WHOOP vs Ultrahuman: Which Is the Better Fitness and Sleep Tracker?

I began tracking my workouts, recovery and sleep using WHOOP in 2019, and I learned a lot about how my lifestyle choices were impacting the quality of my sleep and my body’s ability to recover from daily stressors (including exercise). 

After several years of wearing WHOOP, I stumbled across the Ultrahuman Ring Air – a direct competitor to the more well-known Oura Ring (which I was wearing at the time). Ultimately, I decided that I liked Ultrahuman enough to stop wearing WHOOP – a decision I made largely because WHOOP requires an active Bluetooth connection during sleep, leading to more EMF exposure than I think is healthy.

When WHOOP recently announced its latest generation model, the WHOOP 5, I decided to see how the new device stacks up against Ultrahuman when it comes to features, tech and accuracy.

Here are my five key takeaways after weeks of testing them side by side:

1. Both devices do an excellent job of tracking your daily activities, the response of your nervous system to stress (i.e., your ability to recover) and sleep.
2. WHOOP 5’s 14-day battery life is a game-changer because it eliminates the “stressor” of remembering to charge the device. Ultrahuman’s battery life is pitiful in comparison and has degraded significantly since I started wearing it – likely due to firmware changes and new features that have been introduced over time.
3. WHOOP is relatively slow to introduce new features, whereas Ultrahuman frequently releases updates to its core feature set.
4. Ultrahuman’s form factor makes it easy for the sensors to stay in close contact with the skin, which is an essential factor in sensor accuracy. In contrast, WHOOP is more prone to motion “artifacts” (which results in less reliable data). On the flip side, I can’t wear Ultrahuman during certain types of exercise, such as Olympic lifts, because the barbell would damage the ring. (It’s also uncomfortable.)
5. Ultrahuman allows you to turn off its Bluetooth radio overnight (airplane mode). WHOOP doesn’t have airplane mode, which is the main reason I stopped wearing WHOOP 4 back in 2024.

Overall, there are pros and cons to each of the trackers, and your specific preferences and goals determine which one might be the better fit for you.

Sensors and What Each Device Tracks

Both the WHOOP 5 and the Ultrahuman Ring Air feature a set of advanced and comparable sensors. However, it’s worth noting that WHOOP 5 MG — the MG stands for “medical grade” — offers an on-demand ECG feature (similar to newer generations of the Apple Watch) that’s not available in the WHOOP 5 standard or the Ultrahuman Ring Air. 

It’s also worth noting that the WHOOP 5 MG cannot automatically record an ECG in the background and alert you to any potential issues. Instead, you have to manually trigger the reading by holding the clasp between the two fingers of your non-WHOOP-wearing hand, so that the electrical signal can flow through your body in a closed loop.

Sensor	WHOOP 5	Ultrahuman
PPG (heart rate/HRV)	Red, green and IR	Red, green and IR
Accelerometer/motion	Accelerometer + gyroscope	Accelerometer + gyroscope
Temperature (skin)	Yes	Yes
Blood oxygen (SpO₂)	Yes (via PPG)	Yes (via PPG)
ECG (heart screening)	WHOOP MG only	No

WHOOP and Ultrahuman utilize the sensors listed in the table above to track a wide range of biometrics by either directly measuring them or deriving them from directly-recorded data.

For example, biometrics such as heart rate, heart rate variability, skin temperature, blood oxygen saturation and respiratory rate are directly measured, while VO2 max and biological age are calculated based on advanced algorithms.

The table below show what each device does or doesn’t track, as well as whether it records that data directly.

