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Fitness bands are making a comeback and Google wants to join the party. On Thursday, the tech giant announced its new screenless fitness band, the Fitbit Air, to its health tracker offerings.
The $100 Fitbit Air takes aim at the popular fitness band, challengeAs a cheaper alternative to premium health trackers (annual subscriptions start at $200 per year, going up to $360). While the Whoop caters to a serious athletic audience, the Fitbit Air falls more mainstream, designed for regular users at a more acceptable price point (and requires no subscription).
Plus: This minimalist fitness tracker is a refreshing alternative (with no subscription)
The equipment is the same. They abandon the screen for the Band form factor, and use the apps as the center of the health-tracking experience. They both track activity, sleep, recovery, and stress, and of course, they have complex AI assistants (though Google’s AI Health Coach sits behind its premium subscription tier).
So which one should you buy? It depends on how much you want to spend and what you want. Although I haven’t tried the Fitbit Air yet, I’ve compared the specifications of both devices and looked at their product offerings to break down the pros and cons.
Specifications
| Whoop 5.0/mg | fitbit air | |
| weight | 27 grams | 12 grams |
| battery life | 14 days | 7 days |
| DIMENSIONS | 34.7mm x 24mm x 10.6mm | 34.9mm x 17mm x 8.3mm |
| water resistance | IP68 | 5 ATM |
| sensor | PPG optical sensor, 3-axis accelerometer, skin temperature sensor, and ECG contact pad (exclusive to Whoop MG only) | Optical heart rate monitor, 3-axis accelerometer and gyroscope, red and infrared sensors for Sp02, temperature sensor, vibration motor |
| Is membership required? | Yes | No, but a Google Health Premium subscription costs $100 annually or $10 per month. Your first three months of Google Health Premium are free with the purchase of a Fitbit Air. |
| Colour | black standard band | Fog, Obsidian, Lavender, and Berry |
| price | Annual subscriptions for $199, $239, or $359 | $100 |
You should buy Whoop if…
1. You want long battery life
The Whoop’s battery lasts for 14 days, while the Fitbit Air only lasts for seven days. The higher-end device will last you twice as long as the Fitbit Air, so you won’t have to charge it as often.
2. You want more 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 information about your sleep, steps and readiness. With Google Health Premium, you can use AI Health Coach to get more data visualizations or compare multiple metrics at the same time, but you have to take an extra step and ask it to generate it.
Plus: Your Whoop app isn’t just for fitness anymore – you can now order blood tests through it
Whoop, on the other hand, offers comprehensive data visualizations that don’t require you to generate or query an AI assistant (Whoop offers its own AI assistant, and was one of the first health wearable companies to do so).
The app maps your recovery and stress against each other to show the relationship between your body’s recovery from intense exertion. Another chart analyzes your sleep to determine whether you are getting enough or falling short. Whoop’s health monitor monitors your key biometrics to detect variations in heart rate, heart rate variability and body temperature, and alert you to potential stress or illness.
3. You want more from your health tracker
The Whoop is packed with other small, premium details that you can’t get from Google’s Fitbit Air. For example, Whoop can detect if you’ve traveled to another time zone, providing jet lag guidance for sleep timing, light exposure, caffeine, and hydration. It focuses more on personal customization, and its offerings are marketed to a more affluent, lifestyle-adapted audience.
Also: I wore Whoop 5.0 for a month – it’s the best combination of the Ora Ring and Apple Watch
Unlike the Fitbit Air, which can only be worn around the wrist, Whoop also offers a bicep band and bra to track your health data across your body for more accurate data capture.
You should buy the Fitbit Air if…
1. You want a budget-friendly tracker
The cheapest Whoop tier, Whoop One, costs $200 annually. The one-time cost of the Fitbit Air is $100, and if you want Google’s annual Google Health Premium subscription, it’ll cost you an additional $100 a year.
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The Fitbit Air boasts a more value-packed set of health-tracking features for $100. Unlike Whoop, Google doesn’t force you into an annual subscription fee. You can take or leave the Google Health Premium subscription and still track the basics like steps, recovery, sleep, and activity.
2. You don’t want data overload
People who haven’t used a health tracker before may not need such extensive data capture, and doing all the charts comparing these biometrics may be more stressful than practical.
Google’s Fitbit Air (and its other devices) are geared toward a more general, exercise enthusiast crowd that is less concerned with knowing whether their biometrics put them ahead or behind their actual age (as is the case with Whoop’s audience). The Fitbit Air tracks the basics, like steps, weekly cardio, sleep, recovery, and stress — leaving the peripheral data at the door.
Plus: I tracked 3,000 steps on my Apple Watch, Google Pixel, and Aura Ring — this was the most accurate
With a premium subscription, you can ask Google’s Health Coach to generate more comprehensive data on your recovery and stress or your sleep needs than just logged sleep time. But the Fitbit Air focuses on the basics, and that’s more than enough for most people.
3. You want a lighter device
The Whoop weighs about 26 grams, while the Fitbit Air weighs only 12 grams. This makes the budget-friendly device significantly lighter and a little more comfortable to wear all day long.
author’s choice
Although I haven’t tried the Fitbit Air yet, I appreciate any reliable health tracker that emphasizes accessibility and accuracy. I love that the Fitbit Air is finally becoming a popular favorite fitness band – and at a low price. Throughout my time as a wearables expert, I’ve seen the growing popularity of screenless health trackers like bands and smart rings, but there are still very few viable fitness bands available.
Also: Best Fitness Trackers in 2025: Expert Tests and Reviews
What’s even better is that the Fitbit Air comes with an optional Google Health Premium subscription, unlike Whoop whose subscription level is mandatory and expensive.
I would recommend the Fitbit Air as a great first fitness tracker. It has everything you need to learn deeply about your health, sleep, and activity, but it deliberately avoids data overload. Whoop is better suited for fitness-tracking and biohacking veterans who want a long-lasting device with comprehensive data insights.
