With all the obligations and distractions of modern life, ensuring our bodies stay moving can be a daunting task. However, the effort is worth it, both for your mental and physical well-being. The tech world has responded with various wellness and fitness-related devices or wearables that can help you stay motivated.
Fitness trackers are a boon for devout athletes and couch potatoes alike. Many offer in-depth activity metrics along with step counting so you can assess if you’re making progress, whether you’re at the beginning of your fitness journey or years into it. Thanks to paired-down features, fitness trackers are often more affordable than their smartwatch counterparts, making them a great option for those on a tight budget.
There are a wealth of budget-friendly trackers available that are more than capable of tracking steps and supercharging your training. While not the newest or fastest trackers on the market, our recommendations are still capable of keeping you moving and often offer useful features.
Best budget smartwatches: Cheap and cheerful
Who said great fitness tracking has to cost an arm and a leg?
Best budget fitness tracker overall
Fitbit Inspire 3
Fitbit finesse for less
The Fitbit Inspire 3 is a great fitness tracker that pairs excellent software with a range of accurate sensors. The whole package should satisfy both enthusiasts and those who just want to know their daily steps.
- Great software
- Excellent battery life
- Accurate and detailed tracking
- Subtle form factor
- Small display
- Touchscreen could be more responsive
Fitbit is one of the longest-running (pun intended) and most well-known fitness tracker brands. The Fitbit Inspire 3 is the result of years of refinement on both the software and hardware sides. It looks sleek and understated and easily blends in with most outfits, which is always welcome for a fitness tracker that you might want to wear 24/7.
Fitbit Inspire 3: Great entry-level fitness tracker
Should you buy the Fitbit Inspire 3, or would you be better off spending a little bit more and buying the Luxe or Charge? Here’s our review.
The Inspire 3 has all the features you’d expect from a budget tracker. It includes the standard activity, step, and sleep tracking software. The band also has a heart rate sensor, SpO2 monitoring, and 21 different workout modes. However, the Inspire 3’s main standout and focus is on accuracy.
Be it tracking your running, starting a workout mode automatically, or measuring your sleep, the Inspire 3 rarely misses the mark and is probably the most accurate tracker you’ll get for the price. What’s more, Fitbit didn’t sacrifice battery life, and you can expect to get 10 days on a full charge. Finally, one of the other reasons for choosing the Fitbit Inspire 3 over the competition is its user-friendly mobile app. You get your usual steps, calories, and heart rate scores there, but Fitbit goes into quite a lot of other details as well, provided you’re willing to pay for a subscription.
Best budget fitness tracker under $50
Xiaomi Band 8
A newcomer but a front-runner
The Xiaomi Band 8 continues Xiaomi’s tradition of offering a lot in its budget fitness trackers. The new band has a refreshed look and even better sensors, yet it maintains a reasonable price.
- Incredible battery life
- Support for 200+ activities
- Great performance and screen
- Some surface level tracking modes
- Lackluster software
When most people think about Xiaomi, one of the first things that comes to mind is the legendary price-to-performance ratio of its products. This might have changed for the company’s flagship phones over the years, but some Xiaomi accessories still punch well above their price. The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 is undoubtedly one of those products.
Xiaomi Smart Band 8: Comprehensive fitness tracking on a budget
The latest Xiaomi fitness tracker gives you lots of customization options and faster performance and retains an affordable price tag.
The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 was designed with customization in mind, making changing straps easier than ever. It’s also the standard Xiaomi pill, this time with a faux-metallic finish, a stellar 60Hz AMOLED screen, vibrant colors, and hundreds of fun themes and wallpapers to choose from.
Xiaomi Band 8 is not just for show. It comes equipped with an optical heart rate sensor and SpO2 tracking, six-axis motion sensor, and sleep tracking. The last one might not be as accurate as the Fitbit at the top of the list, but remember that the Xiaomi Band 8 is half the price.
What’s more, it comes with one of the longest-lasting batteries on the market. The device charges fully in an hour, and you get around 16 days of tracking on a single charge. With how lovely the screen is and how many tracking options there are, it’s almost a miracle.
Speaking of tracking activities, the Band 8 can record over 200 different types of exercise. You have multiple types of running and cycling, as well as more exotic activities such as dancing, climbing, and everything in between.
Best Garmin budget fitness tracker
Garmin Vivosmart 5
Garmin quality without the hefty price tag
If you’re looking for that Garmin magic without hurting your wallet, the Vivosmart 5 is the way to go. It gets you into the Garmin ecosystem, and does so with a nice, minimalist design.
