on how you intend to use it and the advanced features you need.
Top picks for the best Fitbits
Best overall: Fitbit Sense 2 – See at Amazon
The Fitbit Sense 2 is not only the brand’s flagship, but it’s also the best wearable in its lineup, featuring accurate activity tracking, decent smartwatch capability, and a variety of useful health insights.
Best fitness-tracking: Fitbit Charge 5 – See at Amazon
The Charge 5 hits a nice price point while offering stellar activity tracking in a smaller footprint than a standard smartwatch.
Best budget: Fitbit Inspire 3 – See at Amazon
Fitbit’s Inspire 3 is an excellent entry-level wearable that offers basic health and fitness tracking in a small, comfortable, and budget-friendly package.
Best budget smartwatch: Fitbit Versa 3 – See at Amazon
With automatic activity tracking and a huge screen, the Versa 3 has nearly all the perks of the Fitbit line at a wallet-friendly price point plus a stylish design.
Best stylish: Fitbit Luxe – See at Amazon
With a stainless steel casing, the Fitbit Luxe is a sleek and unassuming activity tracker with broad appeal for users of any kind.
Best for kids: Fitbit Ace 3 – See at Amazon
Fitbit designed the Ace 3 from the ground up specifically for kids as it includes unique parental controls, programmable activity tools, and a variety of fun cartoon themes.
Best overall
Fitbit Sense 2
Fitbit’s Sense 2 combines the brand’s advanced health and fitness features with decent smartwatch capability, unique sleep tracking, and a clean design reminiscent of the Apple Watch.
Fitbit’s flagship, the Sense 2, nails everything a quality fitness tracker should be. It offers a variety of activity tracking and useful fitness insights, tracks sleep, stress, and menstrual cycles, and has built-in GPS and a battery that lasts around five to six days on a single charge.
It does lack in one major area, however: smarts. Though it’s touted as a “smartwatch,” it doesn’t quite stack up in that department the way an effective smartwatch should. For starters, it doesn’t offer third-party app support, which is disappointing, and it doesn’t allow access to things like Google Assistant. It also can’t store or play music.
Rick Stella/Insider
But those drawbacks don’t equate to being a dealbreaker. The Sense 2 offers a suite of useful health and wellness insights that put it on par with some of the best in the industry. There’s a skin temperature sensor, ECG readings, and a real-time stress tracker.
The stress tracker is especially interesting as it not only charts your body’s stress levels but also provides feedback on how to lower it and can paint a picture of how your body handles stress overall.
It’s also an accurate fitness tracker. Its built-in GPS synced well during our tests and it’s compatible with a variety of activities and exercises. Plus, its interface is easy and intuitive to use, making it a great watch for beginners.
Read our full review of the Sense 2.
Best fitness-tracking
Fitbit Charge 5
Maybe an Apple Watch is too much — but if you still want to track fitness, then the Fitbit Charge 5 is an excellent option. For Prime Day, you can get is for under $100.
If you want a tracker to record your workouts and daily movement, but don’t care about fancy features like answering calls via your watch or connecting with Alexa or Google Assistant, the Charge 5 is your watch.
This tracker records and displays all the stats you want from your workout: current and average exercise pace, distance, heart rate zones, total time, steps taken, and calories burned. Within the Fitbit app, you can also see a map of your run, complete with intensity zones showing where your heart rate climbed highest and dipped lowest.
One of its best features is its built-in GPS, which is often a rare inclusion on wearables this small. This allows it to natively provide accurate activity tracking, which is a huge plus for those who don’t like to tote their smartphone while working out.
Fitbit
It’s not completely without smart features, either. You can sync your calendar and get app updates, as well as text, email, and phone call notifications. The Charge 5 also offers in-depth sleep tracking that charts sleep patterns and habits and allows you to see how much REM, deep, and light sleep you get each night.