Metric	WHOOP 5	Ultrahuman
Heart rate	Yes	Yes
Resting heart rate (RHR)	Yes	Yes
Heart rate variability (HRV)	Yes (nightly)	Yes (nightly)
Respiratory rate (RR)	Yes (nightly)	Yes (nightly)
Skin temperature (peripheral)	Yes	Yes
Blood oxygen (SpO₂)	Yes (nightly)	Yes (nightly)
Sleep duration and stages*	Yes	Yes
Steps/movement	Yes	Yes
ECG tracing	MG model only	No
Blood pressure (estimate)	MG model only	No
Recovery/readiness*	Recovery score	Dynamic recovery
Training load/activity*	Strain (0-21)	Movement/activity scoring
Stress monitor*	Yes	Yes
Biological age*	WHOOP Age + Pace of Aging	Ultra Age + Speed of Aging
VO₂ Max estimate/cardio fitness*	VO₂ Max estimate (weekly trends)	Cardio Age (via VO₂ Max tab)
Caffeine timing/impact*	No	Yes
Vitamin D levels*	No	Yes
Cycle tracking*	Yes	Yes
Sleep debt*	Yes	Yes

As you can see, the two devices are relatively comparable in terms of features and biometric tracking. That’s particularly true for directly-measured biometrics.

Adittionally, the accuracy of those direct measurements is relatively high, according to published test reports (see here for WHOOP and here for Ultrahuman) from both companies. At least, that’s true for measurements taken at rest (e.g., during sleep); motion can degrade accuracy — especially movements that might cause the sensor to lose contact with the skin (such as jumping or wrist flexion).

How Whoop and Ultrahuman Track Activities

WHOOP and Ultrahuman rely on an accelerometer and a gyroscope to detect motion and movement. In addition to tracking steps and automatically detecting certain types of exercises, both devices also estimate your calorie burn and give you a daily strain or activity score.

As I discussed in great detail in Episode 88 of the Primal Shift Podcast, calorie tracking is a colossal waste of time. As a result, I will not discuss that feature in more detail here. Instead, I’d like to address the pros and cons of the activity score feature that both platforms offer.

WHOOP gives you a daily strain score as an indication of cardiovascular strain. The idea is that the higher your strain score is on a given day, the more rest and recovery you need to avoid overtraining. While I generally like the idea of the strain score, it has several limitations. 

For example, wrist movement influences WHOOP’s strain score algorithm. I noticed that first when I reached a ridiculously high strain score while building a chicken coop. 

The vibrations and movements of using a hammer and drill made WHOOP think I was exerting myself, and I ended up with a strain score of 20 (out of 21 possible points). Needless to say, building a chicken coop and using tools was not the most strenuous activity (cardiovascularly speaking) I had ever undertaken while wearing WHOOP.

On the other hand, WHOOP struggles to track muscular strain accurately. For example, if you engage in heavy lifting sessions and walk out of the gym sore like you’ve never been before, you may still see a relatively low strain score. 

WHOOP has mitigated this shortcoming by introducing a dedicated Strength Trainer feature that enables you to inform the app about your activities, allowing it to calculate your strain score more accurately.

I haven’t used the Strength Trainer feature yet because my resistance training is usually part of a CrossFit workout where I don’t have the time (or desire) to mess around with an app.

The good news is that WHOOP’s recovery score doesn’t take calculated strain into account. Instead, it relies solely on biometrics (recorded during sleep) to estimate how recovered you are.

Ultrahuman takes a much simpler, albeit not less practical, approach to activity tracking by relying predominantly on steps taken and active minutes. The idea behind Ultrahuman’s approach is that regular movement supports optimal glucose metabolism and non-exercise energy use. 

In other words, the more you move throughout the day, the better it is. I like that idea and also think that moving throughout the day is critical for optimal health and likely better (i.e., healthier) than working out for an hour in the morning and then sitting in a chair for the rest of the day.

That said, I aim for a mix of low-impact activities (e.g., walking), resistance training and high-intensity workouts that elevate my heart rate. Unfortunately, neither of the two wearables covers all those activities in a single metric.

Recovery Reporting

Understanding how your nervous system responds to lifestyle choices, including stressors such as exercise, is one of the most valuable aspects of fitness wearables. WHOOP and Ultrahuman both do an excellent job at illustrating that. 

