The best budget fitness trackers of 2024

Keeping on top of workout progress and monitoring your wellbeing has never been cheaper, or looked so stylish

A person using a budget fitness tracker

by Ryan Houghton |
Updated on

Staying on top of your fitness goals, monitoring health and powering through the toughest workouts has never been easier, thanks to the latest generation of excellent fitness trackers. But if you don't plan on spending a small fortune, you must look for the best budget fitness trackers.

For essential fitness tracking technology, heart rate ECGs, step counting, and maybe some particularly advanced insights into your health - the best budget fitness trackers of the year have many fantastic features to offer for little to no cost.

Best budget fitness trackers at a glance:

Best budget fitness tracker: Fitbit Charge 5 Activity Tracker - View on Amazon
Best budget fitness tracker under £50: HONOR Band 5 Fitness Tracker - View on Amazon
Best budget fitness tracker for workout programs: HUAWEI Band 7 Activity Tracker - View on Amazon

Transform your fitness regimen and gain control over your essential daily workouts with the best fitness trackers bursting with value. From top fitness brands such as Fitbit, Garmin, Samsung and more - there's bound to be the perfect fitness tracker for you and your budget, and we're here to help you find the perfect one.

The best budget fitness trackers to buy right now

Note that all prices are correct when writing and are subject to change at short notice.

Best budget fitness tracker

Fitbit Charge 5 Activity TrackerFitbit
Price: £144.00
Alternative retailers
Adorama$119.95View offer
Best Buy$127.99View offer
Macy's$149.95View offer
Kohl's$149.99View offer

Break the habit of giving up mid-run, push yourself to your absolute limits and crush your fitness goals with one of the very best budget fitness trackers on the market this year.

Fitbit's Charge 5 combines the sophistication and versatile technology of high-end running watches with the undeniable value of a basic watch while offering much more.

Packed with so many mindblowing features, from basic heart rate tracking to blood-oxygen levels, stress, sleep trackers and more – you really won't want for anything when it comes to the sheer number of features on the Fitbit Charge 5.

Pros

  • Feature-packed activity tracker
  • Comfortable design
  • Incredibly durable

Cons

  • Lacking the features of a true smartwatch
  • Design:
    4.5
  • Performance:
    5.0
  • Value:
    4.0
Display:1.04-inch AMOLED
Main features:Heart rate tracking, blood oxygen tracking, sleep score, cardio fitness score, daily readiness, Fitbit Pay, built-in GPS
Supported devices:Apple/Android
Battery life:Up to 7 days
Waterproofing:Water-resistant up to 50 metres
  • Customer review: "So easy to set up, great value for money."

Best budget fitness tracker under £50

When absolute value is concerned, none can truly outmatch the HONOR Band 5 – a simple yet effective budget fitness tracker perfect for tracking steps, keeping an eye on your heart rate, and looking stylish.

Made impeccably well despite its almost impossibly low price point, the HONOR Band 5 will no doubt survive the scrapes, falls and nicks of daily life, retaining its glossy aesthetic into the foreseeable future.

Despite not having the thrills of the more expensive fitness trackers on the list, its essential features are brilliant for accurate step tracking and keeping an eye on your personal fitness development.

Pros

  • Excellent value
  • Nice design
  • Incredibly affordable

Cons

  • Very basic features
  • Design:
    4.0
  • Performance:
    4.0
  • Value:
    5.0
Display:0.95-inch OLED
Main features:Message notifications, heart-rate monitor, step counter
Supported devices:iPhone/Android
Battery life:Up to six days
Waterproofing:Water-resistant up to 50 metres
  • Customer review: "This is a great little watch at a fantastic price."

Best budget fitness tracker for workout programs

Easy to set up, quick to connect to your phone and less than £50 – HUAWEI's Band 7 fitness tracker is easily one the best budget fitness tracking watches on the market. It steals the show for workout motivation, with 96 workouts available from the get-go. As for design, the display of the HUAWEI Band 7 is big, bold, and beautiful - perfect for checking notifications during mid-run.

Pros

  • Over 96 built-in sports programs
  • Quick charging
  • Excellent battery

Cons

  • Not as accurate or insightful as higher-end models
  • Design:
    5.0
  • Performance:
    4.5
  • Value:
    5.0
Display:1.47-inch
Main features:OLED
Supported devices:Apple/Android
Battery life:Up to 14 days
Waterproofing:Water-resistant up to 50 metres
  • Customer review: "I love the large range of exercises available for tracking, the battery life is good and it syncs quickly with my phone."

Best budget fitness tracker under £100

Garmin Small/Medium Vivosmart 4 Smart Activity Tracker
Price: £94.99
https://redirect.viglink.com?key=349f95720ce5cc9591e15152a710dbb3&prodOvrd=PCR&opt=false&u=W0BNFkoPGB1HFBIbFAJVWFhDER9WXlgdCEcedwUQD1paFDBQQ1hBXQIXQU5XFHRaSRFYQ1hBS0xgUEQHCk9xWFgFUhhkW0oGSGZOLhYMAQBUBgYGAQM%3D&x=v1

If simple step tracking and heart health monitoring are what you're looking for, the Garmin Vivosmart 4 is nothing short of perfect for some simple exercise support.

Equipped with an array of heart rate monitors, as well as a particularly impressive heart rate abnormality monitor for detecting and avoiding any major health scares – this affordable Garmin smartwatch is a great option for the health-conscious exercise enthusiast.

