You might have simply set new health objectives for your self however you’re uncertain learn how to go about attaining them. Fashionable wearables have made it fairly simple to maintain observe of issues like your every day step rely, coronary heart fee, sleep phases and extra, so that you spend much less time monitoring that information your self and extra time specializing in different wholesome habits you’ll be able to implement. Fortunately, you don’t need to ship a whole lot to get a wearable that may do this stuff for you.
Finances health trackers have come a good distance in the previous few years, with many now together with linked GPS monitoring for these outside runs, real-time coronary heart fee monitoring to maintain you in the best zone throughout exercises and extra. Plus, most work with each iPhone and Android units so you’ll be able to select the best one for you and your finances with out worrying about compatibility. From easy step counters to extra superior working watches, inexpensive health trackers supply a lot to help your journey towards higher well being with out breaking the financial institution. These are our prime picks.
Finest low cost health trackers for 2025
Xiaomi
Monitoring sort: Coronary heart fee, sleep, stress, blood oxygen, ladies’s well being | Supported Working System: Android 6.0 and above, iOS 12.0 and above | Reminiscence: 100GB | Display dimension: 1.62” | Waterproof: 5ATM waterproof | GPS: No | Battery life: 16 days
The Xiaomi Good Band 8 stood out on many fronts — it not solely has the simplest interface to navigate when recording exercises, it additionally has probably the most comfy band to sleep in. This system has just about the whole lot you’ll anticipate on a health tracker, and it comes at a worth that’s laborious to beat. The 1.62-inch, 192 x 490 pill-shaped AMOLED show is full colour and shines fairly vivid each indoors and out. Though it does not have a bodily navigation button, you’ll be able to transfer via the UI by swiping up and down, or left and proper.
The Good Band 8 is kind of comfy, however what actually made it safe the highest slot is how detailed its exercise reviews had been. Not like a number of the different trackers we examined, the Good Band 8 doesn’t require you to obtain any workouts from its companion app. That means, you may get proper into monitoring workouts as area of interest as snowboarding. When a exercise is full, you get all the data you’d need in your wrist – from coronary heart fee readings to tempo and velocity, to energy burned and extra. It might sound primary, however a number of the different trackers we examined solely report step rely and distance traveled after a stroll. The period of time spent in every coronary heart fee zone will seem in your abstract, from mild, intensive, cardio to anaerobic.
Xiaomi’s tracker additionally has a novel “Pebble” mode, which lets you clip on the tracker to shoelaces utilizing a particular case to assemble working and biking information. Utilizing Pebble mode, you may get a greater breakdown of the way you carried out throughout a dash -– specifically stats like flight ratio and floor contact time, together with basic details about your working type.
The tracker was simple to go to sleep with due to how light-weight and comfy it’s. The do-not-disturb characteristic is straightforward to activate from the watch face and I did not have any points with the display screen waking me up at evening. The sleep insights after carrying it in a single day impressed me with their element. Proper on my wrist, I used to be in a position to find out how lengthy I slept and likewise obtained an in depth sleep graph that confirmed me after I was in mild and deep sleep. This was all free, on my wrist and it was additional damaged down for me within the Mi app. I additionally was in a position to collect data on my common HR throughout sleep and my respiration patterns.
Additionally, importantly, Xiamo’s spectacular battery claims checked out – the Good Band 8 solely wants half-hour on a charger earlier than being fueled up for about two weeks of use. I by no means nervous about not with the ability to observe my exercise or sleep.
- Straightforward to navigate interface
- Full colour show
- Snug design that helps Pebble mode
- Good health monitoring and sleep monitoring
- Lengthy battery life
- No bodily navigation button
$45 at Amazon
Amazfit
Monitoring sort: Coronary heart fee, sleep, stress, blood oxygen, ladies’s well being | Supported Working System: Android 7.0 and above, iOS 12.0 and above | Reminiscence: 2.3GB | Display dimension: 1.47” | Waterproof: 5ATM waterproof | GPS: No | Battery life: 18 days
The Amazfit Band 7, just like the Xiaomi Band 8, has the entire exercises you’ll be able to observe pre-loaded in your wrist. It additionally has a novel interface that permits you to set a customized aim, like burning 500 energy, earlier than beginning a exercise. Plus, it includes a beneficiant 18 days of battery life (or extra in case you allow battery-saver mode).
