The perfect low cost health trackers for 2026

You don’t must lay our a fortune to remain on high of your well being objectives whereas monitoring your health. Lately, even low cost health trackers come full of options that allow you to monitor your coronary heart price, observe your steps and even analyze your sleep levels. Many funds choices now embody GPS monitoring for these outside runs, real-time coronary heart price monitoring to maintain you in the suitable zone throughout exercises and, fortunately, most work with each iPhone and Android gadgets.

Some even transcend primary metrics, offering insights on day by day readiness that will help you determine in the event you’re up for an intense exercise or want a lighter day. From easy step counters to extra superior operating watches, reasonably priced health trackers provide loads to help your journey towards higher well being with out breaking the financial institution.

Desk of contents

Greatest funds health trackers for 2026

Amazfit

Monitoring kind: Coronary heart price, sleep, stress, blood oxygen, girls’s well being | Supported Working System: Android 7.0 and above, iOS 12.0 and above | Reminiscence: 2.3GB | Display measurement: 1.47” | Waterproof: 5ATM water-resistant | GPS: No | Battery life: 18 days

The Amazfit Band 7, just like the Xiaomi Band, has all the exercises you possibly can observe pre-loaded in your wrist. It additionally has a novel interface that means that you can set a customized purpose, like burning 500 energy, earlier than beginning a exercise. Plus, it contains a beneficiant 18 days of battery life (or extra in the event you allow battery-saver mode).

The Amazfit band has a particular scoring system referred to as PAI, which stands for “Personal Activity Intelligence.” This metric is derived out of your coronary heart price throughout all actions (even ones that do not contain tracked exercises) and provides you a numeric rating from 1 to 100. You wish to get your rating as near 100 as attainable, by exercises and relaxation, to maintain your general coronary heart well being sturdy. Just like the Xiaomi Good Band, the Amazfit Band 7 provides a consumer a breakdown of their general coronary heart price zone exercise on the watch face.

The watch additionally has a novel “one faucet measure” that provides you insights into your coronary heart price, blood oxygen ranges and even a stress rating based mostly in your coronary heart price variability.

There are some downsides to the Band 7, although, particularly that it’s significantly slower than the Xiaomi Good Band in the case of beginning and ending train classes. It additionally doesn’t have a bodily navigation button, making it generally laborious to exit a web page. That might have been one thing I might have missed if the watch’s show had been a bit on par with the Xiaomi Band. Regardless of having an AMOLED coloration show, the Band 7’s display was generally laborious to view even indoors.

It does get brownie factors for being a bit extra snug to sleep in than a number of the others we examined, but it surely nonetheless takes some getting used to. In the event you do sleep with the Band 7 for per week although, you may get an in-depth sleep evaluation about your susceptibility for circumstances like sleep apnea. The caveat is that it’s essential to pay a premium for this extra detailed sleep report. By way of the Zepp app (previously Amazfit) you possibly can pay $10 month-to-month or $50 yearly for a premium subscription, which additionally contains meditation content material and an AI sleep coach.

Execs

• Helps customized purpose setting per exercise
• Good exercise and sleep monitoring
• Snug design

Cons

• Gradual efficiency
• No bodily navigation button

$50 at Amazon

Fitbit

Monitoring kind: Coronary heart price, sleep, stress, blood oxygen, girls’s well being | Supported Working System: Android 10.0 and above, iOS 15.0 and above | Reminiscence: 6.4GB | Display measurement: 0.7” | Waterproof: 5ATM water-resistant | GPS: No | Battery life: 10 days

I anticipated extra out of the Fitbit Inspire 3 as a result of, effectively, it’s Fitbit. Additionally, contemplating it is the costliest tracker on the listing, you’ll assume you’ll get extra. The tracker does serve its objective -– it could report your exercises. Nevertheless, solely 6 sorts of actions might be tracked at a time. So as to add extra area of interest workout routines like a weight-lifting routine, it’s essential to open the Fitbit app and swap one train widget for one more. It does give a rudimentary breakdown of your energy burned, coronary heart price, and all the belongings you would usually wish to get in a efficiency report. Compared to the Fitbit Cost 6, the Fitbit Encourage 3 doesn’t boast a built-in GPS, so you must take your cellphone with you to precisely report tempo or distance.

One factor I do recognize in regards to the Fitbit Encourage 3 is its Lively Zone Minute breakdown after a exercise is tracked. It is a characteristic distinctive to Fitbit that calculates how laborious your exercises have been and the way a lot fats you burned within the course of. The app does an excellent job of breaking down different well being metrics throughout train and may inform you how a lot restoration you want earlier than your subsequent exercise. It is good to have that data, however the truth that it’s essential to pull out your cellphone to get deeper insights could be a nuisance.

