Best budget fitness tracker: tried and tested

To try to keep things simple, we’ve limited our choice to devices that are very definitively fitness trackers, leaving out hybrid devices such as the Withings ScanWatch and running watches like the Coros Pace 2. We’ve also chosen devices that are relatively affordable – none of our selection should cost you more than £150.  

Fitness trackers are ideal for anyone who wants to focus on tracking basic health and activity metrics, without necessarily having all the extra features of more expensive devices.

The absolute essentials that you’d expect from a budget fitness tracker include the following metrics: 

• Step counting 
• Heart rate monitoring 
• Sleep tracking 
• Activity tracking
• Estimated calorie burn
• GPS – either built-in or connected 

We’ve tested a range of cheap fitness trackers to help you find which ones are worth your time and money. As we’ll see, being the most expensive doesn’t automatically mean being the best, most feature-filled device.

Here are what we consider to be the best budget fitness trackers currently available. 

The Fitbit Charge 5 is the best budget fitness tracker we’ve tested, offering more features than most devices here. It’s a premium product that has dropped in price since launch, and will appeal to beginners and more experienced exercisers alike. 

As well as all the essentials, this one can also provide ECG (electrocardiogram) for monitoring heart health, and EDA (electrodermal activity) measurements, to track stress levels. Crucially, the Charge 5 also offers built-in GPS, making it ideal for outdoor exercisers who don’t want to take their phones with them. The screen is superb, being bright, colourful and clear, and is easily one of the best we’ve tested.

We found the strap slightly fiddly to put on (although you can swap this out if you have similar issues). Our biggest issue was the fact that some insights are hidden behind Fitbit Premium, which will cost an extra £7.99 a month (you do get a six-month free trial, however).  

It means that, over time, the cost of buying this device and having access to all your data will start to mount up. After a year or so, you could see your overall spend entering smartwatch territory. For us, that’s a big sticking point. But even without Fitbit Premium, this is still an excellent device. If you’re buying it when it’s on offer, then this is the best budget fitness tracker for under £100.

The Honor Band 7 is considerably cheaper than some of the devices on our list, but still manages to deliver an impressive set of features, and all for under £50 (or even less, if you get it in a promotion). 

When it comes to pure value, this is the best budget fitness tracker for those on a tight budget.

The AMOLED colour screen is particularly impressive and stands up well against much more expensive devices like the Polar Unite and the Garmin Vivosmart 5. Battery life is particularly impressive – during testing we found we could go more than a week between charges. It also offers lots of health and fitness tracking, and even some smartwatch features. 

While perhaps not the most accurate tracker that we’ve tested, in our review we felt that, in general, estimates were never wildly high or low compared to other devices. The app also isn’t quite as polished as the likes of Garmin or Fitbit’s offerings. 

But if you want a device that does all the basics, with good battery life, a nice screen, and won’t break the bank, this is worth considering. Overall, we felt this is the best fitness tracker under £50 that we’ve tested. 

The Garmin Vivosmart 5 ranks highly on our list of the best budget fitness trackers thanks to a combination of excellent health and fitness tracking, a comfortable strap, and, in Garmin Connect, one of the best apps to support all the data it captures.

In our review, we felt that heart rate and distance tacking were both excellent, while step count and calorie estimates felt consistent with other devices. The wristband was very comfortable to wear, and the simple watch buckle was easy to use. It’s a small, light device that we felt was very practical.

It doesn’t have quite as many features as the Fitbit Charge 5, but importantly, tools such as the Body Battery aren’t hidden behind a premium subscription. We would have liked to see a colour screen, and in an ideal world, built-in GPS (although we found connected GPS to be highly accurate during our testing). 

There’s a lot to love about the Garmin Vivosmart 5. We felt this was a highly polished all-rounder, which we’d suggest trying to buy when it’s discounted in a sale, to get the best possible value from it. 

The Xiaomi Smart Band 7 has an awful lot in common with the Amazfit Band 7, but does it all with a bit more polish.