The battery life on the Charge 5 is longer than both the Versa and the Sense, too. Plus, the design is smaller and takes up less space on your arm, which is nice for folks with smaller wrists. It’s also compatible with a variety of the best Charge 5 bands, which help upgrade its look or make it more useful for certain activities.
Best budget
Fitbit Inspire 3
The Inspire 3 may be one of Fitbit’s most basic watches but it still packs a powerful fitness-tracking punch with tons of trackable activities, advanced health features like skin temperature sensing, and a comfortable, lightweight design.
Fitbit’s Inspire line of entry-level activity trackers is the brand’s most basic offering. Its latest model, the Inspire 3, features a slim, vertical screen that sits comfortably on your wrist while offering a suite of advanced health and fitness tracking features right at your fingertips. It even has a skin temperature sensor and can track your sleep habits. The original Fitbit has come a long way.
But what makes the Inspire 3 especially attractive is its price, which makes it attractive for beginners or those new to wearing activity trackers. At under $100, it delivers a wearable experience similar to the Sense 2 without the large touchscreen, downloadable apps, or built-in GPS. It’s also compatible with a range of the best Inspire 3 bands to change up its look a bit.
Shannon Ullman/Insider
That may seem like the Inspire 3 lacks key features, but those are typically hallmarks of a smartwatch, and the Inspire 3 is a bona fide fitness tracker. That is, it offers straightforward health and fitness features in an easy-to-use and intuitive package. It uses the same fitness tracking tech as all of Fitbit’s other wearables, tracks heart rate, skin temperature, and sleep patterns, and even offers the brand’s new Daily Readiness Score feature.
That’s a lot in such a small, budget-friendly package. Advanced athletes may view the lack of built-in GPS as a dealbreaker but for anyone looking for a basic, straightforward activity tracker, the Inspire 3 is the best Fitbit has.
Read our full review of the Inspire 3.
Best budget smartwatch
Fitbit Versa 3
A quality smartwatch doesn’t have to cost a fortune and Fitbit’s Versa 3 is the best example of why. It offers a robust smartwatch experience with a variety of health and fitness tracking, third-party app support, and a long-lasting battery.
The Versa is Fitbit’s line of true smartwatches. And while the Fitbit Versa 4 is the latest model, the older Fitbit Versa 3 is the better option.
What makes the Versa 3 especially attractive is its compatibility with third-party apps, which Fitbit scrapped when developing the Versa 4 (perhaps Google wants people to look to the Google Pixel Watch for a true smartwatch experience).
But it’s not just the third-party app support that gives the Versa 3 an edge over the Versa 4. It’s also a more reliable fitness tracker. Whereas the Versa 4 is plagued by connectivity and tracking issues, the Versa 3 tracks activities like a charm, leaning on its built-in GPS to deliver consistently accurate data.
Mark Knapp/Insider
Plus, it has a similarly large display, useful for glances at real-time stats while you work out. You can easily check total workout time, average pace, and heart rate zones by tapping the watch face, even mid-activity.
Factor in its other health features like sleep monitoring, menstrual cycle tracking, and 24/7 heart rate monitor, and the Versa 3 is much more powerful than the latest model. It’s one of the best smartwatches Fitbit sells and the best version of the Versa.
Read our full review of the Versa 3.
Best stylish
Fitbit Luxe
The Fitbit Luxe is the company’s latest fitness band that comes with a sleek design and advanced health features like stress management and the ability to measure heart rate variation.
Although the Fitbit Luxe looks similar to the Inspire 3, it has a few subtle design features that give it some style. There’s a stainless steel casing that achieves a nice, clean look for either the office or a night out, a bright AMOLED screen, and the ability to swap out the band for something like a chic mesh or metal option.
As a quality health and fitness wearable, the Fitbit Luxe tracks basics like running and cycling. It offers insights into sleep patterns, stress management, and fitness trends. Some features require a paid subscription to Fitbit Premium (as is the case for several watches in this guide), but even the basic features are highly useful.