The Encourage 3 additionally doesn’t mean you can immediately log menstrual cycle information on it, whereas the Xiaomi Band and Amazfit Band 7 do. The battery life on this tracker is on par with what the corporate says, although. It prices to full in beneath 45 minutes and dies after about 10 days of use. So in between monitoring exercises and gathering sleep information, I didn’t have to fret a lot about lacking an evening of sleep monitoring to cost it in a single day. The Fitbit Encourage 3 is snug to sleep with, possibly even barely extra snug than the Amazfit Band 7, however the truth that its sleep teaching is barely obtainable for premium Fitbit subscribers does take away from the enchantment.

Execs

• Helps Lively Zone Minutes monitoring
• Good battery life
• Snug design

Cons

• Can not manually add menstrual cycle information immediately from the band
• A lot of information hidden behind Fitbit Premium paywall

$92 at Amazon

What to search for in an inexpensive health tracker

All the greatest health trackers ought to have a minimum of three options: a program for exercise monitoring, the choice to watch and accumulate information about your sleep patterns and the power to do issues like coronary heart price monitoring and blood oxygen degree monitoring (although, the readings may not be tremendous correct). Don’t set your sights too excessive and anticipate metrics like blood strain monitoring or ECG help; for that, you’d must spend money on a dearer health watch or wearable like a Samsung Galaxy Watch, which falls beneath the perfect smartwatches class and can set you again over $400.

Health options

An inexpensive exercise tracker might be nice for somebody trying to maintain tabs on small, achievable objectives like 10,000 steps earlier than sunset or half-hour of a HIIT exercise to get your coronary heart price peaking. An skilled long-distance runner trying to prepare for a triathlon may go for a dearer gadget that may measure cadence or floor contact time, and may observe extra customizable exercises, provide completely different sports activities modes or give deeper insights into efficiency information.

On the very least, a funds exercise tracker ought to be capable of provide health monitoring options past strolling and operating — in any other case, it might simply be a pedometer. The variety of actions a tool will acknowledge varies. Some will get funky with it and think about skateboarding a exercise, whereas others received’t be capable of observe a leaping jack.

At this value level, you possibly can anticipate a tool to measure a mixture of cardio, machine exercises and energy coaching. With every, you may get a numerical or visible breakdown of coronary heart price exercise, general tempo, and energy burned per session. Though some low cost trackers can provide a extremely good overview of coronary heart price zone exercise throughout a exercise, a extra technically superior gadget may be capable of go a step additional and clarify what your outcomes imply and coach you on the best way to maintain your coronary heart price in a selected bracket as a way to burn extra fats per exercise. I discovered that the extra budget-friendly the gadget, the extra possible it’s {that a} tracker will fall quick in the case of sensible counseling or providing predictive insights past a given exercise. If a funds tracker does occur to supply some semblance of a training program, you possibly can anticipate it to sit down behind a paywall.

Exercise monitoring and planning your restoration is simply as important to any health journey. A sub-$100 gadget ought to be capable of inform you how lengthy you’ve slept and supply a breakdown of deep, gentle and REM sleep patterns. It isn’t a assure that you’re going to get a sleep “rating” or insights on the best way to get higher relaxation — that information is normally discovered on dearer wearables. Additionally, as a result of these trackers aren’t designed for bedtime particularly — be conscious of consolation. The bands and watch face on a funds health watch might not be supreme for getting some good shut-eye.

Connectivity and practicality

Not all the greatest funds health trackers are designed to seamlessly combine with a smartphone. The trackers examined for this roundup can’t immediately make calls or ship texts to contacts on a paired iPhone or Android smartphone. They will, nonetheless, show and dismiss incoming calls and notifications through a Bluetooth connection. You may overlook about checking your e-mail or paying for a espresso out of your wrist utilizing these extra reasonably priced gadgets.

Most inexpensive health trackers additionally will not embody built-in GPS monitoring. As a substitute, they normally rely upon a paired smartphone to assemble location information. The downside of utilizing a health tracker with out GPS is that it may not present as exact for monitoring distance or tempo. You can also’t use a funds tracker to get turn-by-turn instructions throughout a stroll or whereas operating errands. For the extra outdoorsy customers, having GPS may very well be a key security characteristic if you would like this sort of performance at your fingertips.

