Fitbit devices are great for fitness tracking — the clue is in the name — but they’re not the best option when it comes to tracking sleep.
There are plenty of other wearable devices to consider, but if you want to make a real difference to your nights and days, the best sleep tracker isn’t a wearable at all — it’s an app.
Enter, RISE.
The RISE app works out how much sleep you need and gives you daily personalized guidance to help you lower your sleep debt (how much sleep you owe your body) and get in circadian alignment (or stay in sync with your circadian rhythm, or body clock).
Below, we share more on why RISE is the best Fitbit alternative for sleep tracking.
These questions will help you narrow down your search for a sleep tracker:
Not a fan of wearables? We’ve covered the best non-wearable sleep trackers here.
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Here’s how RISE and other Fitbit alternatives compare on common sleep tracking features.
Sleep debt is the amount of sleep you owe your body. The lower your sleep debt, the better your energy levels, mood, health, and productivity.
Sleep debt is one of the most important metrics to track if you want more energy. But many tracking devices and apps — including Sleep Cycle, Oura Ring, and Whoop — either don’t track sleep debt or they use self-set sleep goals or generic sleep guidelines to work it out. This makes the data most likely inaccurate. Fitbit doesn’t track sleep debt, and it calculates sleep data in general by using a self-set sleep goal.
RISE is different.
RISE calculates your sleep debt by working out your sleep need — this is how much sleep you personally need. The app uses a year’s worth of your phone use behavior and sleep science algorithms to do this.
Generic guidelines don’t cut it as everyone’s sleep need is different.
When we looked at the sleep needs of 1.95 million RISE users aged 24 and up, we found they ranged from five hours to 11 hours 30 minutes.
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To work out sleep debt, RISE compares how much sleep you need to how much sleep you get.
RISE uses one of three methods to track your sleep duration:
RISE calculates your sleep debt over the course of 14 nights and gives you one clear number to focus on.
We dive into the best sleep debt trackers here.
RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can view their sleep need here and view their sleep debt here.
Circadian alignment is when your circadian rhythm is in sync with the light-dark cycle. Your circadian rhythm is your internal body clock that dictates your sleep schedule and energy levels across the day.
Syncing up with it can help you get enough sleep and it’ll boost your energy, productivity, and physical and mental health independent from sleep.
Many sleep apps and trackers — like Sleep Cycle — don’t give you any information about your circadian rhythm.
Others — like Fitbit, Whoop, AutoSleep, and Oura Ring — give you some insights into your circadian rhythm with recommended sleep times and sleep consistency scores (how regular your sleep patterns are).
RISE takes this one step further and gives you insights you can use all day and night.
RISE predicts the timing of your circadian rhythm each day using your recent sleep times, inferred light exposure, and algorithms built on the SAFTE model, which was developed by the US Department of Transportation and the Department of Defense.
You’ll see:
We explain how RISE works out your circadian rhythm here.
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RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can see their circadian rhythm on the Energy screen here.
Many sleep monitors tell you the amount of time you spend in light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. That includes Apple Watch, Garmin, Whoop, and Samsung Galaxy watch. Fitbit estimates the amount of time you spend in different sleep stages based on your movement and heart rate patterns.
RISE doesn’t track the amount of time you spend in different sleep stages. Although, if you’re interested in this data and have an Apple Watch, RISE can pull sleep stage data from your smartwatch to the RISE app so you can view it in the app alongside RISE’s sleep tracking.
But here’s why RISE doesn’t track sleep stages.
Firstly, how much time you spend in each sleep stage doesn’t really affect how you feel day to day. There are no recommended amounts to aim for and, in reality, we all need a different amount of each sleep stage, which changes nightly for a variety of reasons.
Plus, research shows sleep trackers — including Fitbit and other wearables — aren’t entirely accurate at working out which sleep stage you’re in. Even sleep experts disagree sometimes — in polysomnography (sleep studies), experts agree on results only about 80% of the time.
Instead of worrying about sleep stages, focus on getting enough sleep on a regular schedule — another reason low sleep debt and circadian alignment are so important — as this will ensure you get enough of each sleep stage.
