Every Fitbit Model You Can Buy, Ranked

The Fitbit Ace 3 is designed primarily for kids, which is an obvious fact when considering its tight fit. It was released back in 2021, aiming to get kids up and moving during the screen-time-heavy pandemic, and many of its extra features are centered around that sort of audience. Between its multi-colored wristband, charming animated clock faces, and incredibly low price of $80, it certainly achieves its goal. There’s not really any other tracker you need to make sure a child stays active and healthy as often as possible.

However, the Ace 3 makes multiple sacrifices for its attractive cost. Many of the basic tracking features found in other watches are absent in the Ace 3, including simply being able to monitor your heart rate. The trackers for heart rate do indeed exist, but you aren’t allowed to turn them on, which defeats the purpose of them being there in the first place. The tracker also has a worse screen using PMOLED instead of AMOLED, further decreasing its reliability and overall usability.

The Ace 3 is still not entirely a bad choice. It even boasts incredible battery life compared to many of the more expensive models. But when looking for a serious fitness tracker, other Fitbit models will feel a lot more useful in the long run, making the Ace 3 only truly suitable for very young kids — or for people on the tightest budget possible.

The Fitbit Luxe is a premium tracker with an equally premium price, set at $200. While most of the other models use silicone or leather bands, the Fitbit Luxe features a metal design with a stainless steel case, granting it a much fancier design. You’re still able to swap out the band with other styles, including a stainless steel mesh, which provides quite a few options for customization. Compared to the Ace 3, it provides better fitness tracking, including actual heart rate monitoring and skin temperature variation via the Fitbit app.

The biggest problem with the Luxe is how it still only remains at a baseline when it comes to its overall set of features. Nearly everything it has is present in all other Fitbit models, with every price range being able to match or beat its functionality. Not only that, but the Luxe has the least battery life of any Fitbit you’ll find, only lasting for five days before needing to be charged again. The only thing it’s definitely better than is the Ace 3, which is a tracker designed primarily for children.

The reason why the Luxe is so expensive likely has to do with its metal chain. The aforementioned steel mesh accessory costs nearly $100 on its own, so that chain is likely why the price has been brought so high. But other similar bands can be used on the other trackers, making the Luxe far less valuable than it seems.

The Fitbit Versa 4 was originally revealed as part of the Fitbit Fall Lineup 2022 alongside the Inspire 3 and Sense 2. Beyond that, a lot of its features are comparable to the Luxe, right down to its $200 price point. Pretty much all of its fitness capabilities are matched, with the single exception of additional high and low heart rate notifications. But the Versa 4 also has a larger screen, which helps justify its high cost with a bit more use than the Luxe’s metal band.

Beyond its tracking capabilities, the Versa 4 has better connectivity than quite a few of its rivals. Google Wallet, Google Maps, the Alexa voice assistant, and even a GPS are all built-in. Only a few other Fitbit trackers have their own GPS, with many of them requiring a separate connection for that functionality. Its biggest shortcoming is the battery life, but even then, the Versa 4 still offers a respectable six days compared to the Luxe’s measly five.

The biggest downside of the Versa 4 is how its capabilities are all still at the baseline. It manages to outpace the Luxe very well, but cheaper Fitbits have even greater functionality, especially when considering the price differences. The greatest benefit of the Versa 4 is its bigger screen, but if you’re willing to spend a bit extra, you can get a more expensive model with far more tracking options.

Previously, we’ve highlighted the Fitbit Inspire 3 as one of 10 notable fitness trackers that promise to help you meet your goals. At first glance, though, it might not seem any different from the Luxe at all. It has all the same baseline features with few additions, swapping out the device temperature sensor for an ambient light sensor and the same heart rate notifications as the Versa 4. One other major difference is the battery life, which climbs to 10 days — the most you’ll find from any Fitbit model.

Where the Inspire 3 really shines is in its price. For the most minuscule sacrifices you can make, the Inspire 3 cuts its cost down to half that of the Luxe and Versa 4, putting itself at just around $100. This is why those other Fitbit trackers end up ranking so low, as they offer very little additional functionality compared to this one. Their functionality is cut down from other options at different price ranges while only really being so expensive thanks to aesthetics or size. Those can be a benefit for some buyers, but they don’t mean much if all you care about is actually using these trackers for their intended purpose.

The Inspire 3 is easily able to stand as the best baseline Fitbit you can get. It’s also the only one under $150 without considering discounts other than the Ace 3. Even if you’re on a tight budget, it’s worth bringing out an extra $20 for this more advanced model unless you’re buying it for someone young.

There are plenty of comparisons to be made between the Fitbit Versa 4 and Sense 2, thanks to their similar size and battery life. One especially big difference is that the Sense 2 is the most expensive Fitbit you can buy today, priced at around $250. Unlike the other $200+ trackers, however, this one is far more worthwhile due to its additional functionality. Without concerns about price — or its unimpressive battery life — the Sense 2 is the best tracker for those who want as many features as they can get.

Functionally, the only areas where the Sense 2 falls short are the lack of integration with exercise equipment for heart rate monitoring and YouTube Music-specific controls. In every other way, it outshines other models, with far more exercise modes and the most advanced stress monitoring of any Fitbit. It also has additional electric sensors and even a gyroscope, allowing for greater accuracy in its fitness readouts. Only dedicated Google Pixel smartwatches manage to go beyond what it offers, with every other Fitbit falling to the wayside when it comes to fitness tracking and health monitoring.

On that note, the similarly priced Google Pixel Watch 2 is really the closest competitor to the Fitbit Sense 2. It has much greater compatibility and even further tracking options, but its battery life is even worse than the Luxe’s. Even so, our Google Pixel Watch 2 review was very positive, so it’s worth considering over a Fitbit at the same cost. It all just depends on your screen size preferences and how often you’re willing to charge your tracker.

The Fitbit Charge 6 manages to top this list primarily due to its value. It really is in the middle of the road compared to the Inspire 3 and Sense 2 in terms of functionality, boasting a massive number of exercise modes and additional electrical sensors while lacking deeper stress monitoring or guided breathing sessions. This still puts it quite far above its more expensive rivals, especially with the built-in GPS and seven days of battery life. Its base price of $160 makes it pretty comparable to the Versa 4 and Luxe while having even greater functionality than either of them.

The Charge 6 also has the benefit of being the most well-regarded Fitbit tracker of them all. Multiple publications and community members have praised this tracker above the other Fitbits thanks to its pinpoint accuracy, with some even mentioning how it beats out the Sense 2 in that regard. The most important thing about a tracker is that it actually tracks your activity and health, so it’s no wonder why the Charge 6 has earned such a positive reputation.

The extra features of the Sense 2 still make it worth the price, and the relative cheapness of the Inspire 3 helps it compete well in the long run. But the Fitbit Charge 6 is a fantastic jack-of-all-trades without making too many cuts for its cost. With its overall value and positive reception, it’s not hard to think of the Charge 6 as the absolute best Fitbit of them all.