Each morning, both devices calculate a recovery score (Ultrahuman calls it Dynamic Recovery) that takes into account factors such as resting heart rate, heart rate variability and sleep quality. Ultrahuman also factors in skin temperature and stress score, while WHOOP looks at respiratory rate.

While WHOOP calculates its recovery score solely based on nocturnal biometrics, Ultrahuman takes lifestyle choices you make during the day into account. For example, engaging in activities that lower your stress score throughout the day can retroactively raise your recovery score. The idea is that your relative recovery (i.e., your body’s ability to respond to stress) improves if you expose yourself to fewer stressors than usual. 

I like that dynamic calculation because it encourages me to take a more active approach to recovery instead of just writing the day off.

Both devices provide detailed reports on the individual factors contributing to your recovery score and offer recommendations on how to improve it. Both apps also show trends over time, helping you understand how your current training regimen (or other factors) impact your recovery over time. 

One thing I really like about how both WHOOP and Ultrahuman report recovery is the green, yellow/orange, and red color scheme they use. That makes it incredibly easy in the morning to see if you’re “in the green” or if you need to pay attention. 

Unfortunately, I’ve heard from many WHOOP users (including my wife) that not seeing a green recovery score causes stress. That’s obviously not helpful, but it also shouldn’t be the goal to be “in the green” all the time. 

For example, improving your fitness requires pushing your body beyond its current capacity while allowing for ample rest. That back and forth between functionally overreaching and resting will result in reduced recovery scores as your body works hard to build and repair muscle tissue. 

The same principle applies to other hormetic stressors that make you stronger and more resilient over time, like sauna bathing and cold plunging. 

Of course, you can stress your body too much, leading to overtraining. That’s why I recommend keeping tabs on recovery trends over weeks and months instead of worrying too much about individual readings.

Based on my observations, the recovery reports of both devices align well with how I feel on a given day. While the specific scores they report may differ slightly (depending on how they weight the individual factors in their algorithm), I have never seen WHOOP report a green recovery while Ultrahuman reports a red recovery (or vice versa). As a result, I consider both devices useful for the purpose of judging how your nervous system is handling the previous day’s stressors.

Sleep Tracking

Sleep tracking has become a favorite pastime among biohackers and health enthusiasts alike. I love the idea of sleep tracking because it provides insights into a period of my life that I can’t consciously observe otherwise. 

The primary issue with consumer-grade sleep trackers is their lack of accuracy. And when you factor in the lack of scientific understanding about how much time we should spend in the various stages of sleep, it begs the question of whether tracking your sleep is even worth it.

After having tracked my sleep for several years using a variety of devices, and comparing the raw numbers with how I feel each morning, I’ve concluded that sleep tracking can still help identify how specific lifestyle choices affect sleep. However, I no longer worry about individual readings.

As you can see in the table below, over a one week period, WHOOP and Ultrahuman reported similar data about how much time I spend awake each night — though they often disagree about how much time I spend in the individual sleep stages.

Date	Device	Total	Deep	REM	Awake	Sleep Score
8/27	WHOOP	7:59	1:32	1:01	0:38	96
8/27	Ultrahuman	8:17	1:14	1:56	0:32	89
8/28	WHOOP	8:04	1:41	1:01	0:22	98
8/28	Ultrahuman	8:25	1:29	2:27	0:21	89
8/29	WHOOP	7:21	1:31	1:34	0:31	98
8/29	Ultrahuman	7:25	1:27	2:06	0:39	93
8/30	WHOOP	6:57	1:38	1:21	0:28	92
8/30	Ultrahuman	7:20	1:02	2:43	0:38	91
8/31	WHOOP	8:28	1:13	1:36	0:35	95
8/31	Ultrahuman	9:00	1:38	2:30	0:35	88
9/1	WHOOP	7:30	1:48	0:52	0:37	98
9/1	Ultrahuman	7:55	1:15	2:35	0:25	94
9/2	Ultrahuman	8:40	1:11	2:05	0:27	87
9/2	WHOOP	8:08	1:42	0:42	0:21	100

Without comparing my WHOOP and Ultrahuman data with the data from a sleep lab, it’s impossible to tell which one is right. If I had to bet, I’d say WHOOP is closer to the physiological truth on deep vs. total sleep, while Ultrahuman may be over-reporting REM and total duration. 

