Is a Fitbit Premium subscription worth it in 2025?

Fitbit has one of the most user friendly fitness apps out there. But some of its features sit behind a paywall. Are they worth the cost? Read on to find out.

Fitbit’s smartphone app

Fitbit’s smartphone app is great. It’s simple to navigate and everything is pretty easy to find. The software dishes out lots of data, but without overloading you with information.

Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

All the basics are free to use. This includes steps, distance, calories, exercise, and sleep tracking. You also get other valuable features at no cost.

What is Fitbit Premium?

So what exactly are the features that sit behind the paywall? What do you get for the $9.99 you’re expected to dish out every month or $79.99 per year? More importantly, are these extras worth it?

Fitbit Premium was introduced in the latter part of 2019. It is part of the company’s effort to move away from a revenue stream based solely on hardware. Now, as part of Google, the subscription tier is also integrated into the Google Pixel Watch.

With a subscription, you access more detailed personal insights, advanced sleep tools, and a library of workouts and meditations. You also unlock further info in the Health Metrics Dashboard and gain access to recipes and meal hacks.

Here’s the detail.

What extras do you get with Fitbit Premium?

Advanced insights and Wellness report

The clue is in the name. Advanced insights are just that. More personalised info that taps into your metrics and connects the dots. The app delves deeply into your sleep, activity and heart rate data to spit out useful suggestions. Sure you get these even without the subscription, but this is insights on steroids.

What’s more, there’s also something called a Wellness report. This summarises your data from the past month and presents it in a simple to understand way. The report can be downloaded as a PDF file for easy viewing or printing, and you can also share it with your doctor or personal trainer. Everything is there including stats and charts about your heart health, weight (if you have a connected scale), sleep and activity.

Extra sleep tools

Fitbit’s sleep stats are detailed as it is. If you have a heart rate enabled device you get info on Light, Deep and REM sleep. The app dishes out personalised guidance and you can set bedtime and wake-up targets; reminders to stay on schedule, and a sleep schedule history to chart your progress.

With the Premium Subscription this gets even better. Here you’ll get a very detailed breakdown of your Sleep Score. For example, last night I was awarded a 66 points for my nightly rest. Clicking on the figure revealed that 33 of these (out of a possible 50) were earned for the length of my sleep session, 17 (out of a possible 25) for Deep and REM sleep and 16 (out of a possible 25) for Restoration (which measures how peaceful or agitated I was by analysing my sleeping heart rate).

The insights on how to improve your kip time are also more detailed and personalised with the Premium subscription.

Workouts

The next Premium addition are Workouts. These are exercise instructions and videos to help spice up your routine. They include material from Fitbit, Daily Burn, Pop Sugar, barre3 and more. In the free version you only get workout previews.

Mindfulness

The final extra is there to help you stay chilled. This includes a library of relaxing sounds for guided meditations, again from a range of sources.

Health Metrics Dashboard

The Health Metrics Dashboard remains a key feature for Fitbit users, offering graphs that track metrics such as skin temperature, oxygen saturation, heart rate variability, breathing rate, and resting heart rate.

In its free version, you can view a one-week snapshot of these metrics. Premium subscribers can access extended trends, such as monthly and yearly insights. For those who value long-term data tracking, this could be a useful addition, though many feel these features should be included in the free tier.

How much does Fitbit Premium cost? Is it worth it?

The Premium subscription costs $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year. For most users, the detailed sleep insights and guided programs are nice extras but not essential. Previously the Readiness Score was only available for that tier, but it can now be viewed by all.

It’s worth noting that the majority of social media users feel the cost isn’t justified, though some do find value in the improved sleep tracking, health trends, workouts, and guided meditations. Also, it might be great for someone just starting out, for those looking to spice up their routine, or for those needing a bit of extra motivation.

But let’s face it. The additional sleep insights, mindfulness exercises and challenges are a nice-to-have rather than a must-have for most people. So if you don’t plan on using these features to their full extent, it probably doesn’t make sense to subscribe. In our mind, if it was half that price it might be justified. Alternatives like Garmin or Apple offer robust features without requiring a subscription, which may be worth considering.

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