It offers all the same health and fitness metrics, as well as call, text and app notifications. The rounder display makes this device feel smaller than it actually is, while still leaving you with a very clear, large screen. Battery life is also respectable – we managed to go over a week without needing to charge it, despite relatively heavy usage. 

In our review, we felt that it was a more accurate tracker than the Amazfit, while still not quite as accurate as the best devices we’ve tested. It also lacks built in GPS, which means that outdoor activity tracking isn’t quite as accurate as we’d have liked. And calorie burn estimates are presented in a fashion that we simply couldn’t make sense of. 

Overall, though, this is a very respectable device, particularly at the price. If you want a device that’s often available for under £50, this is definitely worthy of consideration.  

The Huawei Band 7 is another surprisingly good fitness tracker at the lower end of the price range, with an RRP of £49.99, and often available for less. Like the Honor Band 7, it punches above its weight considering its price, offering plenty of features and respectable performance. 

The 1.47-inch AMOLED screen is bright, colourful and clear, and responds well to taps and swipes to aid navigation. The strap is also comfortable to wear, with a traditional watch buckle to make it easy to put on or take off. It also offers all the usual health-tracking features we’d expect, including heart rate, blood oxygen, stress, sleep and 96 different types of workout. You also get a few basic smartwatch features, such as notifications and quick replies (although not if you have an iPhone). Battery life is an excellent two weeks or so.

During our testing, we felt that heart rate and blood oxygen readings weren’t always the most accurate in general tracking, but heart rate accuracy was much more accurate during exercise. As we alluded to before, some features aren’t available if you own an iPhone. And finally, setup is a bit more complicated than on many of the fitness trackers we’ve tested.  

This one might not be for everyone, but it’s a competitively priced product that delivers a lot for the money.  

The Smart Band 7 Pro is the second entry from Xiaomi in our best budget fitness tracker list. It offers some excellent features that are unusual in a fitness tracker, let alone one at this price.

The inclusion of built-in GPS, and a smartwatch-style screen make this an attractive proposition for people who want a large screen, or need accurate tracking for outdoor exercise such as walking, running or cycling. In testing, we found heart-rate tracking during exercise to be quite accurate as well.

It is hampered slightly by a relatively limited amount of added insights into your health and fitness, lacking some metrics that are available on its cheaper sibling, the Xiaomi Band 7.

That said, if your focus is on outdoor sports, and you’re happy with basic health tracking in other respects, you could do far worse than this.

The Polar Unite stands out from the other budget fitness trackers on this list, because it’s the only one that looks more like a traditional watch. This means a slightly larger screen, which will make it easier for some users to read and track their data. 

The single biggest strength of this device is the personalised daily workout feature, which will be a real help for people who are just getting started and want a helping hand in deciding what to do, and when. It offers strength training, cardio and stretching workouts, which in theory, represent a well-rounded workout routine. It also offers good heart rate tracking, and the app is excellent. 

There are fewer features than a lot of other fitness trackers, preferring instead to focus on the essentials. Connected GPS was also disappointingly inaccurate. It means that this device is slightly more niche than some of the others we’ve reviewed. If you’re already in a well-established workout routine, you’ll get more from other devices like the Fitbit Charge 5 or Garmin Vivosmart 5. 

The Fitbit Inspire 3 is a great choice for anyone who just wants their fitness tracker to cover the basics. It has all the essential features you’d expect from a fitness tracker and is very straightforward to use. 

Like The Fitbit Charge 5, it uses the excellent Fitbit app, so any data it captures is presented clearly. This allows you to spot trends over time and see how your activity levels are affecting your overall health and fitness. It is also extremely small and light, but still feels like a very premium piece of hardware. 

In our review, we felt it was less accurate than some of the other devices that we’ve tested, and connected GPS seemed to be particularly wayward. And again, like the Charge 5, there’s the issue of certain metrics being accessible only with a Fitbit Premium subscription (you do get a six-month free trial).

Price wise, it’s a little too expensive to compete with some of the cheaper options out there like the Honor Band 7, and doesn’t do enough to challenge slightly more expensive options like the Charge 5 or Vivosmart 5. 

All that said, it’s a lovely little device that is a great choice for beginners.