That said, the key thing is consistency within each device: both can show whether your trend is up or down, and that can be valuable. I just wouldn’t treat individual readings as gospel.

Battery Life and Charging

The older I get, the less I want to think about keeping track of battery levels on various devices. In other words, battery life has become a major factor when I decide whether I want to use a device over extended periods. 

When I first got Ultrahuman, it had a decent battery life of almost a week; that was better than the Oura Ring I was wearing at the time. Unfortunately, the battery life of my and my wife’s rings has dramatically degraded, beyond what could be expected as “normal” wear. Practically, that means we’re now recharging our rings every other day – and I don’t know how much longer I’m willing to put up with that. 

I still wear the ring because I suspect a firmware issue is causing the rapid battery drain, and I hope the company will resolve that problem. 

What makes the battery issue especially troublesome is the need to take the ring off your finger and place it on a charger, where you can easily forget to put it back on. As with taking it off to prevent damage during certain workouts, this creates gaps in your data. 

In comparison, WHOOP offers a convenient battery pack that you can slide onto the device without having to remove it from your wrist. The battery pack is even waterproof, so it doesn’t matter if you take it into the shower with you. And each charge lasts for about two weeks.

The practical implication of such a long battery life is that I get to recharge my WHOOP whenever I happen to think about it. As irrelevant as that may sound, it changed my perception from “I have to charge my WHOOP” to “I’ll do it whenever I get the chance.”

Considering my hectic lifestyle, any “have-to” I can avoid is a small win and one step towards less stress.

Why I Didn’t Do More Accuracy Testing

For a past WHOOP review, I performed detailed accuracy testing using a chest strap heart rate monitor. I also wrote a dedicated “Whoop Accuracy” article. For this review, I decided not to do that because, to be frank, I don’t care. 

I know how that may sound, but here’s the thing…

I know from independent research that the optical heart rate monitors in both WHOOP and Ultrahuman are relatively accurate at rest (e.g., during sleep).

My nocturnal biometrics are what matter to me most, because they reflect whether what I do during the day is beneficial or detrimental to overall health and longevity. I don’t need 100% accurate heart rate tracking during exercise because I’ve learned to listen to my body, and I know whether or not I can sustain a specific heart rate during certain workouts. 

In other words, I exercise based on how I feel on a given day. 

If you’re a pro athlete, you’d better be able to listen to your body. And if you’re an amateur, you’d better learn that skill. Either way, you won’t need a chest strap to tell you. 

I know that there are exceptions to this, but in such cases, you’ll want to wear a chest strap anyway for maximum accuracy.

Regarding sleep tracking, we discussed the lack of accuracy and the importance of paying attention to trends in the sleep section above. There isn’t much I could add to that conversation. 

The bottom line is that both devices are very accurate in specific scenarios and inherently inaccurate in others. 

Either way, keeping an eye on trends is still helpful. 

Comfort, Fit and Design

Both WHOOP and Ultrahuman are incredibly comfortable to wear, except during specific activities. 

For example, I don’t wear my ring when I engage in exercises that involve bars, dumbbells, kettlebells or anything else made out of metal I have to grip. Not only can doing so scratch the ring, but it’s also uncomfortable.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t grip anything at all while wearing the ring. For example, using the rowing or ski ergometer is perfectly comfortable, and so is carrying groceries or packages. 

On the other hand, WHOOP doesn’t interfere with barbell movements at all, but it gets in the way when you wear grips or gloves. For example, many CrossFit athletes wear grips during pull-ups or toes-to-bar, and WHOOP often gets in the way of their straps. I no longer use grips, but I remember a time when I had to reposition WHOOP or wear it on my biceps during specific workouts.

