What Is the Best Fitness Tracker in 2026? Garmin, Oura, More

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Like every piece of gear you wear on your body day in and day out, fitness trackers are incredibly personal. The best fitness tracker should be comfortable, attractive, and tailored to your lifestyle, including your preferred workout times and methods. Do you bike, row, or strength train? Do you run on trails for hours at a time, or do you just want a reminder to stand up every hour? Do you want to wear it on your wrist, your finger, or tuck it into your bra?

No matter what your needs are, there’s never been a better time to find a powerful, sophisticated tool that can help you optimize your workouts or jump-start your routine. We test dozens of fitness trackers every year while running, climbing, hiking, or just doing workout videos on our iPads at night, to bring you these picks.

Our top pick is the Garmin Vivoactive 6 ($300), which works well with Android and iOS, but we also recently tried blood panels with the Oura Ring ($349) and the Whoop MG ($359 with annual subscription). Don't see anything you like? Don't forget to check out our other fitness and health guides, like the Best Smartwatches, Best Smart Rings, and Best Sleep Trackers.

Updated April 2026: I refined picks to the top 10 and updated product information, along with prices and links. I'm currently testing the Ultrahuman Ring Pro.

Compare Top 10 Fitness Trackers

| Device | WIRED | TIRED | Battery life | Water Resistance | Incident detection | Blood Oxygen Monitoring | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Garmin Vivoactive 6 | Best training software. Most accurate sensors. Extremely useful AI workout service. | New Connect+ service is $70/year (but optional). | Up to 11 days | 5 ATM | Yes | Yes | | Oura Ring 4 | Screenless. Small. Easy to wear. Solid battery life. Continuously tests new features. | The best features still paywalled behind the $6/month Oura membership. | Up to 8 days | 10 ATM | No | Yes | | Fitbit Charge 6 | Solid battery life. Affordable. Full suite of health metrics. Accurate heart rate tracking. | No fall detection. Exercise recognition is a bit faulty; so is Bluetooth connection. | 5 ATM | No | Yes | | | Whoop MG Fitness Band | High-performance biometrics. The only tracker with blood pressure monitoring. | You need another tracker if you want to look at a screen. | Up to 14 days | Rated IP68 | No | Yes | | Garmin Forerunner 970 | Bright AMOLED screen. Two weeks of battery life. The best training algorithms and suggestions. In-device flashlight, speaker, and mic. | Needs the new HRM 600 ($170) for newest running metrics. | Up to 15 days | 5 ATM | Yes | Yes | | Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED | Dynamic routing. Bright screen. Built-in microphone, speaker, and flashlight. | Less sensitive in sleep tracking and incidental activity tracking than others tested. | Up to 10 days | 10 ATM | Yes | Yes | | Apple Watch Series 11 | A full-day's battery life! Hypertension notifications, a new Sleep Score, and personalized AI health coaching via WatchOS 26. | Workout Buddy is a little obnoxious. The Watch SE is possibly better value. | 24+ hours | 5 ATM | Yes | Yes | | Google Pixel Watch 4 | Beautiful design. Playful and fun redesigned interface. Good performance. Bright display. Accurate health and fitness tracking. Speedy charging and great battery life. Repairable! | Dull strap. Limited charging accessories. Gemini requires an internet connection. Raise to Talk can be flaky. | Up to 24 hours | 5 ATM | Yes | Yes | | Fitbit Ace LTE | Combination fitness tracker, gaming device, and location tracker specifically designed for kids. | $10/monthly subscription. May be too cutesy for older kids. | 16+ hours | 5 ATM | No, but does have Call for Help feature | No | | Polar H10 | Comfortable buckle connector. Long-lasting battery. | The Polar H9 ($70) works almost as well and is cheaper. | Up to 400 hours | Waterproof | No | No |

More Fitness Trackers to Consider

Samsung Galaxy Watch8 for $350: The Samsung Galaxy Watch8 is beautiful and easier to use than ever, but the new health features definitely need some work. Samsung says the new Vascular Load feature measures the load on your vascular system (your blood vessels that carry blood throughout your body), helping you gauge whether habits like drinking alcohol or eating a lot of sodium are affecting your long-term health risk. Unfortunately, neither editor Julian Chokkattu nor I got actionable results. While in theory, the Antioxidant Index feature seems like a good way to judge whether you're eating enough vegetables, the results were so off-base that they made me laugh. The watch told me my Antioxidant Index was low and that I need to eat more canned pumpkin puree. That's despite living in Portland, Oregon, at the height of fruiting season, and snacking on fresh berries and plums on every dog walk. —Adrienne So

Withings ScanWatch 2 for $350: The Withings ScanWatch 2 could pass for a classic analog watch, and it comes with a battery life of 22 days with regular use (30 days with light use). Reviewer Simon Hill found the comprehensive suite of health features to be generally accurate, including the new temperature tracker and Cardio Check-Up. Withings updated the ScanWatch 2 with a new operating system, HealthSense 4, which features advanced algorithms that will use predictive AI to anticipate health events, like getting sick or when your period is coming. Most features are locked behind a $10/month subscription, though.

Amazfit Bip 6 for $80: Amazfit's trackers are improving so quickly. Like the Amazfit Active 2, which I also liked, the Bip 6 is a gorgeous little watch, with a big and responsive AMOLED screen, well over a week of battery life, and 140 sport modes. I still find the tracker and the Zepp app occasionally inaccurate, but it's cheap, comfortable, and works well. However, for only $20 more, I'd just get the Active 2 instead. —Adrienne So

Garmin Instinct 3 for $400: Garmin's Instinct line doesn't have as many high-end features as the Fenix 8, but it's popular because it's cheaper and it has a cool, chunky retro aesthetic that I love. This year's updates include the built-in flashlight and a new reinforced bezel, which is good considering that I still managed to bang up the Fenix and Epix watches quite a bit. For more information, check out our guide to the Best Garmin Watches. —Adrienne So

Garmin Venu X1 for $800: Garmin's Venu line is the company's attempt at an Apple Watch Ultra dupe that works with both iOS and Android. It has a polymer case, a nylon strap, and Garmin's biggest display, which is an enormous 2-inch AMOLED that's great for displaying built-in maps. Like the Ultra, it has speakers and a mic for taking calls; unlike the Ultra, it has over a week's worth of battery life. This is what you get if you have an Android phone but are jealous of your Apple friends' great big screen.—Adrienne So

Nothing CMF Watch 3 Pro for $99: Nothing is distinguished by its quirky charm, so I was not surprised to discover that I love the retro look of the CMF Watch 3 Pro. When I compared live heart rate readings with my Oura Ring 4, they tallied exactly. (It did overestimate my time spent asleep by as much as an hour on some nights.) CMF's proprietary metric is Active Score, which takes into account your heart rate data and metabolic equivalent of task (MET) values to determine whether you've been active enough that week. As a medium-active mid-forties parent, I blew this score through the roof every day and did not find it helpful. But it weighs a remarkably little 51 grams, and the battery lasts for well over a week with tracking multiple activities per day. The screen is bright and easy to read in daylight. It tracks sleep, blood oxygen, stress, and 131 different activities, with smart activity recognition. It has dual-band GPS monitoring, an accelerometer, and a gyroscope for accurate activity measurement. There's even a custom running coach, though it's harde