The popularity of the Oura Ring brand is undeniable, as evident in our glowing review of the Oura Ring Generation 3. Oura is one of the best health and fitness wearables to have ever hit the shelves, but it's not going to be the ideal choice for everyone.
Whatever you're not thrilled about with the Oura Ring, be it its form factor, price, customization options or functionality, there's no need to worry. There are already several alternatives on the market, with more smart rings set to debut in the near future, such as the best of CES 2024 contender Amazfit Helio, and the not-so-near-future, like the Samsung Galaxy Ring. With that in mind, we've rounded up some of the best Oura Ring alternatives that you can choose from. We've broken down this list into options you can buy now as well as smart rings launching soon to keep your eye on.
The best Oura Ring alternatives you can buy now
Ultrahuman Ring Air
For the most advanced Oura Ring alternative, the Ultrahuman Ring Air is the clear winner. This smart ring accurately tracks your sleep, recovery, movement, heart rate, skin temperature and even more metrics — and all while being smaller and lighter than competitors.
The data you get from the Ultrahuman Ring Air is extensive, and you can dive as deep as you want to go to make positive tweaks to your lifestyle. For example, by looking at your energy levels and circadian cycle, it can make suggestions like when is the best time to grab a cup of coffee to see maximum benefits. If you're primarily in the market for a lightweight fitness tracker, the Ring Air offers nearly two dozen exercise modes, including popular ones like walking, running, and football.
It’s an innovative product that gives you a lot of insight into your health, but this smart ring isn't without some drawbacks. At $349, it's pricier than the $299 Oura Ring Generation 3. The band is also more prone to scratches, and while Ultrahuman says the battery lasts up to six days, in our Ring Air tests we found it lasted around four before needing a recharge. That's a substantial drop compared to the latest Oura Ring's battery life of five to seven days on a single charge.
Amovan Smart Ring
If you're not looking to break the bank, the Amovan Smart Ring is one of the better budget alternatives, offering fitness and sleep tracking with a seriously tough design made out of titanium, a.k.a. the same material as the Oura Ring.
The similarities don't stop there. The Amovan can withstand up to 100 meters of water resistance, just like an Oura Ring, and you also don't have to pay a subscription fee to access your data. That just sweetens the deal since you're already paying less of an admission fee with the Amovan's price tag of $168.
Of course, there are bound to be some drawbacks for that price. Users have said this smart ring sometimes records hand movements as steps, which can make its fitness tracking less accurate, and it lacks the level of customization for sleep tracking that you get with the Oura. Still, it's an affordable, durable smart ring that provides solid biofeedback.
Circular Ring
Initially a Kickstarter project, the Circular Ring is now on the market, offering yet another solid Oura competitor. It comes in two versions: the larger Circular Pro 1 and the ultra-slim Circular Slim. Each has distinctive features that cater to a range of preferences and lifestyles.
Each tracks sleep quality, activities, heart rate (which includes flagging heart rate variabilities), and blood oxygen level. Circular's smart rings offer recovery insights and an AI assistant for personalized, actionable suggestions to improve your daily routine. While both models include haptic feedback for alerts like medication reminders and guided breathing exercises, the Ring Slim also packs a haptic navigation system, allowing you to select various functions by tapping around the ring's band.
The most significant issue with Circular's smart rings boils down to availability. While the rings remain available in certain markets, the wait list can be pretty lengthy depending on where you live.
Oura Ring alternatives launching soon
Amazfit Helio
We had a chance to check out the Amazfit Helio Ring at CES 2024, and we were so blown away that it made it onto our Best of CES 2024 list covering the 23 most noteworthy gadgets of the show. Similar to the Oura Ring, it's designed to quietly monitor your health as you go about your day, tracking your heart rate, sleep, electrodermal activity, blood oxygen, and stress, just to name a few. The Helio Ring is also made of the same sturdy titanium and sports a similarly lightweight design, weighing less than 4 grams.
The Helio Ring's biggest selling point is that it's designed to be worn in conjunction with one of Amazfit's fitness trackers to provide a more holistic view of your physical activity and recovery. For example, if you go out for a 10-mile run, the data from that will be fed into the Zepp app (the app used with all Amazfit devices), and help inform the data that's being picked up by the Helio Ring to offer more tailored recovery advice. The app can also take the data from the watch and the ring to give you tips and race predictions based on your past performance and current physical state.
While you can't go out and by the Helio Ring just yet, you won't have to wait long as Amazfit announced it's set to launch this spring. Pricing has not yet been announced, but given Amazfit's other products, a few of which are or have been on our list of the best cheap fitness trackers, we expect it to be fairly inexpensive.
