Best Sleep Trackers – 5 Devices That Will Help you Get Better Sleep [2021]

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may earn commissions if you purchase something through the links below. Please read my disclaimer for more info.

This guide is meant to serve as a comprehensive review of the best sleep trackers available in 2021.

When evaluating the sleep tracking devices we took five factors into account: Accuracy, Quality of Construction, Ease of Use, Battery Life, and Price.

The best overall sleep tracking device is the Fitbit Versa 3 Health & Fitness Smartwatch. There are many quality options available when it comes to tracking your sleep, but ultimately the advanced features and accuracy were the deciding factors.

BOTTOM LINE
 
Best Overall
1
Fitbit Versa 3 Health & Fitness Smartwatch

Fitbit Versa 3 Health & Fitness Smartwatch

BOTTOM LINE
Gorilla Glass Screen

Amazon Alexa Built-in
Best Value
2
Fitniv Smart Watch & Sleep Tracker

Fitniv Smart Watch & Sleep Tracker

BOTTOM LINE
1.4-inch TFT-LCD color touch screen

IP68 Waterproof
Best Under Matress
3
Withings Sleep - Sleep Tracking Pad

Withings Sleep – Sleep Tracking Pad

BOTTOM LINE
Control Smart Home Devices

Easy Installation

What is a Sleep Tracker?

Sleep trackers are devices that monitor various aspects of one’s sleep habits.

They can help to get an idea of your sleep habits, the quality of your sleep, and how much you slept the night before.

The gold standard measurement for sleep is called polysomnography, a formal medical test that relies on measurements of brain activity and eye movement.

Sleep trackers measure physiological signals like heart rate and respiration. In addition to improving the quality of life for those with respiratory diseases such as asthma and emphysema, tracking respiration can help determine potential breathing issues, like snoring and sleep apnea.

Many sleep tracking devices also use a tiny built-in motion-detecting device called an accelerometer to record how you move when you sleep, so they can determine how well you slept and how long it took you to fall asleep.

Some sleep trackers use microphones to detect sounds such as snoring, movement noise, and ambient noise. They then estimate how well you’re sleeping by measuring your movements during the night. Other sleep aids, like other devices, contain a thermometer to monitor how room temperature may affect your sleep.

Sleep trackers come in two forms: wearable and non-wearable. While they both collect data about you, they may collect it differently, which means that there are different ways to interpret the results.

A wearable device is not limited to monitoring just one aspect of fitness. It also can measure other parameters that are related to health.

Many non-wearable devices are available that rest on or under the mattress and monitor vibrations to collect data.

Sleep tracking devices usually process sleep data through an algorithm and display it for you in a way that allows you to easily view your sleep history, assess how well you’re sleeping, and determine where you need to improve.

Are Sleep Trackers Accurate?

best sleep trackers

Sleep trackers can help you understand your general sleep patterns, but they are still at the very early stages of accurately tracking sleep.

While using the recommendations of a sleep tracker is definitely better than using nothing at all, anything short of an overnight sleep study performed at a sleep clinic will not be 100% accurate.

That being said, most people don’t have sleep problems severe enough to go to a sleep clinic, and really are just wondering how they can best optimize their sleep.

For these people, buying a sleep tracker is the perfect way to better understand how to hack sleep to get more energy and focus during the day.

In a perfect world, we would all get the necessary 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night and wake up each morning feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. 

In the real world, many of us suffer from a mild, or perhaps more severe, case of sleep deprivation (AKA not enough sleep).

One way to determine if you’re lacking in the snooze department is to begin tracking your sleep habits. This can be easily done by investing in a reliable sleep tracker.

Sounds good, but… how do sleep trackers actually work?

The first step in understanding how sleep trackers work is to know just what these trackers are actually tracking.


