Fitbit Air vs Oura Ring 4: Band or ring?

If you want a distraction-free fitness tracker then the newly announced screenless Fitbit Air and Oura Ring 4 are two brilliant options.

While you’ll need to be happy to forgo smartwatch features, both promise to quietly track your health, fitness and workout metrics without getting in the way of your everyday life. 

While we’re yet to review the Fitbit Air, we have reviewed the Oura Ring 4 and not only gave the wearable a 4.5-star rating but also hailed it as being one of the best smart rings too. With this in mind, how do the Fitbit Air’s specs look set to compare?

We’ve highlighted the key differences, alongside noteworthy similarities, between the Fitbit Air and Oura Ring 4 below. Keep reading to see how the two differ and decide which one will likely suit you best.

Otherwise, our list of the best fitness trackers rounds up our current favourites on the market. If, however, you think you’d prefer a device that acts as an extension of your smartphone, then you should visit our best smartwatches list instead.

Specs comparison table

Price and Availability

At the time of writing, the Fitbit Air is available to pre-order and will launch in the UK and US from May 26. With a starting RRP of £84.99/$99.99, the Fitbit Air is one of the cheaper fitness trackers.

In comparison, the Oura Ring 4 has a considerably more expensive starting price of £349/$349 – though this can significantly alter depending on the finish you opt for. For example, the Silver or Black iterations are £349/$349 while the Gold or Rose Gold iterations will set you back £499/$499 instead.

Alternatively you can opt for the Oura Ring 4 Ceramic which comes in a choice of four colours but starts at £499/$499.

Fitbit Air has changeable bands

Let’s get the most obvious difference out of the way: the Oura Ring 4 is a smart ring while the Fitbit Air is a screenless band worn around the wrist. Naturally, this means the Oura Ring 4’s colour or shape can’t be changed after purchase, whereas the Fitbit Air’s band is entirely changeable. 

Google explains that the Fitbit Air moves from “bracelet to workout band to sleep tracker” as you can purchase different bands separately. 

However, that’s not to say the Oura Ring 4 stands out as an unsightly wearable. In fact, at 7.9mm wide and 2.88mm thick, the Oura Ring 4 is designed to look just like an ordinary ring and not stand out as a fitness tracker.

Oura Ring 4 promises up to eight days of battery and slightly faster charging

Compared to even the best Apple Watches, both the Fitbit Air and Oura Ring 4 boast much higher battery lives. In fact, while Google promises the Fitbit Air will see up to seven days of power, the Oura Ring 4 is promised up to eight. 

However, it’s worth noting that in our review we actually found the Ring 4 struggled to see the full eight days and achieved around five days instead. That was with daily use, passive tracking and occasional workouts, so you’d likely need to be a particularly light user to see the full eight days.

Otherwise, the Fitbit Air is said to take around 90 minutes to go from 0 to 100% battery, while a five minute charge should result in an extra day’s worth of juice. In comparison, the Oura Ring 4 is said to take up to 80 minutes to charge, though it doesn’t benefit from any fast charging tricks like the Fitbit Air.

Oura Ring 4 has Natural Cycles integration

Women are said to make up 60% of Oura Ring 4 users, as the wearable offers in-depth cycle insights which include pregnancy metrics and even fertility insights too. Plus, the Ring 4 sports integration with Natural Cycles, a natural birth control or family planning tool that determines your most fertile times of the month according to your skin temperature. 

This is especially appealing for those who don’t want to rely on hormonal birth control methods that usually come with a long list of side effects. Garmin also recently introduced an integration with Natural Cycles.

While the Fitbit Air does include menstrual cycle insights, with predicted periods and fertile windows shown on the new Google Health app, this is based on your recorded data and trends. Although the Fitbit Air can track skin temperature, if you forget to log a period then this can affect the accuracy of your insights.

Both operate with subscriptions, though Fitbit Air’s isn’t compulsory

The Fitbit Air is compatible with the new Google Health smartphone app, which has replaced the old Fitbit app. Google Health will act like the hub for your Fitbit’s data, bringing together your health and fitness tracking metrics and insights to your iPhone or Android. 

While Google Health offers an overall insight, there is a paid subscription to opt for which unlocks many more features. Coined Google Health Premium, the $9.99-a-month subscription will provide access to Google Health Coach, the Gemini-powered AI tool that offers personalised workout plans and guidance according to you and your personal goals. In addition, Google Health Premium includes in-depth sleep tracking which is said to be 15% more accurate on the Fitbit Air compared to previous models.

Even so, we should note that the Fitbit Air doesn’t need this subscription to work, whereas the Ring 4 does require Oura’s subscription.

Slightly cheaper at £5.99/$5.99 a month, the Oura Membership is compulsory and required to unlock all the daily insights you’d expect to see from your Ring 4. 

Both promise auto workout detection but Oura’s isn’t always reliable

As neither the Fitbit Air or Ring 4 are equipped with a display, checking metrics and tracking workouts is done via their respective smartphone apps. While you can manually start tracking a workout through the app, both the Fitbit Air and Ring 4 promise to sport automatic workout detection. This means that you can simply start exercising and both the wearables will track and log the workout, without you needing to dive into the app.

In theory, this is a welcome time-saver and means you won’t miss out on key data like your HRV. However, we actually found the Ring 4’s automatic workout tracking to be somewhat hit and miss. While running was tracked well, other activities were sometimes missed entirely.

With this in mind, we’d always recommend manually inputting workouts. 

Early Verdict

As the concept is the same, with both offering screenless and therefore distraction-free health tracking, perhaps one of the biggest deciding factors between the Fitbit Air and Oura Ring 4 is whether you prefer wearing a band or a ring. 

Having said that, it’s worth remembering that the Fitbit Air does benefit from the AI-powered Health Coach (albeit with the optional subscription) which could be useful for beginners who’d like help getting started on their fitness journey. Plus, the Oura Ring 4 is not only more expensive, but it requires the subscription to even track basic metrics, making it much more of a long-term investment.

On the other hand, the Oura Ring 4 is fitted with many women’s health insights which could be useful for those either looking to move away from hormonal birth control, start family planning or tracking pregnancies too. 

We’ll be sure to update this versus once we review the Fitbit Air.