If you struggle to get enough shuteye, tracking could help you better understand your sleeping patterns and help improve the quality of your sleep.
Sleep trackers come in all shapes and sizes, from wearables to devices on your bedside table to the bed itself. With years of testing mattresses and sleep products under our belts, we’ve used our experience to assess the best sleep trackers available.
What is the best sleep tracker?
The best sleep tracker is the Whoop 4.0 Band, thanks to its in-depth sleep information and personalized recommendations. At first glance, Whoop looks like a simple band since it has no buttons or screens. However, the band’s five LEDs, body temperature sensors and photodiodes provide a ton of insight into your sleep.
I also recently tested the new AI Whoop Coach and found it intuitive and a great feature if you’re already interested in the band. You can ask the AI Coach anything, and it will give you personalized answers and insights based on your sleep data. With Whoop, you get sleep data and help with interpreting everything.
Best sleep trackers for 2024
Whoop is the ultimate sleep tracker. With its advanced AI-powered technology and comprehensive data analysis, Whoop provides excellent insights into your sleep quality. This wearable monitors key sleep metrics like sleep stages, heart-rate variability, respiratory rate, hours of sleep and restorative sleep, which help you better understand your sleep patterns.
In addition to the insights, it has an integrated coach that provides personalized recommendations, like when to go to bed or mindful breathing techniques, based on your sleep data.
Whoop has a monthly membership option for $30, though after the first month, you have to commit to a minimum of 12 months. As such, they have up-front membership options that bring down the cost. The annual membership costs $239, and the 24-month membership is $399.
Pros:
- Personalized recommendations based on your sleep data
- Removable battery pack allows you to charge from your wrist
- Vibrating alarm is effective
- Long battery life
Cons:
- Chunky design
- No screen
- Expensive subscription plan
- 12-month minimum commitment
Additional details:
- Wearable: Yes
- Metrics measured: Heart-rate variability, resting heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen, temperature and sleep performance
- Trial: One month
- Subscription: $30 monthly (12-month commitment) or $239 annual
- Price: $$
The Fitbit is a fitness tracker that measures physical activity and sleep data. It has a slim design with a small digital screen and a battery life that lasts up to 10 days.
It measures heart rate, blood oxygen levels and time spent in different sleep stages and delivers a calculated sleep score that rates your general sleep quality. During the day, use your Fitbit to track your steps, workouts, calories burned and more. This Fitbit Inspire 3 also provides a daily stress management score and offers mindfulness sessions that teach healthier ways to respond to stress.
Pros:
- Unobtrusive design
- Long battery life
- Affordable price for Fitbit features
Cons:
- Smaller screen than other Fitbits
- No buttons that release the bands
- Advanced features require a subscription
Additional details:
- Wearable: Yes
- Metrics measured: Respiratory rate, heart rate, body temperature, exercise and calories burned, duration of sleep stages and blood oxygen levels
- Trial: 6 months
- Subscription: $10/month or $80/year
- Price: $
More expensive than other wearables on the market, the Oura Ring is a high-tech, lightweight device worn on a finger. It’s more comfortable than a wrist wearable and delivers accurate readings on your heart rate, blood-oxygen levels, sleep stages and overall sleep score. It also offers insights into other aspects of health, like stress, menstrual cycles and illness monitoring.
Oura tracks activity independently, and you can also integrate it with other apps such as Apple Health, Strava and Google Fit. It has excellent battery life, lasting up to 7 days. Over time, the Oura Ring gets to know your body and provides highly accurate insights and customized reports to help you understand your overall health and well-being.
Pros:
- Sleep score makes understanding sleep quality easy
- Comfortable ring design
- Long battery life
Cons:
- Subscription is required for advanced features, though it’s only $5.99/month
Additional details:
- Wearable: Yes
- Metrics measured: Heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen level and body temperature
- Trial: One month
- Subscription: $5.99/month
- Price: $$$
If you’re not into wearables but can’t afford to invest in a mattress that tracks your sleep, then you may enjoy the Withings Sleep Tracking Mat. It goes underneath the mattress, so you don’t even know it’s there. It has pneumatic and sound sensors that measure your heart rate, respiratory rate, movements and sleep cycles.
After waking up, you can view your data in the free Health Mate app through its Wi-Fi sync, which also automatically generates a sleep diary. The Withings Sleep Tracking Mat is powered through a USB cable, so it has to be plugged in when using it.
Pros:
- The mat automatically transfers your data to a sleep diary
- Noninvasive way to track sleep
- It can turn off lights automatically when you get into bed
Cons:
- If you sleep with another person, there is a chance it could pick up their movements
- You need to have an outlet nearby to plug it in
Additional details:
- Wearable: No
- Metrics measured: Snoring, heart and respiratory rate and movements
- Trial: 30 nights
- Warranty: 2-year warranty
- Subscription: N/A
- Price: $
The second-generation Google Nest Hub is an impressive, all-in-one sleep-tracking smart home device. The Sleep Sensing feature requires an additional subscription and will provide sleep data, including time spent in different sleep cycles and sleep disturbances, measures heart and respiratory rate and even changes in light or temperature. The Google Nest Hub can be used as a sunrise alarm clock to gradually and gently wake you up with light rather than sounding an alarm.
Aside from its ability to track sleep and promote better rest, it has all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a smart home device. You can play music, ask Google questions with a “hey Google” voice command, control home functions, display personal photos and more.
