Snooze Better and Longer With the Best Sleep Trackers

Until I got my Oura Ring last year, I had no idea if I was getting high-quality sleep. I was exhausted almost every morning, and I couldn’t find any patterns in my routine that could explain why.

If, like me, you’ve been in the dark (pun intended) about your sleep health, it might be time to try the best sleep trackers, including smartwatches and rings. “They help draw attention to sleep habits that people may not otherwise pay attention to,” Angela Holliday-Bell, MD, a board-certified physician and sleep specialist, tells SELF. “They’re also great for getting a good overview of sleep and highlighting some changes that may need to be made,” like how late you eat dinner or what time you go to bed.

Below, we’re going in depth on the best sleep trackers we’ve tried (and sharing expert advice about what you can actually glean from these gadgets).

1. Best Overall: Oura Ring 4
2. Best Budget Pick: Fitbit Inspire 3
3. Best Sleep and Fitness Tracker: Garmin Forerunner 265

We’ve been sleeping on the job.

• Easy to set up
• Sleek, stylish design
• Super detailed insights available in the app
• You can order a sizing kit before you buy the ring for a better fit

• Expensive
• Subscription required

I’ve been wearing my Oura ring religiously since I got it three months ago. It uses sensors to record my heart rate, body temperature, and other biometrics, then sends all of that information to the app via Bluetooth. It took a few days to get used to—it’s thicker than other rings I’d usually wear—but it’s comfy from the start (and you’d never know there are sensors inside).

I’m at the point where the app knows my body better than I do—and I say that as an anxious person who’s sometimes freakishly in tune with myself. Every morning, I open the Oura app and look at my sleep score, which is created by averaging “sleep contributors” (including total hours of sleep, REM sleep, deep sleep, latency (how long it took me to fall asleep), and timing (when I went to bed). And every morning I’m surprised by how spot-on it all is.

In just a few weeks of wearing the ring, I noticed it picked up on my night owl tendencies—it says my ideal bedtime window is between 10:45 p.m. and 11:45 p.m., but I usually go to sleep between 12 a.m. and 12:30 a.m. instead (something Oura is constantly reminding me I need to work on). And it’s eerily accurate—I’m seriously impressed by how well it tracks when I go to bed versus when I fall asleep, down to the minute.

The app also frequently flags my restfulness and deep sleep metrics, which it calculates on a sliding scale. It even provides advice on how I can switch up my p.m. routine to improve these factors, like avoiding late-night meals or going to bed earlier.

The app also gives me a window into how my body functions while I sleep by recording my resting heart rate, average oxygen saturation, breathing regularity, and variations in blood oxygen. Although the app explains each of these in detail, it’s a little too much info for me to digest every single day—but if any of them started to majorly shift, I’d feel confident in bringing the details to my doctor for a second opinion.

• Not bulky
• App is easy to use and breaks information down well
• Can set multiple alarms that use vibration to gently wake you up
• Doesn’t require a paid membership (although you’ll get better insights if you purchase one)

• Charger can be finicky
• Screen and text are very small

Not ready to drop major dollars on a sleep tracker? You can still get a lot of data from this budget-friendly Fitbit. It may be tiny, but it’s pretty high-tech: “The sleep tracking is super accurate, down to the minute,” our tester says.

The band connects to the Fitbit app, which you can download on your smartphone to check the info it gathers. “In the app, I can see details about how long I’ve slept and how long I’ve spent in each stage of sleep,” our tester adds. Those details get summarized into a daily score that our tester says helps her see whether she’s on track with her sleep goals, like sticking with a consistent bedtime.

It also shows her trends, including whether she slept more this week than the week before, so she can compare her results over time. She can even see how long she’s spent in each sleep stage (and how those numbers compare to other Fitbit users’).

The app contains enough information that you’ll feel empowered but not overwhelmed: “I think the Fitbit hits the sweet spot of collecting just enough metrics that you feel like you’re learning something about your body, but not so many numbers that they start to swim onscreen,” our tester says. “It helps me make informed decisions about my health (even if that’s just setting my alarm back 30 minutes the next morning).”

The Inspire 3 is also really slim, so it won’t take you long to get used to wearing it. “It’s very lightweight and comfortable—the silicone band doesn’t get in the way of my sleep or feel too tight on my wrist,” our tester says. “I wear my Inspire 3 every single night, even when I travel—I can't be without it!”

Another pro? “My favorite feature is the vibrating alarm (I don’t know how I’d actually get up in the morning otherwise),” she says. Heavy sleepers (or people who share the bed with a partner) rejoice.

• Includes a ton of helpful features, like meditations and breath work exercises
• Helps you make the most of workouts and recovery time
• Stretchy band fits our tester’s wrist well
• You don’t need a subscription to use it
• Long battery life

• Expensive
• A little bulky

The Forerunner 265 is the Rolls-Royce of trackers, with its lengthy list of health and wellness features (relaxation reminders, anyone?), accurate sensors (think respiration rate and GPS), and smart tool integrations (like Find My iPhone).