- Minimalist design
- Garmin Connect app
- Packed with tracking features
- No GPS tracking
- Pulse OX drains battery rapidly
Fitbit might be a household name when it comes to fitness trackers, but there’s one company that stands above the rest when it comes to fitness devices: Garmin. The company offers a slew of sports accessories, each one focused on providing the best, most accurate tracking possible.
Usually, this comes at a steep price. However, if you want to ease yourself into the Garmin ecosystem, there is a way to do it without breaking the bank: the Garmin Vivosmart 5.
Garmin Vivosmart 5: Don’t call it a comeback
Garmin’s long-awaited return to the fitness tracker scene is here, but was it worth the wait? We’ve tested the Vivosmart 5 to find out.
The cheapest Garmin fitness tracker does not bother with the flashy colors that Xiaomi offers. It has a monochrome screen, is very slim, and has one goal in mind — not to draw attention to itself. With Garmin, however, it’s not about the looks but rather the quality, and the Vivosmart 5 delivers, offering heart rate tracking and a PulseOx sensor. Additionally, the wearable offers sleep tracking and a slew of Garmin-specific metrics, like its staple Body Battery feature.
These are available in the stellar Garmin Connect app, which might even be a bit overwhelming at first, as it offers a much more detailed look into your activities than other apps. However, it’s one of the most highly regarded fitness apps — you’ll find every metric imaginable here, and the Garmin Vivosmart 5 is the cheapest way to get into such detailed tracking.
When it comes to tracking activities, the Vivosmart 5 cannot compete with the Xiaomi Band 8, but it does offer the most common activities, including walking, running, yoga, Pilates, cardio, mindful breathing, strength training, and more. There might not be anything fancy or niche here, but what there is, Garmin tracks with superb accuracy. What’s more, it offers great battery life to boot: up to seven days on a single charge, provided you don’t use PulseOx 24/7. If you do, it reduces this number quite a bit.
Best budget fitness tracker with smartwatch design
Amazfit GTS 2e
A last-gen all-rounder
Amazfit GTS 2e is the fitness tracker to get if you want to look stylish while exercising and still do it on a budget. Plus, you won’t miss out on all the tracking options while you’re at it.
- Great design
- Solid all-rounder
- Responsive offline assistant
- Heart rate tracking can be finicky
- Battery life isn’t as good as advertised
A great thing about smart bands and fitness trackers is that they don’t really go out of date as quickly as some other tech accessories. That’s why buying last-gen is a great idea — you still get almost every current feature, often for a fraction of the price. Amazfit GTS 2e is the device to buy if you’re looking for an affordable all-rounder with a lot of tracking features and surprisingly decent software.
It’s a popular fitness tracker-smartwatch combo, making it even more useful than a standard smart band. The device has a smartwatch-like design, so it looks great on your wrist even when you’re not actively exercising.
Amazfit GTS 2e: Affordability is its appeal
The more budget version of the GTS 2 cuts out Wi-Fi and on-board music storage, but also cuts the price to make this an appealing casual tracker.
The GTS 2e packs heaps of tech in its small and sleek body. You do get the now-standard heart rate and SpO2 sensors, but this tracker also includes a standalone GPS module, allowing you to accurately record your exercises outside without the need to take your phone with you as well. You also get a temperature sensor, as well as sleep tracking.
Matching its look, the Amazfit GTS 2e also offers some smartwatch functionality. It allows you to control your music, set up reminders, and receive notifications. You also get a handy offline assistant, which is particularly handy for adjusting settings.
Matching its look, the Amazfit GTS 2e also offers some smartwatch functionality. It allows you to control your music, set up reminders, and receive notifications. You also get a handy offline assistant, which is particularly handy for adjusting settings.
Battery life is also good, with 14 days in smartwatch mode (but seven days with heavy usage). Considering the inclusion of a GPS module, it’s a great score. You’ll be able to use that battery to track a wide range of activities. The more basic ones get much more detailed metrics, while niche activities usually just let you know the duration of your workout and your heart rate.
Best budget fitness tracker with GPS
Fitbit Charge 6
Navigation tracking as you workout
Fitbit’s Charge 6 provides an excellent mix of features and tracking performance. It’s a bit pricier than the rest, but it easily outclasses the competition with what it has to offer.
