Is The Whoop Worth Its Monthly Fee? I Tested It To Find Out

Sure, tracking steps is a great way to stay accountable to your goals—but so there's so much more to health and longevity than movement alone. As an athlete who really cares about recovery, I’m partial to fitness trackers with a more holistic approach. Enter: the Whoop 4.0, a sleek wearable that's gotten a lot of airtime over the past few years.

In a sea of wearables and biohacking devices, Whoop's faceless design stands out. You might think a fitness tracker with no screen would skimp on data, but the Whoop goes deep.

As mentioned, I care just as much about recovery as I do staying active. Off the bat, I love that Whoop looks at the full picture. After all, you’re not going to perform your best physically if you aren’t paying attention to your mental health, sleep quality, and overall well-being. 

Whoop hones in on biometric data points that have been scientifically-shown to play a role in physical and mental health.

Whoop's main focus is on recovery, cardiovascular strain, and sleep. Each day, you’ll see an in-depth view of how your body is performing in these areas—and you can use these insights to decide how much energy you want to put into a workout, or whether you’d be better off in the long run with a rest day. 

Within the Whoop app, you can log daily behaviors, such as caffeine consumption, hydration, nursing an infant, or wearing blue light glasses. The device takes these activities into account when measuring your biometric data, in order to determine how each habit impacts your health (and which habits you continue to integrate into your routine).

In addition to its core pillars (sleep, strain, and recovery), Whoop also acts as a stress monitor. The device works to identify stressors in realtime, based on your heart rate and heart rate variability (research-backed indicators of stress) as it compares to your baseline. 

Whoop's stress monitor then gives you a score from 0 (low) to 3 (peak) to identify how stressed you are. The brand even partnered with Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, Ph.D, to provide breathwork sessions for when you do feel those stress symptoms start to creep in.

No matter which plan you choose, you'll get your first month (and the device itself) free.

The Whoop 4.0 comes with an onyx wristband with black hardware, or you can pay extra for another color. There are 35 colorways to choose from (ranging from $49 to $99), or you can use Whoop Your Way for a fully customizable design. There’s also an option to add a personalized engraving for $25.

I won't sugarcoat it: At $30 per month, the Whoop isn't cheap. That said, it's less than my monthly matcha latte bill or my favorite bottle of wine—and it's already doing way more for my health.

While, yes, it does come with a cost, I do believe the Whoop is a valuable asset.

Of course, it's only as valuable as the attention you pay to it. There's a ton of information to sift through, and taking the time to understand that information will pay off in the long run.

Whether you're tracking your sleep, measuring fitness gains, or looking for intel on your heart rate or heart rate variability, Whoop's personalized data can help you maximize your well-being by taking a more mindful, holistic approach.

Science backs this, too. Wearable fitness trackers have been linked with increased physical activity1, and there's no shortage of research on the importance of recovery and sleep for your overall health and longevity.

I'll set the stage here by saying I do wear (and swear by) an Oura ring, so I went into my Whoop experience skeptical that I wouldn't find much additional value in the device. To my surprise, there are a few key things about the Whoop 4.0 that really stand out.

I love that Whoop calculates daily scores for strain, recovery, and sleep. Where other trackers simply provide metrics, this one puts everything together into digestible, actionable information. 

If you have a low recovery score, you can take that as a sign to focus more on rest than activity. Alternatively, if your sleep and recovery scores are high, you’ll feel more motivated to hit the gym or head out for a longer walk. 

The comprehensive sleep data is also a huge pro for me, too. The device actually calculates the amount of sleep it recommends based on your long term patterns, along with recent strain scores. 

Whoop even allows you to set daily wake-up times, if desired, and will vibrate gently for a more enjoyable wakeup than a glaring alarm. 

The cost is definitely a turnoff, but we think it's worth it. Price aside, there are a few things I'd change about the Whoop.

I admittedly have five bands that I planned to swap out regularly (depending on my outfit, of course), but I find the whole process incredibly frustrating. It's honestly so tedious that I've wound up just keeping it on the same band.

Personally, I like that the Whoop doesn't track steps. I love to get my daily movement in, but find the number of steps to be quite arbitrary at times and would rather focus on more in-depth data. Still, others may want a device that tracks steps—so this could be a con for some people.

When Whoop hit the scene in 2015, it was mainly geared toward professional athletes. Today, you'll spot these unassuming wristbands on people of all fitness levels.

After trying the device myself, I believe the Whoop is a worthwhile tool for anyone looking to better their well-being. If you’re eager to optimize your recovery, fitness, or health in general, the Whoop offers valuable insights to help you do so. 

On an obvious note, you won’t enjoy using the Whoop if you’re looking for a smartwatch or a device with a screen. If the thought of going into the app to view your metrics is a turn off, this isn’t the device for you. 

As sleek and simple as the device looks, the data it provides is anything but. If you’re serious about optimizing your health, the Whoop 4.0 can help you get there. I test a lot of products in the space, and I won’t keep up with anything that doesn’t truly add value to my well-being. This wearable tracker offers a holistic view into how well your body is performing, and what you can do to optimize it.