The Amazfit band has a particular scoring system known as PAI, which stands for “Private Exercise Intelligence.” This metric is derived out of your coronary heart fee 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 potential, via exercises and relaxation, to maintain your total coronary heart well being sturdy. Just like the Xiaomi Good Band 8, the Amazfit Band 7 offers a person a breakdown of their total coronary heart fee zone exercise on the watch face.
The watch additionally has a novel “one faucet measure” that offers you insights into your coronary heart fee, blood oxygen ranges and even a stress rating primarily based in your coronary heart fee variability.
There are some downsides to the Band 7, although, specifically that it’s significantly slower than the Xiaomi Good Band 8 on the subject of beginning and ending train periods. It additionally doesn’t have a bodily navigation button, making it typically laborious to exit a web page. That will have been one thing I may have missed if the watch’s show had been a bit on par with the Xiaomi Band 8’s. Regardless of having an AMOLED colour show, the Band 7’s display screen was typically laborious to view even indoors.
It does get brownie factors for being a bit extra comfy to sleep in than a number of the others we examined, but it surely nonetheless takes some getting used to. In case you do sleep with the Band 7 for per week although, you may get an in-depth sleep evaluation about your susceptibility for situations like sleep apnea. The caveat is that it’s worthwhile to pay a premium for this extra detailed sleep report. Via the Zepp app (previously Amazfit) you’ll be able to pay $10 month-to-month or $50 yearly for a premium subscription, which additionally consists of meditation content material and an AI sleep coach.
- Helps customized aim setting per exercise
- Good exercise and sleep monitoring
- Snug design
- Sluggish efficiency
- No bodily navigation button
$45 at Amazon
Fitbit
Monitoring sort: Coronary heart fee, sleep, stress, blood oxygen, ladies’s well being | Supported Working System: Android 10.0 and above, iOS 15.0 and above | Reminiscence: 6.4GB | Display dimension: 0.7” | Waterproof: 5ATM waterproof | GPS: No | Battery life: 10 days
I anticipated extra out of the Fitbit Encourage 3 as a result of, properly, it’s Fitbit. Additionally, contemplating it is the most costly tracker on the listing, you’ll suppose you’ll get extra. The tracker does serve its objective -– it may well file your exercises. Nevertheless, solely 6 sorts of actions might be tracked at a time. So as to add extra area of interest workouts like a weight-lifting routine, it’s worthwhile 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 fee, and the entire stuff 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 need to take your cellphone with you to precisely file tempo or distance.
One factor I do respect concerning the Fitbit Encourage 3 is its Energetic Zone Minute breakdown after a exercise is tracked. This can be a characteristic distinctive to Fitbit that calculates how laborious your exercises had been and the way a lot fats you burned within the course of. The app does job of breaking down different well being metrics throughout train and might 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 worthwhile to pull out your cellphone to get deeper insights is usually a nuisance.
The Encourage 3 additionally doesn’t let you straight log menstrual cycle information on it, whereas the Xiaomi Band 8 and Amazfit Band 7 do. The battery life on this tracker is on par with what the corporate says, although. It costs to full in below 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 comfy to sleep with, perhaps even barely extra comfy than the Amazfit Band 7, however the truth that its sleep teaching is barely out there for premium Fitbit subscribers does take away from the enchantment.
- Helps Energetic Zone Minutes monitoring
- Good battery life
- Snug design
- Can’t manually add menstrual cycle information straight from the band
- Numerous information hidden behind Fitbit Premium paywall
$80 at Amazon
What to search for in an affordable health tracker
The entire greatest health trackers ought to have not less than three options: a program to trace exercises or motion of some kind, the choice to watch and accumulate sleep phases information and the power to do issues like coronary heart fee monitoring and blood oxygen degree monitoring (although, the readings won’t be tremendous correct). Don’t set your sights too excessive and anticipate metrics like blood stress monitoring; for that, you’d must spend money on a costlier wearable like a Samsung Galaxy Watch, which is able to set you again over $400.