With a handful of solid features designed to gain some insight into your overall health and well-being and your fitness progress, the Garmin Vivosmart 4 is affordable, bright and an effective motivator for enormous changes to your fitness routine.

Pros

  • Simple, subtle design
  • Incredibly light and durable
  • Excellent for simple tracking

Cons

  • Fairly basic features compared to other options
  • Design:
    4.0
  • Performance:
    4.5
  • Value:
    5.0
Display:0.74-inches OLED
Main features:Heart rate, abnormal heart rate alerts, blood oxygen saturation, fitness age, body battery, relaxation breathing timer, sleep
Supported devices:Apple/Android
Battery life:Up to 7 days
Waterproofing:Water-resistant up to 50 metres
  • Customer review: "If you are looking for a highly integrated, very accurate tracker, this is the one to buy."

Best fitness tracker for heart rate monitoring

Fitbit Luxe Activity TrackerFitbit
Price: £241.99
Alternative retailers
Macy's$99.95View offer
Walmart$149.99View offer

Fitbit has impressed us time and time again with its selection of affordable fitness trackers, innovating year after year to bring runners, gymgoers and cardio-conscious customers the most cutting-edge health trackers for a low price. The Fitbit Luxe is far from the exception to this well-established budget fitness tracking brand.

A clean design meets the sophisticated features of Fitbit technology in this ultra-smooth, stylish and versatile fitness companion. Complete with excellent heart rate monitoring technology, including cardio health, irregularity and variation detection; there are plenty of features packed in this unobtrusive fitness tracker to explore.

Pros

  • Excellent array of health monitoring sensors
  • Comfortable
  • Stylish
  • Available in an array of colours

Cons

  • Smallish display
  • Design:
    5.0
  • Performance:
    4.5
  • Value:
    5.0
Display:0.75-inch AMOLED
Main features:Heart rate tracking, irregular heart rhythm notifications, skin temperature variation, find my phone, call/text/app notifications, cardio fitness score, connected GPS
Supported devices:Apple/Android
Battery life:Up to five days
Waterproofing:Water-resistant up to 50 metres
  • Customer review: "I use Fitbit for tracking walks, and exercise and have used it for swimming too. I love it."

Best technology in a budget fitness tracker

As brilliant as ever, Samsung's Galaxy Watch4 is easily one of the best budget fitness trackers on the market right now.

Packed with fantastic features, modern aesthetics and some well-integrated fitness apps for a deeper insight into your fitness journey, Samsung's Galaxy Watch4 brings plenty to the table for its ultra-low price. As for the display itself, the Galaxy Watch4's classic round shape undeniably looks the part, especially when combined with its super AMOLED screen technology.

Tough, stunning, and packed with a wonderful variety of top-tier Samsung smartwatch technology for fitness enthusiasts - what's not to love when it comes to the Samsung Watch4?

Pros

  • Packed with plenty of features
  • Great looking display
  • Comfortable and stylish

Cons

  • Doesn't offer quite as many features as higher-end models
  • Design:
    5.0
  • Performance:
    5.0
  • Value:
    4.5
Display:1.4-inch (super AMOLED)
Main features:Accelerometer, barometer, BioActive Sensor, Body Composition, sleep tracking
Supported devices:Android
Battery life:Up to 40 hours
Waterproofing:IP68 - water resistant up to 1.5 metres of water for 30 minutes
  • Customer review: "Enjoying using this, great for tracking steps and workouts, I love the heart rate graphs."

The best budget fitness tracker under £20

The Runlio Fitness Tracker is the kind of value for money that'll make you take a second glance. It's super budget but it does near enough everything you'd hope a fitness tracker can do. Is it as advanced as Fitbit or an Apple Watch? Of course not, but it's still a very clever bit of tech.

Pros

  • One of the cheapest on the market
  • Available in a range of colours
  • Reliable battery

Cons

  • Only basic features
Display9.6 Inches
Main featuresCycle Tracking, Sedentary Reminder, Activity Tracker, Pedometer, Notifications
Battery life7 days
WaterproofYes
  • Customer review: "This is a great watch , it is responsive and records all activity with a touch. I will not be buying a fitbit now. The power lasts for days, really pleased with this buy."

Are budget fitness trackers accurate?

Every budget fitness tracker we've selected on this list is renowned for its excellent accuracy and dependency, so you'll keep getting accurate readings in the future.

Fitness tracker technology in general, has become highly accurate across the board, so you don't need to pay heaps of cash for an accurate picture of your daily exercise and health.

Are budget fitness trackers compatible with Apple?

With some exceptions from Samsung, most budget fitness trackers are now compatible with Android, so you don't have to worry if you're using the latest iPhone - you should be more than covered.

Are budget fitness trackers waterproof?

Not all budget fitness trackers are waterproof, but many have at least a certain level of waterproofing - check the fitness tracker's waterproof rating online for more insight so you can comfortably bring your shiny new watch to the poolside.

Ryan Houghton is a tech writer and reviewer for What's The Best, specialising in PCs and gaming. He is a keen PC gamer and an avid reader.

Subscribe to the What’s The Best Newsletter to keep up to date with more of the latest reviews and recommendations from the rest of the What’s The Best team.

Just so you know, we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website - read why you should trust us