As far as the design is concerned, I love how the Utrahuman ring looks. I wear the ring in place of my regular wedding band and appreciate that it keeps my wrist free.

WHOOP takes up more real estate than a small ring, and some people (especially women) don’t like that. However, it’s worth noting that WHOOP has gotten significantly smaller over time, and the latest model is available in a variety of colors (including gold) and with different straps to turn it into an accessory. 

Still, many women remove their WHOOP when they go out because it doesn’t fit with their wardrobe. I remember my wife removing her WHOOP for date nights back when she still used it. As with removing Ultrahuman, that creates data gaps. 

Overall, WHOOP is slightly more compatible with my exercise routine, even though I don’t like that it permanently occupies my right wrist.

Other Similarities and Differences

The most apparent difference between WHOOP and Ultrahuman is the form factor. WHOOP is a wrist-worn device (you can also wear it on your biceps) that can be recharged on the go by simply attaching a waterproof battery pack. In other words, there is usually no need to take off WHOOP – except when you want to rinse the strap to prevent it from getting smelly. 

The Ultrahuman Ring Air is, as the name implies, a ring that requires removal for charging. Usually, this should only be necessary every five or so days. But with the recent battery drain issues, it has become a daily (and annoying) ritual. I also take my ring off during most CrossFit workouts because they often involve dumbbells, barbells or a pullup bar that can scratch the ring or be painful. Obviously, removing the ring – especially during workouts – means that my data has gaps that wouldn’t exist with a wrist-worn device.

Under the hood, both devices offer a comparable set of core features, including the tracking of various key biometrics (heart rate, HRV, stress, steps, calories, respiratory rate, and blood oxygen saturation), as well as activity levels, sleep, and recovery.

What I really like about WHOOP is their science-based approach and the fact that they share a lot of information about the “how” and “why” of their device and software. 

For example, WHOOP recently published a detailed whitepaper explaining how they developed the new Healthspan feature, and outlining its limitations. Science-backed information like this instills trust in the data I’m seeing in the app.

Ultrahuman takes a similar approach by publishing scientific articles on https://science.ultrahuman.com/ that explain how certain features have been tested in scientific studies. 

One feature that’s incredibly important to me but that many people may not care much about is airplane mode.

Before I go to bed, I enable airplane mode on my Ultrahuman, which disables its built-in Bluetooth radio and reduces my exposure to potentially harmful EMFs during sleep. That’s particularly important for me because I often sleep with my hands and wrists close to my head, and the brain is more susceptible to EMFs than other areas of the body. WHOOP doesn’t have airplane mode, despite significant pressure from its customers.

Beyond the ability to turn on airplane mode, I appreciate Ultrahuman’s holistic approach to health that goes beyond a wearable fitness tracker. For example, Ultrahuman also offers a home health monitor called Ultrahuman Home (see my review here), a continuous glucose monitor platform, and advanced lab testing. 

Where WHOOP has a significant advantage is battery life. Older generations of WHOOP offered a battery life of approximately five days. The latest-generation WHOOP 5 and WHOOP 5 MG offer a whopping 14-day battery life. In contrast, Ultrahuman’s battery is supposed to last between four and six days. Unfortunately, after a few months, both me and my wife started noticing issues with our ring’s batteries. 

At this point, we’ve both had our rings replaced several times (free of charge). But despite that, I still have to recharge my ring every other day or so because of how quickly the battery drains. I hope Ultrahuman addresses that issue, because I have neither the time nor the desire to be constantly monitoring my ring’s battery life.

Cost

WHOOP has always relied on a subscription or membership model, which means you have to continue paying for as long as you want to use the device. 

WHOOP’s argument for a subscription model has been that it enables the company to continue innovating and to release new hardware and software over time. Unfortunately, many users were furious when they discovered they would be required to pay extra to upgrade to the new WHOOP hardware, despite their subscriptions. I understand that anger and think it’s something to keep in mind as you consider the cost of the device.