- Great heart-rate monitoring and sleep tracking
- Built-in GPS
- Robust app and software
- Cramped screen
- Built-in GPS can be temperamental
Fitbit is a great, versatile brand with many trackers to choose from. Although the Fitbit Inspire 3 is our top choice for a budget-friendly option, the company also offers the excellent Charge 6. It is a bit pricier than the Inspire 3, but you get quite a lot more features for your money.
Fitbit Charge 6 review: A fitness tracker with smartwatch DNA
Fitbit updates its popular fitness tracker with a healthy dose of smartwatch behavior, thanks to Google.
The design of the Charge 6 is great, but you can see that the lack of significant upgrades is slowly catching up to it. It features a vibrant AMOLED screen enclosed in a premium stainless steel case. That said, the screen is a bit too small for some of the preinstalled apps, making the experience feel quite cramped. Of course, you also get interchangeable straps, making it easier to match the device to your outfits.
However, where the Charge 6 shines is in its ability to track workouts and activities. This fitness tracker offers a lot of what the best devices of this kind can do: heart rate tracking with an ECG sensor, sleep tracking, great and accurate workout tracking, as well as built-in GPS to allow you to go out without your phone and still get accurate results.
Plus, to top all of these sensors and features off, Fitbit’s app is great and offers not only an easy-to-use UI but also in-depth information about your workouts and daily activities. It’s a great middle ground between detailed and usable, making it perfect for both casual users, and those more advanced fitness enthusiasts or dedicated athletes.
You also cannot go wrong with its predecessor. Although it’s a few years old now, the Fitbit Charge 5 offers a very similar experience, albeit a bit less smartwatch-like, to the new version. It does it all with the added benefit of costing significantly less. If you want to see all the differences between these two models, check out our comparison.
The bottom line: What is the best budget fitness tracker?
The Fitbit Inspire 3 is the best cheap fitness tracker because it offers a great feature set, an accessible app, and a decent price to boot. Fitbit’s Charge 6 is our premium pick because it offers the luxury of a built-in GPS and ECG sensor while still maintaining great software and a reasonable price tag. The Xiaomi Mi Band 6 represents the best value, as it offers a plethora of sensors and activity tracking options for a fraction of the price of the competition.
Fitbit Inspire 3
Editor’s Choice
How did we choose the best budget fitness trackers?
The writers and editors have been reviewing fitness trackers and smartwatches for two decades, collectively, so we’ve seen our fair share of devices. When selecting the best budget fitness trackers, we prioritized a balance of features and price since an overly basic fitness tracker doesn’t do much good, no matter how cheap it is. Accurate sensors, useful fitness tools, and decent battery life were there of our primary considerations. We also looked at connectivity, compatibility, and display quality to ensure a well-rounded device usable by most people.
FAQ
Q: How much should I pay for a budget fitness tracker?
Of course, “cheap” is a relative word, and depending on the person, it can mean quite a lot of different price points. Additionally, something can be cheap for what it is but still cost quite a lot or expensive for what it is but still cost just around $10.
That’s why, when it comes to cheap fitness trackers, we’ve decided to stick to a solid price point of under $200, with most being under $150. That way, we can include budget options that provide great bang for your buck, but also some a bit more expensive devices that offer more specialized sensors or a much better software experience.
You’ll find very cheap (and still capable) devices as well as slightly more expensive trackers that should satisfy more experienced athletes. The only thing left for you to do is pick the price point that suits you and the device with the features you like most.
Q: Should I get a fitness tracker with a built-in GPS module?
Built-in GPS is a nice feature if you don’t want to take your phone with you when exercising, but it’s not necessary at all. Most trackers that don’t have a GPS use GPS tethering, meaning they connect to your phone and get GPS data straight from it.
Tethered GPS has its upsides, as built-in GPS often dramatically shortens a tracker’s battery life. If you pick up one without a GPS module, you can count on it lasting much longer on a charge. However, tethered GPS typically isn’t as accurate as built-in GPS, so if you want highly accurate data from your GPS-based workouts, you’ll want a fitness tracker with that built-in.
Q: What is the cheapest Garmin watch?
The most budget-friendly Garmin we’ve tested is the Vivomove 5, which delivers pretty standard and reliable performance despite its lower-end price tag. Additionally, some Forerunner models below the $300 mark are often on sale for even less. That being said, the best Garmin smartwatches do cost a bit more than what you’d consider a “budget” price point.
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