Best Sleep Trackers Reviewed

Fitbit Versa 3 Health & Fitness Smartwatch (Best Overall)

9.8
Best Overall
Fitbit Versa 3 Smartwatch
POSITIVES
  • Accurate (PurePulse 2.0)
  • Built-in GPS
  • 6+ days of battery life
NEGATIVES
  • No music storage

The best overall sleep tracker goes hands down to the Fitbit Versa 3. Packed in a gorgeous smartwatch, the Versa 3 comes with every single feature you could want in a sleep tracker and is even future-proofed with more features on the way (more below).

The Versa 3 screen is made of gorilla glass for the ultimate protection, and Fitbit upgraded the display from LCD to OLED. The screen is one of the best we have ever seen on any fitness tracker!

The battery life of the Versa 3 is equally amazing. Users can expect to get 6-10 days of constant use from a single charge.

The Versa 3 is built with a tri-wavelength sensor onboard, which includes SpO2 monitoring. This means that you can measure your blood oxygen levels. Using this technology, Fitbit will soon allow you to be able to track potential sleep apnea or other breathing conditions.

While the Versa 3 comes in at the top of the price point for wearable fitness/sleep trackers, if you are looking for the best of the best then it is a must purchase.

Bonus: Fitbit has also activated a new feature called “Snore Detect” which uses the microphone of your Versa 3 to track data about your nighttime snoring habits.

9.8Expert Score
Accuracy
9.8
Quality
9.8
Battery Life
9.8
Price
9.5
Ease of Use
10

Fitniv Smart Watch & Sleep Tracker (Best Value)

9.7
Best Value
Fitniv Smart Watch
POSITIVES
  • Excellent battery life
  • Bright screen
  • Easy to control music
NEGATIVES
  • Takes a long time to charge

The winner of the best value award goes to a company that isn’t one of the bigger names in the sleep/fitness tracking game but nonetheless has produced a robust offering at a rather reasonable price.

The Fitniv Smartwatch comes with a beautiful 1.4-inch TFT-LCD color touch screen that features 4 customized displays. The colors on this display are vibrant, and the blacks are dark and crisp.

Just like all of the other wearable sleep trackers tested, this one comes packed with a variety of other health tracking and productivity features as well. You can track your entire day of fitness activity, as well as your sleep habits.

By monitoring your heart rate, this tracker will record your sleep automatically, measuring awake, light, and deep sleep, and will wake you up with your choice of silent vibrating alarms.

There’s no worrying about battery life with this tracker! Letscom built this smartwatch with an excellent 210mAh battery that lasts up to 10 days on a charge.

Bonus: A magnetic charger is included with this tracker.

9.7Expert Score
Accuracy
9.5
Quality
9.5
Battery Life
9.8
Price
10
Ease of Use
10

Xiaomi Mi Band 4 (Best Budget Sleep Tracker)

9.6
Best Budget Sleep Tracker
Xiaomi Mi Band 4
POSITIVES
  • Very inexpensive
  • Bright AMOLED display
  • 20 days of battery life
NEGATIVES
  • Band feels cheaper than others

Not everybody needs a super expensive sleep tracker with all of the bells and whistles. If you are looking for a reliable way to track your sleep without breaking the bank then the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is a great option.

The Mi Band 4 comes with a gorgeous 0.95″ AMOLED Color Display which really looks great when displaying bright colors.

This sleep tracker uses a thin oval-shaped screen as opposed to the squarish screens seen on smartwatches. Some people prefer this form factor, while others like a screen more akin to an Apple Watch.

Battery life is really where the Mi Band 4 shines though, as many users report getting up to 20 days of use on a single two-hour charge! Our research shows that this wearable has the best battery life of all the top sleep trackers available.

While the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is the most inexpensive option included in our “Best Of” awards, it has proven to measure sleep just as accurately as its top wearable peers.

Bonus: The Mi Band 4 is rated waterproof up to 50 Meters, so you can wear it swimming, in the shower, or in the rain.

