Why You Can Trust CNET The 5 Best Fitbits for 2024: Top Fitness Trackers
Looking for a new fitness tracker? These are the best Fitbit trackers to invest in right now.
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While Fitbit was a huge pioneer of fitness tracking, you may wonder if it's still one of the best ways to track your exercise. Although there are many options now, the best Fitbit trackers are still some of the overall greatest trackers available.
Whether you're trying to keep up with what most fitness trackers offer, or want to get a Fitbit for yourself or a loved one, here are our picks of the best Fitbit options you can buy right now.
Fitbit's Charge 6, the freshest Fitbit model, is likely the best one you can buy right now as well. The Charge 6 has many of the same features as the Charge 5, which previously won CNET's Editors' Choice award, including built-in GPS and health tracking that can give you metrics for blood oxygen, electrodermal activity for stress and electrocardiogram with high, low and irregular heart rhythm alerts. But it has some features that make it a little easier to navigate and may be a better choice for fitness enthusiasts, thanks to features like heart rate broadcasting.
According to CNET's Lexy Savvides, who reviewed the Charge 6, the newer model is easier to navigate than the buttonless Charge 5. Savvides also called the Charge 6 Fitbit's "most robust tracker yet," though you will need a subscription to access the music controls features.
Note: There is a new Versa model, the Versa 4, which has a thinner design and more exercise features.
The Versa 3 is the best Fitbit for people who want a smartwatch combined with the best features of the Charge tracker. It gives you the "taking calls on your wrist" aspect of a smartwatch rather than purely a fitness tracker. Although Fitbit's best smartwatch and best Apple Watch alternative may not have quite as many smart features as its Apple or Galaxy Watch competitors, it is compatible with both Apple and Android operating systems and can also be paired with either Alexa or Google Assistant. One of the best features of the Versa 3 is its strong battery life -- up to six days without the "always on" display and with moderate use. (The Apple Watch, for comparison, has a less-than-ideal battery life of a day and a half.)
The more expensive Fitbit Sense provides more health data, but the relevance of all the data Sense gives you might be moot, depending on whether you know how to read medical charts. You'll save money and lose little by going for the Versa 3 smartwatch instead.
A note about Fitbit's Premium subscription: For $10 a month or a one-time payment of $80 for a year, Fitbit's Premium subscription can give you more insight into your sleep and stress levels to allow you to dive deeper into stress management, as well as things such as guided meditation and workouts. The Versa 3 comes with a three-month trial of Premium, and the Charge 5 comes with six months. To find out more about whether Fitbit Premium is worth it, check out this guide.
Fitbit Premium also includes what it calls a Daily Readiness Score, which is Fitbit's assessment of whether you need to take it easy today or if you should push yourself based on your goals for the week. This is now available for some Fitbit models, including the Versa 3.
The Fitbit Inspire 3 is a great Fitbit for those entering the world of fitness tracking. It has an approachably small design and is a more "bare bones" model than other health and fitness trackers, per CNET's Lexy Savvides, but it still packs some serious battery-life punch at 10 days. One downside is that you'll need to have a subscription to access some of the more detailed health-tracking features, but the subscription benefit is true for other models of health and fitness trackers as well.
We're including it as a good budget option because it regularly retails for under its retail price of around $99. Compared to the older Inspire 2, it has an improved display, a color AMOLED screen.
This one is pretty simple: The Fitbit Ace 3 is the best Fitbit for kids as it's made specifically for younger age groups and acts as a sleep and fitness tracker, making sure kids stay active and get enough rest — two crucial things for young bodies. Goals can be set on the Ace 3 for active minutes as well as reminders for going to bed and staying active. For kids who have their own phone, the tracker can also deliver call notifications (you know, for when you forget to call Mom).
The Fitbit Ace 3 comes in cosmic blue with green adjusters, black with red adjusters or a "Minions yellow" for kids who are fans of the goggle-eyed animated creatures.