Sleep quality is another common metric. You’ll find it tracked by Garmin, Apple Watch, AutoSleep, Sleep++, and the Withings sleep mat, among others.
Fitbit gives you a sleep score based on your heart rate, sleep stages, and time spent awake in bed. With Fitbit Premium, you’ll get monthly sleep analysis based on 10 metrics, like deep sleep and sleep start time.
RISE doesn’t track sleep quality itself, but there’s a good reason for that.
Firstly, there’s no set definition for sleep quality. Sleep tracking apps and devices often give you a sleep score based on their own scoring system that includes multiple metrics. This score probably won’t impact how you feel during the day (placebo effects aside) because it’s made up of so many metrics, it’s hard to improve it, even if it did make a difference.
How you feel about your sleep can make a difference to your well-being, however, so you can self-rate your sleep quality in RISE.
Heads-up: Looking to diagnose a sleep disorder? Your best bet is to speak with your doctor or a sleep specialist. Metrics like sleep quality or the amount of time spent in certain sleep stages can’t help. Sleep debt can be useful to highlight sleep loss. Some sleep trackers, like Apple Watch, track your blood oxygen levels, and others, like Fitbit, can detect snoring. These features can help a doctor detect signs of sleep apnea.
Learn why RISE is worth a try here.
If you’re looking for an alternative to Fitbit for sleep, you’re probably looking to get more sleep and energy. In that case, look for features that help you lower your sleep debt and get in circadian alignment — the two metrics that, when improved, make the biggest difference to how you feel.
Many sleep trackers don’t help you improve these metrics, or they only partially do with limited features like bedtime consistency tracking or manually tracking behaviors that might impact your sleep. You’ll find these features in trackers like Whoop, AutoSleep, and Fitbit.
Here’s how RISE helps:
The list of Fitbit alternatives is long, so deciding which other features you’re looking for in a tracker can help you narrow it down.
Other features to consider include snore detection, heart rate monitoring, and tracking of your heart rate variability (HRV), blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), body temperature, and stress levels. You can also get activity tracking, which comes with many fitness trackers like Fitbit, Whoop, Oura Ring, Garmin, and Apple Watch.
RISE offers unique features to improve your sleep and energy like:
You don’t need a watch or wearable to track sleep. We’ve covered the best sleep trackers without a watch here.
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The cost of a sleep tracker can vary quite a bit. Here’s how Fitbit and its alternatives compare:
Some sleep trackers come with free trial periods — like Whoop, Sleep Cycle, and RISE.
With RISE, you can get a seven-day free trial. During the trial, you’ll find out your sleep need, whether you have any sleep debt, and see your daily circadian rhythm and energy predictions.
You’ll get access to all of RISE’s features, including the personalized sleep hygiene reminders, recommended sleep times, and relaxing content, so you can see how much of a difference the app can make in just a week.
We’ve found 80% of RISE users feel more energy within just five days!
We can’t compare reviews for every Fitbit alternative out there. But here’s what RISE users have to say:
And here’s what users have to say about using RISE and Fitbit together:
Beyond happy users, RISE has recognition from some big names in the sleep industry.
Sleep Foundation and Sleep Doctor both named RISE one of the best sleep apps for 2024. And Apple nominated RISE for a design award and named it an Editor’s Choice app.
Sleep is vital to so many aspects of your life, so don’t settle for a sleep tracker that doesn’t make a difference to it.
Fitbit can be great for general health tracking, but for sleep, you’ll want something that works out your unique sleep need and focuses on sleep debt and circadian alignment.
That’s why RISE is a great Fitbit alternative.
It acts as a sleep coach giving you daily guidance — based on your own biology — to help you lower your sleep debt and get in sync with your circadian rhythm, so you feel a real difference in your energy levels and overall health and wellness.
If you already have a Fitbit, RISE can sync with your device. If you’re considering another wearable, RISE can sync with Apple Watch, Garmin, and Oura Ring, too.
And if you’re not a fan of wearables at all, RISE can do everything from your phone.
RISE makes it easy to improve your sleep and daily energy to reach your potential
RISE makes it easy to improve your sleep and daily energy to reach your potential