Lisa Eadicicco/Insider
One area where it lags is in the smartwatch department, but it was never designed to be one in the first place. However, it can still display text and phone call notifications, and you can use things like timers and alarms, but that’s about the extent of it. It also has a battery that lasts upward of six days.
Read our full review of the Fitbit Luxe.
Best for kids
Fitbit Ace 3
The Fitbit Ace 3 is the perfect entry-level activity tracker for kids aged 6 or older. This version comes with a Minion-themed clock face and a bright yellow Minions-themed watchband.
Most fitness trackers are inherently designed for adult use. Then, there’s the Fitbit Ace 3, an activity tracker designed entirely for kids ages six and up, outfitted with features such as parental controls, a custom kid-friendly stat viewer, and fun customization options.
What makes the Ace 3 great for kids is its whimsical approach. There are band options with Minion-themed designs, as well as colorful custom watch faces. It is also water-resistant up to 50 meters or 164 feet, so kids can wear it in the pool.
Fitbit
One of the Ace 3’s best features is its focus on gamification. The wearable offers various challenges and badges that can motivate kids as they achieve a certain step goal or complete an activity.
It’s also a great communication tool for parents as it delivers text notifications. What’s particularly great about this is that parents can utilize the parental controls to manage exactly what connections are permitted on the watch. These controls are set up via the Fitbit app and require a family account, but they can be customized at any time, with or without the watch nearby.
These parental controls ultimately make it a better purchase for kids than, say, the Inspire 3. While the Inspire 3 offers a similar tracking experience, the ability to customize and tailor everything from the wearable’s settings to the specific activity goals makes the Ace 3 a more family-friendly option.
What is Fitbit Premium?
Fitbit Premium is the brand’s monthly membership option that offers access to more in-depth health and fitness features like nutrition insights, advanced sleep tracking, and the Daily Readiness Score.
It also provides access to guided meditations, exclusive video workouts, in-depth goal setting, various unique challenges, and other health insights such as blood oxygen level readings, heart rate variability, and breathing rate.
All Fitbit Premium features are accessible via the Fitbit app and do a lot to elevate the base Fitbit experience, especially for wearables like the Sense 2 or Versa 4. The brand does offer a free trial to new Fitbit users, allowing you to test out the service before committing to its recurring membership fee (which costs $10 per month).
How we test Fitbits
In addition to testing past iterations of Fitbit trackers and smartwatches when they launched, I tested each on the list below for several days (some weeks, even) wearing them 24/7 in most cases. I wore each during different workouts, from runs and walks to strength sets and yoga. I also wore the trackers to bed and for mindfulness sessions.
Here are the key features I looked for when testing:
Workout tracking
To successfully record stats during a workout and easily check these as you go, it’s important that a watch clearly displays numbers, and quickly and continuously connects to the GPS, particularly if it’s built into the watch. I judged the trackers and watches on whether I could easily see my current pace, distance, and time, and if I had quick access to metrics like average pace and heart rate.
Additionally, I ran another fitness tracking app on my phone to test the accuracy of the watch’s distance and pace. For every Fitbit featured, the numbers were always relatively close (and within the normal range you’d find if you compared almost any other fitness tracker).
Because Fitbit offers automatic tracking, I did a few workouts without manually pressing the start button to confirm that it picked up my movement, which it almost always did.
Tracking and comfort while sleeping
I wore these watches and trackers to bed to test the automatic sleep tracking. I checked these stats in the morning to make sure they recorded my time in bed and wake-up times throughout the night. I also wore the devices when occasionally taking naps throughout the day, which they also picked up on.
The devices needed to be comfortable enough to wear all night to get those stats, too. While the bands occasionally stuck to my skin if I got sweaty at night, it never disturbed my sleep — I only noticed this after waking up.
Battery life
I tested the battery life of each Fitbit by charging it to 100% battery and wearing it through workouts, nights of sleep, and throughout the day to see how long each would last. They all surprised me, too — the life lasted even after several workouts, including those using the built-in GPS (which typically drains batteries quickly).