And, of course, it’s equipped with everything you need to accurately track your sleep habits. Just take it from SELF’s fitness director, Christa Sgobba, who’s been wearing it nonstop for six months: “Garmin is the whole package for me—it does workouts, sleep, AND recovery so great that you don’t really need anything else to complement it,” she says.

As Christa puts it, “Garmin’s Forerunner 265 is primarily a runner’s watch, but the thing is, your training isn’t only about running—rest and recovery are just as, if not more, important, so solid sleep is important.” Just like the Oura and Fitbit Inspire 3, this Garmin watch delivers a daily sleep score and a breakdown of the data it collects, like sleep duration, stress levels, restfulness (based on any movement it detects during the night), and how long you’ve spent in each sleep stage (light, REM, and deep).

One of Christa’s favorite features is the sleep coach, which predicts how tired she’ll be based on how much rest and activity she’s gotten lately: “So, for instance, because I’ve been gradually increasing my running recently, my Garmin suggested to me this morning that I should get an extra 20 minutes of sleep tonight to account for ‘heavy training the last few weeks.’”

Checking out her daily sleep score and listening (as much as possible) to the sleep coach has now become a regular part of Christa’s training and recovery routine. If you’re training for a marathon or getting into weightlifting, Garmin can help you see how your activity level and sleep affect each other, so you can adjust your sweat sessions accordingly.

While we haven’t tested these trackers yet, they’re well-loved by reviewers and have some of the same features we loved about our top picks. If you’re still searching for your new bedtime buddy, one of these gadgets could fit the bill.

• Automatically detects workouts
• Available in a bunch of wristband designs, including customizable options

• Expensive
• Requires a paid subscription

There’s a lot of buzz around Whoop—a fitness tracker that professional athletes like LeBron James and Michael Phelps wear. While it tracks your daily activities, including a stint at the rock climbing wall or a quick jog around the block, its main focus is on helping you recover after a workout, so you can perform better over time.

Taking into account your daily activities, recent sleep patterns, naps, and other factors, the app calculates how much sleep you need that night to feel your best. It’ll then help you set a bedtime and wake-up window, so your Whoop alarm will vibrate at exactly the right time the next day.

Like some other trackers on this list, the Whoop doesn’t have a screen—you’ll need to check your statistics directly in the app. If you hate the distraction of having a smart device strapped to your wrist, this could be a plus for you—but if you want to see the time, weather, and other info at the press of a button, Garmin’s Forerunner might be your perfect match.

Editor’s note: Christa is currently testing the Whoop 4, so she can speak to the main differences between the two soon!

If you have an iPhone, you might be familiar with the (free!) Apple Health app—maybe it’s how you keep tabs on your daily step count. But with an Apple Watch, you can also dive deep into your sleep habits—it’ll collect all of the details on your z’s and send them straight to your phone.

Like other devices on this list, the Apple Watch records how many hours you spend dreaming and how long you stay in each sleep stage. But the latest version is also designed to detect breathing disturbances that show potential signs of sleep apnea, a condition that causes you to repeatedly stop breathing during the night. (We recommend consulting a doctor if you think you have sleep apnea, although the Watch is great for helping you start to notice and track your symptoms.)

If you’re someone who already has Apple devices and you want something that’ll pair seamlessly with them, the Series 10 Watch might be for you. Plus it’s totally free to use (no pricey membership required).

The world of wearables can be confusing. Here’s how to tell some of the most popular trackers apart during your search.

“Sleep trackers are fairly accurate in terms of overall sleep duration. However, they do have some limitations,” Dr. Holliday-Bell says. “They are still not very accurate when it comes to detecting sleep stages, and they aren’t as accurate as we would like them to be in terms of determining when someone is actually sleeping” (versus when you’re just lying down). Shelby Harris, PsyD, a sleep psychologist and the author of The Women’s Guide to Overcoming Insomnia, agrees, suggesting you “take the sleep staging with a grain of salt.”

Still, they can be a helpful tool if you’re interested in learning more about your sleep habits and things you can do to get more restful sleep (like cutting back on caffeine and alcohol), Dr. Harris says.

We’ve tested our top picks for months, and for the most part, wearing them almost every single day. We make sure to use all of the trackers’ features, including their apps, to keep track of our sleep scores and stay on top of any additional data they collect.

If applicable, we made tweaks to our routines based on the devices’ advice. Then, we gathered our thoughts on how easy they are to use and how they’ve helped us change our sleep habits for better (or worse).

Related:

• 11 Expert-Recommended Fitness Trackers for Smarter Workouts
• Want Better Sleep? Start With Cozy, Sweat-Wicking Bedding
• Turns Out, a Knee Pillow Might Be the Back Pain Fix You Need

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