9.6Expert Score
Best Budget Option

Xiaomi Mi Band 4

Accuracy
9.4
Quality
9.4
Battery Life
9.9
Price
10
Ease of Use
9.4

Withings Sleep Tracking Pad (Best Under Matress Sleep Tracker)

9.7
Best Under the Mattress
Withings Sleep Tracking Pad
POSITIVES
  • Nonintrusive
  • Built-in microphone
  • Amazon Alexa integration
NEGATIVES
  • Initial setup can take some time

Wearable sleep trackers comprise most of the sleep tracker market, but what if you want a set it and forget it option that you don’t have to wear to bed with you?

Withings Sleep is the most non-intrusive sleep tracker that still gives you accurate data and actionable advice.

Once you install the pad underneath your mattress and sync it via your home wifi, you can just lay down each night and have the results of your sleep delivered to you each morning via a very intuitive app.

It’s able to collect granular data like sleep duration, interruptions in sleep, and type of sleep (light, REM, deep). You can also track snoring, with a built-in microphone.

Another great feature of Sleep is the ability to control it via Amazon Alexa, as well as setting recipes via IFTTT. Imagine being able to automatically set the perfect temperature and lighting based on suggestions from the device.

For a completely hands-off sleep tracking experience that gives amazing insight, the Withings Sleep is an excellent choice.

Bonus: Withings Sleep can now help you identify the signs of breathing disturbances and is working toward medical certification of the device to detect sleep apnea.

9.7Expert Score
Best Under the Mattress

Withings Sleep Tracking Pad

Accuracy
9.9
Quality
9.9
Price
9.7
Ease of Use
9.5

SleepScore Max Sleep Tracking Device (Best Bedside Sleep Tracker)

9.7
Best Bedside
SleepScore Max
POSITIVES
  • Sleep clinic level technology
  • Top view sleep analysis
  • Most accurate sleep tracker
NEGATIVES
  • Has a steep learning curve

SleepScore Labs has really put together an awesome beside sleep tracker in the SleepScore Max!

The SleepScore Max is shown to enhance your sleep quality in as little as one week. Based on the analysis of over 1,000 SleepScore Max users, over 55% of them increased their amount of sleep by at least 45 minutes after 3 nights of use.

This tracker uses Resmed technology(backed by 12 years of testing) that is only rivaled by actual sleep clinics, and because the only focus is tracking sleep, you can rest easy knowing that you are getting proper recommendations!

The SleepScore Max tracks your breathing patterns from your bedside using a reflection technique that is similar to what bats use to see, by sending out ultra-low power radio waves.

It also detects light and sound in your bedroom environment for complete sleep analysis and every morning the companion app allows you to view your quality scores, personalized insights, and actionable advice.

The Sleepscore Max is by far the most accurate of all bedside sleep trackers tested and is one of the overall best sleep trackers available.

Bonus: Using “Smart Alarm” technology, the SleepScore Max can wake you up when you hit your light sleep cycle, ensuring that you’ll rise feeling refreshed and ready for the day.

9.7Expert Score
Best Bedside

SleepScore Max

Accuracy
10
Quality
10
Price
9.7
Ease of Use
9.4

Fitbit Versa 3 Health & Fitness Smartwatch (Best Wearable Sleep Tracker)

Also the winner of the “Best Overall” sleep tracker, the Fitbit Versa 3 is the obvious choice for the best wearable tracker as well.

With the largest display of all of the sleep trackers tested, the Versa 3 not only makes a great sleep tracker but a great overall wearable device.

Checking your email and messages is easy and controlling your music via the Spotify app is painless.

Integrated Amazon Alexa support allows you to get up to the second news, check the weather, set timers and alarms, and control all of your smart devices with just your voice!

Whether you just want a wearable device exclusively for sleep tracking, or you want it as a fitness/productivity tracker as well, the Fitbit Versa 3 is the best device available.

Bonus: Control your Spotify app, download Pandora stations and add Deezer playlists plus store 300+ songs on your wrist.


We will be happy to hear your thoughts

Leave a reply

Tomorrowism
Logo