App usability
One huge perk of Fitbit is the built-in stress-reducing apps, so how easy these were to use was a key part of testing. I tried Fitbit’s mindfulness program, the Relax app, on all devices, and the EDA scan app on the Sense 2, which contributes to stress management numbers. I looked for ease of use, visuals, and the stats provided after recording a mindfulness session, like changes in heart rate.
FAQs
Are Fitbits worth it?
Yes, especially if you want a reliable fitness wearable. A Fitbit can be beneficial for anyone who keeps active each day, even if that activity is walking a few blocks around the neighborhood or lifting weights at home.
They do an excellent job of counting steps, tracking a wide range of activities, and providing other useful health information like sleep insights and calories burned. You don’t need to be an avid fitness pro or athlete to get a lot out of a Fitbit and with so many options in the brand’s lineup, finding one that’s “worth it” means just picking out the option that best fits your lifestyle.
Plus, Fitbits are device agnostic, so they’re compatible with devices running iOS or Android. This makes them one of the best Android smartwatches you can buy, as well as one of the best fitness trackers.
Is a Fitbit better than an Apple Watch?
This ultimately comes down to personal preference. The Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 are undoubtedly more powerful and full-featured but if you don’t need access to a suite of apps, then a Fitbit will suffice. Both watches offer deep tracking capability for activities like running, cycling, and lifting weights, and each comes standard with a user-friendly interface.
One area where Apple outdoes Fitbit is in terms of its ecosystem. Anyone using an iPhone can get more out of an Apple Watch compared to a Fitbit (but as touched on below, it’s not always enough to be considered a dealbreaker).
And although the Apple Watch now offers a deep well of fitness and activity tracking capability, it still leans more heavily toward being a smartwatch (similar to Fitbit’s Versa line), so if it’s basic fitness tracking you’re after without the frills, something like Fitbit’s Charge would be more your speed.
What are the advantages of owning a Fitbit?
Perhaps the biggest advantage of a Fitbit is that no matter the price point or type (tracker versus smartwatch), it comes with all the foundational features you want in a health and fitness tracker. This includes the ability to automatically track sleep and activity, which is the best thing about the brand, in my opinion.
Then, all the models track pace, distance, and calories burned during your workouts, and calculate your heart rate training zones, including fat burn, cardio, and peak. For sleep, you not only get the total hours you slept, but the time you spent in deep and REM sleep, plus the percentage of time you spent below your resting heart rate.
With some models, these stats are easier to access than others — namely, the Sense 2 and Versa 3 because their larger screens are easier to read at a glance. But even with the smaller, more narrow faces of the Charge 5, the numbers are very large which is nice to have. The Inspire 3 is the hardest to glance stats quickly off of.
The Fitbit app, accessed via your phone, is easy to navigate and displays steps, miles, active zone minutes, daily calorie burns, mindfulness days, exercise, and activity per hour. It also reminds you to take 250 steps per hour. Additionally, you can track your menstrual cycle, food and water intake, and weight (though these require more manual entries).
What are the disadvantages of owning a Fitbit?
The main disadvantage of owning a Fitbit would be its lack of ecosystem outside of the wearable itself and the Fitbit app. The Apple Watch or, for instance, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, each offers advanced compatibility with iOS- and Android-compatible smartphones, respectively. That allows each to offer features specific to those devices and operating systems.
However, this shouldn’t be seen as a total dealbreaker. Not being able to customize text responses or notifications doesn’t have to preclude you from buying a Fitbit.
What’s the battery life like on a Fitbit?
Each Fitbit in the line has top-notch battery life, lasting days even with auto-activity and auto-sleep tracking turned on, so you don’t have to worry about charging it every night.
Officially, the battery for all Fitbits featured lasts six to 10 days, depending on the device and your usage. In my experience, the Versa 2, Versa 3, and Sense last an average of six days on one charge, the Charge 5 for seven days, and the Inspire 3 for up to 10 days.
Are Fitbits customizable?