As of this writing, WHOOP offers three distinct memberships with different pricing and features, including:

• WHOOP One: Includes WHOOP 5, foundational features (sleep, strain, and recovery tracking), personalized coaching, VO2 Max and heart rate zones, and women’s hormonal insights. This costs $199 per year.
• WHOOP Peak: Everything in WHOOP One, including Healthspan and pace of aging, a health monitor with alerts, and a real-time stress monitor. This costs $239 per year.
• WHOOP Life: Everything in WHOOP Peak, but using the WHOOP 5 MG hardware, daily blood pressure insights, heart screener with ECG and on-demand AFib detection. This costs $359 per year.

Try WHOOP free for 1 month

Ultrahuman has a much simpler pricing structure. Instead of a yearly fee, you pay a one-time fee of $349 for the hardware and get free access to all the software features (excluding some optional third-party add-ons). While Ultrahuman doesn’t offer a free trial, you can return the ring if you don’t like it within 30 days. 

Shop Ultrahuman Ring Air

If you want to give the Ultrahuman ring a try, make sure to use discount code MIK to get 10% off the MSRP.

Notes on My Experience With WHOOP and Ultrahuman

My experience with WHOOP dates back to 2019, a time when it was one of the few wearables that offered sophisticated heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV) and sleep tracking. 

HRV and its influence on recovery and nervous system health were new to me at the time, but thanks to WHOOP, I learned a great deal about it. It even helped me increase my HRV by 50%.

Looking back, it’s fair to say that WHOOP helped me improve my health and well-being by giving me a better understanding of how lifestyle factors impact my sleep and recovery. Most of those insights stemmed from the WHOOP Journal, a feature that allows users to keep track of daily lifestyle choices – think things like alcohol consumption, fasting or sun exposure – and then have the app correlate those factors with changes in biometrics like resting heart rate, HRV and sleep quality over time. 

I loved WHOOP and think it’s still one of the most useful fitness wearables on the market. With the launch of WHOOP 5 and WHOOP 5 MG, the company introduced a slew of features that focus specifically on longevity and “Healthspan” – two areas that I’ve been increasingly interested in. 

For example, WHOOP can now correlate the data it collects with your pace of aging, and the app even calculates your “WHOOP age” – a representation of your biological age (based on your biometrics and sleep habits) that can be below or above your chronological age.

WHOOP is also in the process of offering advanced blood panels, enabling you to gain a more comprehensive understanding of your health and biological age. 

The Ultrahuman Ring Air is the new kid on the block, but it launched with an impressive feature set from the beginning. In fact, Ultrahuman offered significantly more features on day one compared to what WHOOP offers today. 

Some of the Ultrahuman features I really like include a caffeine intake monitor and timing recommendations. I love coffee – so much so that we recently launched our own coffee brand – but have always been wary of its negative impact on my sleep. Ultrahuman offers insights that have helped me optimize my caffeine intake to get the most out of it while mitigating any potential negative impacts.

I also love how Ultrahuman helps me optimize my brain health by tracking brain waste clearance, a bodily function that is predominantly influenced by sleep quality.

Much like WHOOP, Ultrahuman also recently introduced healthspan features that help you understand how your chronological age differs from your brain, pulse and blood age. 

Summary and Final Verdict

If you’ve come this far, you’ve probably realized that both WHOOP 5 and the Ultrahuman Ring Air are capable sleep, fitness and recovery trackers. Of course, each wearable has its strengths and weaknesses, and it depends on your individual circumstances to determine which one might be the best fit for you.

Before WHOOP 5 was announced, I had written off WHOOP because it didn’t offer much I couldn’t get from other wearables that wouldn’t expose me to EMFs during sleep. While the latest WHOOP still has the same EMF issue as its predecessor, I really appreciate the long battery life and the new Healthspan insights. 

On the flip side, I love Ultrahuman’s feature set and inconspicuous form factor — but I’m growing impatient with its mediocre battery life. 

As I’m wrapping up this article, I still don’t know which device I’ll continue using going forward. Maybe I’ll keep both for the time being.