Pros:
- You get a sleep report each morning
- Connects to the Google Fit app
- Soothing sleep sounds and the Sunrise Alarm features
Cons:
- Not the most detailed snapshot of your sleep
- Device placement near other people or pets may cause inaccurate readings
- Sleep Sensing requires an additional subscription
Additional details:
- Wearable: No
- Metrics measured: Sleep cycles, heart and respiratory rate, temperature and light changes
- Subscription: $9.99/month
- Warranty: 1-year warranty
- Price: $
Read our Google Nest Hub (2nd gen) review.
With the Sleep Number 360 Smart Bed c2, your sleeping surface is your sleep tracker. Tiny sensors throughout the mattress track movement, heart rate, temperature and breathing. You can’t feel them, but these sensors constantly gather data and read your sleep performance, generating a SleepIQ® score on the app with personal insights to help you understand your sleep quality.
In addition to its sleep-tracking feature, you can adjust your firmness level, making it an ideal mattress for most sleeping positions and body types. This smart bed can also sense each sleeper’s movements and adjust automatically throughout the night to keep you comfortable.
Pros:
- Firm profile is good for easing back pain
- Reasonable price for a Sleep Number bed
- Separate adjustable sides for comfort and tracking individualized sleep data
Cons:
- Might be too firm for some sleepers
- The base is sold separately
- Bed has to be plugged into an electrical outlet
Additional details:
- Wearable: No
- Metrics measured: Heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature and movement
- Trial: 100 nights
- Subscription: N/A
- Warranty: 15-year limited warranty
- Price: $$$
How we chose the best sleep trackers
Our team of sleep experts has been testing and assessing sleep products for years. From mattresses to sleep accessories, we know what it takes to make the cut.
Features
The main criteria considered when looking at sleep trackers are the sleep data points they measure. Sleep trackers should offer valuable insights into different aspects of sleep, including sleep quality, duration and patterns. We also considered their additional features, like the ability to measure blood-oxygen levels, physical activity or other valuable health data.
Accuracy
Another crucial factor when choosing a sleep tracker is its accuracy. No current device on the market is as accurate as a polysomnography test, which measures brain activity and wave patterns — true indicators of your sleeping stages and whether you’re asleep or awake. However, wearables with heart-rate and blood-oxygen level sensors prove to be the most reliable. For non-wearables, we looked for sleep trackers that measured breathing patterns or external factors such as temperature and light.
Price
From wallet-friendly to premium, there are sleep trackers to fit a range of different budgets. We showcase sleep trackers that offer solid results for your money. There are more expensive sleep-tracking fitness wearables and high-tech smart beds you can invest in, but we chose to focus on the ones that offer accurate sleep tracking at a fairer price.
What to consider when shopping for a sleep tracker
The sleep tracker market is made up of more than just watches. You have a lot of variety to choose from, which can be overwhelming if you aren’t sure where to start. Before you begin shopping for a sleep tracker, keep these features in mind.
Type
Before you start shopping, you should first decide what type of sleep tracker you want to use. Most people think of watches when looking for a sleep tracker, but other types may better suit your needs. There are rings, mattresses and mat sleep trackers as well.
Price
The price range for sleep tracker devices varies, so determining your budget will help narrow down your best options. It’s also important to factor in the monthly or yearly subscriptions that some sleep tracker devices require.
Additional features
Determining what you expect from your sleep tracker will help you narrow down your options. If you want a sleep and health tracker, opt for something like the Oura Ring 3 or Fitbit. If you wish to track sleep and would also enjoy features like lighting and integrated apps, consider the Google Nest Hub.
How does sleep tracking work?
It depends on your sleep tracker, but they primarily use accelerometers to detect movement, heart rate and oxygen saturation levels. Technology has come a long way, and non-wearables use no-contact and low-energy radars to track movement and other environmental factors, such as temperature and light, to detect possible sleep disturbances.
What do sleep trackers measure?
- Sleep phases: Sleep trackers can measure the time you spend in deep sleep, light sleep and REM. Some even sound an alarm at the optimal waking time according to your sleep phases.
- Sleep quality: Sleep trackers measure movement and can tell when you’re sleeping soundly or tossing and turning.
- Amount of sleep: Your sleep tracker can pinpoint your sleep and wake time by tracking your activity (or lack thereof) and, by doing so, calculate your total time spent asleep.
- Sleep disturbances: Some sleep trackers, like those found in mattresses and bedside devices, measure temperature, sound and other external factors that might interfere with sleep quality.
- Time spent in deep sleep and REM
- Sleep duration
- Heart rate
- Blood-oxygen levels
- Breathing patterns
- Temperature and light disturbances (if applicable)
While sleep tracking isn’t a sure-fire remedy for curing poor sleep, it can offer insights into your sleep stages, possible disturbances that are keeping you awake and lifestyle habits so you’re more informed on your own sleeping patterns and what you may be able to change to improve sleep quality. You can also share your results with a doctor who can work with you to improve sleep hygiene and overall quality.
Wearable sleep trackers use heart rate, blood oxygen and motion sensors to measure key indicators of your sleeping stages and patterns. Non-wearables rely on motion sensors and low-energy radar to track movement, breathing and environmental changes like temperature and light.
Sleep trackers collect this data to provide valuable insight into sleep duration, sleep quality, how long you spend in certain sleep stages and potential explanations behind sleep disruptions.