Almost all Fitbits offer plenty of customization options. Each wearable comes with a basic band but all have different colors and material bands you can purchase, from stainless steel mesh for a professional look to expressive prints to more breathable sports bands. The only watch on our list that doesn’t offer a sport-specific band is the Inspire 3.
You can also customize the watch faces for aesthetics and readability, and to personalize shortcuts on the devices and what’s displayed on the main app page. The Sense 2 and Versa 3 have the most options for watch faces. You can even download third-party designs or use your photos, which you can’t do with the other models.
What’s the lifespan of a Fitbit?
This depends on the model. While Fitbit releases new models annually, that doesn’t always mean the prior generation version becomes unusable. For example, when the Fitbit Versa 4 was released in 2022, the prior generation Versa 3 was still available for purchase and, in some ways, was the better wearable overall (which is why it’s in our guide and the Versa 4 isn’t).
So, even if you own a Fitbit that’s a generation or two older than the current model, rest assured that it’s only outdated by its model number and not regarding its actual performance or capability.
For Hobart teacher Mary Holton, health means everything.
She started feeling the squeeze from cost-of-living pressures when fuel prices spiked again.
“Going out for just fitness alone was a bit much,”
she said.
Mary Holton says since joining the group, her fitness across the board has improved. (ABC News: Jake Grant)
Many Tasmanians are feeling cost-of-living pressures in a very physical way, with locals saying exercise routines are being dropped, health appointments delayed and wellbeing pushed to the bottom of the list as budgets tighten.
Ms Holton relies on multiple physiotherapy sessions each week, but says paid fitness classes simply are not an option.
“That costs … so to actually go to other classes as well, it’s out of my budget really.“
Ollie Mathewson conducts a free workout session. (ABC News: Jake Grant)
National data shows that almost half of Australians already fall short of minimum physical activity guidelines, and rising prices are making even basic care unaffordable for many.
Consultant clinical psychologist academic Kimberley Norris says this is exactly how unhealthy patterns begin.
“We tend to focus on the most stressful thing first … and health is one of those things we don’t think about until things go wrong,”
Professor Norris said.
Kimberley Norris says humans tend to focus on alleviating stress first and foremost, and warns de-prioritising health can become a cycle. (ABC News: Jake Grant)
For Ms Holton, going to a free workout group in her local community was a game-changer.
“Came down and absolutely loved it. It’s really nice to have a group and it just keeps growing,” she said.
Finding a free exercise group has drastically improved her health, as noted by her GP, and she is part of a growing trend.
Free exercise classes become a lifeline
At a community exercise class in South Arm, south-east of Hobart, the mood is upbeat, with laughter, movement, and a sense of relief.
Participation has more than doubled in the past year, with more than 100 Tasmanians now involved.
Trainer Ollie Mathewson said the surge was unmistakable.
“It’s free of charge for everybody … and over the last 12 months I’ve noticed a lot more people starting to come along,”
he said.
Ollie Mathewson says attendance at his classes has almost doubled over the past year. (ABC News: Jake Grant)
Across greater Hobart, free and low-cost alternatives are multiplying and include walking groups, community-run circuits, and morning and afternoon fitness meet-ups.
Tasmanians are increasingly organising their own solutions.
Mr Mathewson said connections drive outcomes.
“A lot of people talk about weight and strength, which are obviously insanely important, having other people there to push you single every week makes it a hundred times easier.“
Professor Norris said one’s health can be prioritised for free.
“What we know about health is, it’s more about sustainable wellbeing, it’s about quality of life,” she said.
“So rather than focusing on how much you can deadlift, how far you can run, it’s about how your life has improved and how close your life is to the way you want to live it.”
She said free options were vital because once people stop moving, it becomes harder to start again.
“If we develop routines in which health is not a priority, then we almost get stuck in this cycle of health always being last.“
Health appointments being delayed or dropped
For some Tasmanians, the financial pressure is forcing even tougher choices.