Health options
An inexpensive exercise tracker might be nice for somebody seeking to hold tabs on small, achievable objectives like 10,000 steps earlier than sunset or half-hour of a HIIT exercise to get your coronary heart fee peaking. An skilled long-distance runner seeking to practice for a triathlon would possibly go for a costlier system that may measure cadence or floor contact time, and might observe extra customizable exercises, supply completely different sports activities modes or give deeper insights into efficiency information.
On the very least, a finances exercise tracker ought to have the ability to supply health monitoring options past strolling and working — in any other case, it could simply be a pedometer. The variety of actions a tool will acknowledge varies. Some will get funky with it and contemplate skateboarding a exercise, whereas others gained’t have the ability to observe a leaping jack.
At this worth, you’ll be able to anticipate a tool to measure a mixture of cardio, machine exercises and power coaching. With every, you would possibly get a numerical or visible breakdown of coronary heart fee exercise, total tempo, and energy burned per session. Though some low cost trackers can supply a very good overview of coronary heart fee zone exercise throughout a exercise, a extra technically superior system would possibly have the ability to go a step additional and clarify what your outcomes imply and coach you on learn how to hold your coronary heart fee in a particular bracket in an effort to burn extra fats per exercise. I discovered that the extra budget-friendly the system, the extra probably it’s {that a} tracker will fall quick on the subject of good counseling or providing predictive insights past a given exercise. If a finances tracker does occur to supply some semblance of a training program, you’ll be able to anticipate it to take a seat behind a paywall.
Exercise monitoring and planning your restoration is simply as important to any health journey. A sub-$100 system ought to have the ability to inform you how lengthy you’ve slept and supply a breakdown of deep, mild and REM sleep phases. It isn’t a assure that you’ll get a sleep “rating” or insights on learn how to get higher relaxation — that information is normally discovered on costlier 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 finances health tracker will not be ideally suited for getting some good shut-eye.
Connectivity and practicality
Not all exercise trackers, budget-friendly or not, are designed to seamlessly combine with a smartphone. The trackers examined for this roundup can’t straight 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’ll be able to neglect about checking your electronic mail or paying for a espresso out of your wrist utilizing these extra inexpensive units.
Most inexpensive health trackers additionally will not embody built-in GPS monitoring. As an alternative, they normally depend upon a paired smartphone to assemble location information. The downside of utilizing a health tracker with out GPS is that it won’t present as exact for monitoring distance or tempo. You can also’t use a finances tracker to get turn-by-turn instructions throughout a stroll or whereas working errands. For the extra outdoorsy customers, having GPS could possibly be a key security characteristic in order for you this sort of performance at your fingertips.
Design
You additionally would possibly discover that a cheap health tracker is tougher to navigate than a extra superior smartwatch. Whether or not or not it’s a display screen dimension subject or just not having a sensible sufficient interface, do not anticipate each characteristic to be one that you may have interaction with straight in your wrist. Oftentimes, you’ll need to drag out your smartphone to log data or entry extra in-depth well being information.
The standard and construct of shows and bands can even differ on this class. Don’t anticipate the best decision OLED shows or the fanciest supplies within the bands. However you’ll be able to anticipate some degree of sweat and water resistance.
Different low cost health trackers we examined
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 working, and if you faucet it, it begins measuring your tempo, coronary heart fee, energy burned and mileage. It doesn’t auto-detect or auto-pause exercises and it does not differentiate between a run and stroll. Most significantly, this system can’t observe another workouts. 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 massive and heavy. Even when I did handle to sleep via the evening with it on, it solely gave me a primary sleep report.
Garmin vivofit 4
The Garmin vivofit 4 has a tiny show that’s not a touchscreen and all navigation occurs via one button. The watch face is inconceivable to learn outdoor and the train widget can also be very finicky. To begin monitoring a run, you need to maintain down the principle button and flip via some pages till you get to a shifting particular person icon. As soon as there, you need to press the underside proper nook of the bar and maintain down and in case you press for too lengthy or within the incorrect spot, it’ll swap to a different web page, like a stopwatch. It’s extremely irritating.
When you begin a run although, it is going to begin monitoring your steps, your distance — and that is just about it. It doesn’t auto-detect or auto-pause exercises. It does not warn you of any mileage or calorie milestones.