---
title: 'Video 9GSDvO0LFFE'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=9GSDvO0LFFE'
video_id: '9GSDvO0LFFE'
date: 2026-05-26
duration_sec: 151
---

# Video 9GSDvO0LFFE

> Source: [Video 9GSDvO0LFFE](https://youtube.com/watch?v=9GSDvO0LFFE)

## Summary

The video compares the Fitbit Air and Whoop fitness trackers, focusing on whether the cheaper Fitbit Air can match Whoop's performance for athletes. The reviewer wore both devices alongside an Apple Watch for two weeks to provide an answer.

### Key Points

- **Whoop's Dominance and Subscription Model** [00:00] — Whoop is popular among athletes but requires a $200-$350/year subscription; without it, the tracker becomes a brick.
- **Fitbit Air's Appeal** [00:28] — Fitbit Air costs $99 with no mandatory subscription, and its premium subscription is $100/year, making it cheaper than Whoop.
- **Reviewer's Testing Method** [01:07] — The reviewer wore both trackers alongside an Apple Watch for two weeks during practices, games, workouts, and sleep.
- **Fitbit Air vs Whoop Pricing** [01:34] — Fitbit Air is functional without subscription, while Whoop requires a subscription to work. Fitbit Air wins on price.
- **Google's Involvement** [02:11] — Fitbit is owned by Google, a data and ads company, which may influence their strategy of subsidizing the tracker.

### Conclusion

The Fitbit Air is cheaper and offers good basic tracking, but the reviewer hints that the answer may not be straightforward, suggesting further analysis is needed.

## Transcript

All right, so Whoop is dominant as a fitness tracker in the world of professional and enthusiast athletes all around the world. I have a lot of friends. I play Ultimate Frisbee, friends and
teammates who all wear Whoops. It's this screenless, lightweight puck in a thin band with all these sensors on one side that you just wear 24-7. So when the Fitbit Air came along, a lot of those same people immediately were interested and started asking me about it. Hey, is it good?
Should I switch? Are they comparable? And the main reason for that is the Whoop subscription. You see, you don't just buy the Whoop tracker. You buy the tracker and then pay a membership subscription that starts at $200 a year
and goes up to $350 a year forever. If you ever do stop paying, the Whoop literally doesn't do anything anymore. It becomes a brick. It's useless. The Fitbit, on the other hand, doesn't even require a subscription at all. And the subscription they do offer for extra features
is much cheaper than the Whoop. It's $100 a year. So almost everyone asking me about this basically just wants to know, is it as good as a Whoop, but cheaper? Because if so, then I might as well switch.
So to any of my teammates out there watching this or any other athletes who are considering switching, I have spent the last almost two weeks wearing both of these things alongside an Apple Watch for a ton of stuff, practices, games, workouts,
recoveries, sleeping, and more. I hated being that guy wearing multiple trackers at the same time, but hey, someone's gotta do it. And now I have your answer. You might not like it, but I have your answer.
So to me, it's pretty clear Fitbit Air is designed to take direct aim at Whoop, not just with the matching form factor, which I'll get to in a second, but with their pricing model. So like I said, the Whoop is free, but it's literally useless without the subscription.
I honestly hope that changes after this, but as of right now, 200 bucks a year baseline every year to get in the door. The $99 Fitbit Air is functional with no subscription at all. And it will do a good amount of basic tracking,
heart rate, step tracking, calories burned, sleep tracking, and more. But if you want the full suite of everything, including the AI Fitness Coach and a big workout library, that's $100 a year. And there's all kinds of promos right now
as it launches for like three free months of Google Health premium. So I would say it definitely wins the price battle. But also keep in mind, this is still Google we're talking about here, the data and ads company.
So of course they would wanna sell you a subsidized fitness tracker and leverage the Fitbit name to get it in as many hands