Amy Dakin says she can’t even think about getting a gym membership with all the other costs of living on her mind. (ABC News: Jake Grant)
Amy Dakin, who lives with a compromised immune system, often has no choice but to delay essential care.
“My health needs to be prioritised, but your bills come first, really,” she said.
Jordyn Rowbottom says she’s not the only one changing her hobbies to save on costs. (ABC News: Jake Grant)
Jordyn Rowbottom has seen the same pattern around her.
“People are being forced to cut what they can access,”
she said.
Professor Norris warns that these short-term decisions can create long-term harm, not just for individuals, but for the broader health system.
She said the combination of financial pressure and reduced physical activity would create a public health challenge.
Trainers adapting to shrinking budgets
Personal trainer Nickola Orr works with clients across different income levels, ages and needs.
She said affordability now shapes almost every program she designs.
“You want to make sure they can get as much help as they can within their price range,”
she said.
Nickola Orr is concerned about access to fitness and health services in the face of rising cost pressures. (ABC News: Jake Grant)
With the median individual spend on fitness in Tasmania sitting at almost $600 last year, Ms Orr said the warning signs were already visible.
“We’re going to see more results of long-term neglect; higher injuries, more need for mental health assistance. It’s going to snowball.”
Her concerns echo Professor Norris’s academic findings that once healthy routines break down, the consequences ripple for years.
“The changes are very small … while they add up over time, there is no immediate impact,”
Ms Orr said.
Calls for more free and low-cost options
Mr Mathewson hopes the success of free community classes will inspire governments and private operators to expand accessible fitness programs.
“More free options would be a great thing. There are a few now, but there should be more,” he said.
The Tasmanian government has said it will release its 20-year preventive health strategy this month, titled The Health Revolution.
A Department of Health spokesperson said the strategy “will address the broader social, economic, and environmental factors that influence health and wellbeing”.
“Specific issues about access to health services and programs are being considered through the Access to Health Services project, a Commonwealth-State partnership.
“The Health Revolution will complement that project by addressing the root causes of poor health and the underlying conditions to make it easier for Tasmanians to live well.“
If you’ve been faithfully logging your 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week, you’re getting the recommended weekly about of cardio. But a new study1 suggests that for women in midlife, that standard benchmark may not be moving the needle on cardiovascular fitness as much as we’ve assumed. Here’s what you need to know.
EL MONTE, Calif. (KABC) — A boutique fitness gym in the San Gabriel Valley is focused on women’s empowerment, offering everything from dance fitness to pilates, yoga, zumba and circuit training. It’s called “Beastin Beauties” in El Monte.
“ Boutique fitness spaces here, it doesn’t exist here, so I needed to have this for the people in my community here, where I grew up,” said owner Jay Armada.
Members love working on their health and fitness alongside other women.
“You walk in and you feel like you’re able to let loose and inhibit it in a way that you don’t find in other places,” said member Esmeralda Cabral.
“It takes away the stresses of being in a space where you may feel judgment from others. And there’s a certain level of comfort as a woman that you wanna be able, especially if you’re starting a health journey or you’re reigniting it, you wanna have the comfort of being around under supportive women,” said member Ruby Rose Yepez, who also teaches yoga at the studio.
Women empowerment has been the theme all along, from Jay’s humble beginnings…
“ I want people to feel what I felt when I was going through my own journey. I had lost ninety-three pounds in a whole year and I just wanted everyone to feel that,” said Armada.
…to a huge setback in 2020 when the gym’s previous location burned down in a fire.
“ I thought I didn’t wanna do it anymore. Maybe it was a sign from God that you should just quit. But my community held me up and they just really made me believe in it again,” said Armada.
Now, her business is thriving, and she was just named the city’s Woman of the Year!
“ Community and connection here in this space is super, super important. Jay is not just about bringing people here for health. She brings people here to build the connections so that they feel that they’re part of a community,” said Yepez.
“You build a connection without even really trying. You’re all experiencing the same moments together. There’s always just so much fun happening,” said Cabral.
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