Design

You additionally may discover that a reasonable health tracker is more durable to navigate than a extra superior smartwatch. Whether or not or not it’s a display measurement concern or just not having a sensible sufficient interface, do not anticipate each characteristic to be one you could have interaction with immediately in your wrist. You’ll possible want to make use of your cellphone to enter information or entry detailed wellness metrics.

Construct high quality will even range. When you received’t get premium supplies or ultra-bright OLED screens, most greatest low cost health trackers embody some degree of sweat and water resistance — good for on a regular basis put on and informal exercises. And for these beginning out with primary devices to help their health journey, these reasonably priced trackers provide a fantastic stability of important options with out the hefty price ticket.

Different funds health trackers we examined

Amazfit Bip 6

The Amazfit Bip 6, an $80 smartwatch from Zepp Well being, didn’t fairly make the reduce. As a health tracker, it’s respectable, but it surely’s a irritating smartwatch substitute. For exercises, the built-in GPS tracks runs and rides with out your cellphone and, mixed with the center price and blood oxygen sensors, collects an excellent quantity of knowledge to create correct footage of your exertion ranges, cadence and tempo. It’s remarkably light-weight however doesn’t really feel low cost and the AMOLED display is brilliant and sharp. It’s not an always-on show, however lifting your wrist wakes it reliably.

The sleep monitoring information is on par with what we measured on different smartwatches and there’s even a day by day readiness rating that compares your sleep high quality and the day prior to this’s exertion to estimate how bodily ready you’re for the day forward — just like what Pixel Watches, Fitbit gadgets and Garmin watches provide. And because the watch battery lasts for over per week on a cost, it’s possible you’ll be much more apt to put on it to mattress than a watch you must cost day by day.

We weren’t anticipating an $80 gadget to be a critical Apple Watch challenger, however the Bip 6’s glitches and overly difficult interface (each on the app and on the watch itself) have been disappointing. Throughout per week of testing, I received a number of repeated notifications, even after they have been deleted, together with options to face after I was actively doing chores round the home. The watch faces usually are not customizable, so it was laborious to get the information I wanted at a look (the Zepp app has numerous paid watch faces which will have what I wished, however I didn’t wish to pay $3 for one thing that’s free elsewhere).

Advertising and marketing particulars state that the Bip 6 can auto-detect exercises, together with strolling and bike driving. Throughout testing, I walked a couple of times per day for over one mile and went on two bike rides, however no exercise was ever detected. The watch integrates with Apple Well being, so I used to be in a position to see the way it compares to the information my Apple Watch gathers. After per week of sporting the Bip 6, with no modifications to my day by day routine, I averaged 400 fewer energy burned and a pair of.4 fewer miles tracked every day. That was probably the most important disappointment of all. — Amy Skorheim, Senior Reporter

Wyze Watch 47c

I did not have excessive expectations of the Wyze Watch 47c, however I used to be shocked at how little this tracker can do. The 47c can solely observe walks and runs. It has a devoted widget, a small brand of a person operating, and while you faucet it, it begins measuring your tempo, coronary heart price, energy burned and mileage. It doesn’t auto-detect or auto-pause exercises and it would not differentiate between a run and stroll. Most significantly, this gadget can’t observe another workout routines. It’s principally a glorified pedometer.

The 47c was additionally my least favourite to sleep with, primarily as a result of the sq. watch face is so giant and heavy. Even when I did handle to sleep by the evening with it on, it solely gave me a primary sleep report. — M.S.

Garmin vivofit 4

The Garmin vivofit 4 has a tiny show that isn’t a touchscreen and all navigation occurs by one button. The watch face is unimaginable to learn outside and the train widget can also be very finicky. To start out monitoring a run, you must maintain down the principle button and flip by some pages till you get to a transferring individual icon. As soon as there, you must press the underside proper nook of the bar and maintain down and in the event you press for too lengthy or within the incorrect spot, it’ll change to a different web page, like a stopwatch. It’s extremely irritating.

When you begin a run although, it would begin monitoring your steps, your distance — and that is just about it. It doesn’t auto-detect or auto-pause exercises. It would not provide you with a warning of any mileage or calorie milestones. — M.S.

What about health rings?

Whereas sensible rings are gaining reputation for well being monitoring, they typically don’t fall into the “funds” or “low cost” value vary. A wise ring just like the Oura Ring affords options comparable to sleep monitoring, coronary heart price monitoring and readiness scores in an ultra-compact kind issue that matches in your finger as a substitute of your wrist. These rings are greatest suited to individuals who need discreet, all-day well being insights with out sporting a standard watch or band — however with costs sometimes beginning above $300, they’re extra of a premium choice than a budget-friendly decide.

Georgie Peru contributed to this report.