WHOOP vs. Oura

Why I stopped wearing an Oura ring and switched to a WHOOP band full-time

XO, MU is sponsored by WHOOP, the health and fitness wearable I’ve been using since 2021. Join WHOOP today and get a free month, plus a free WHOOP 4.0 and Black Onyx band.

The most common question I get when it comes to my WHOOP band is, “What do you think about the Oura ring? What’s the difference? Why did you pick WHOOP over Oura?”

I’ve worn an Oura ring in the past—both the Gen 2 and Gen 3 versions. In the end, however, the Oura ring didn’t meet my needs in one big area, and two smaller ones. I switched to only using my WHOOP band in 2021, and haven’t looked back. Well, I have, in case Oura has made any big updates since 2021—but they haven’t. At least not in ways that matter to me.

In this article, I won’t get into the differences in data, like “who is more accurate?” I’ve found both devices provided accurate and remarkably similar sleep, HRV, and heart rate data. This is more about the practicality and functionality of WHOOP vs. Oura, and why WHOOP fits into my life in a much more seamless way.

Ring vs. WHOOP 4.0

The first big issue for me is that Oura is a ring. While I loved how it looked for everyday life, the ring is bulky and fits tightly (by necessity), and that doesn’t work for my active lifestyle.

I can’t wear a ring in the gym—rings don’t play nicely with barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, and pull-ups bars. (I left it on once, and got the worst blood blister.) It’s dangerous to wear a thick metal ring during those kinds of workouts, and my workouts almost always involve some kind of metal bar or handle.

I also found I could not wear the ring while hiking. Your hands tend to swell on hikes, and the ring would become uncomfortably tight just a few miles in. (Once, I was terrified it wasn’t going to come off—it was quite painful.) Same with longer runs.

Taking the ring off during exercise means I was missing a huge component of my stress, activity, and recovery data. Yes, I could go back into the app and manually add my activity later, but that’s a pain, and I didn’t want to have to do that every single day. I also found that once I took the ring off, I’d often forget to put it back on, so I’d lose whole chunks of my day.

Versus WHOOP: WHOOP can be worn in a multitude of places, including on a band for your wrist or bicep, or tucked into a special pocket in your sports bra or underwear. Because I can move it around on my body, it never gets in the way of a workout, no matter what I’m doing. Plus the bands are stretchy, so it never becomes uncomfortably tight. I love being able to wear it 24/7, so I don’t miss a single moment of data collection.

Charging

The Oura ring has to be removed to charge it, and it comes with a unique charging plate that only fits your Oura ring. It’s matched to your ring size, so if I lost it or forgot to pack it, I was screwed—I couldn’t use my husband’s.

Taking it off to charge it was a pain. I’d either forget and have to charge it overnight, losing a whole night of sleep data, or I’d charge it while I was working, often forgetting to put it back on.

Versus WHOOP: The WHOOP device charges on your body. The little battery pack slips right over the band on your wrist or bicep, allowing you to charge it while you exercise, sleep, or work. And the battery uses a universal USB-C, so I can always find a cord to recharge it. It’s a much more convenient design. (Pro tip: Buy at least one extra battery in case you leave yours in a hotel or need a charge and your battery is dead. They’re $49.)

Intra-workout statistics

This is the area where Oura really didn’t work for me. Oura isn’t designed as a fitness tracker. As such, it doesn’t track intra-workout statistics like heart rate or strain. Even if I could wear it during a strength workout, a yoga class, or a sled drag session, Oura doesn’t have the capability to tell me how hard I worked during that activity, or my strain for that event.

Currently, Oura can only track your heart rate using its Workout Heart Rate (WHR) feature for three activities: running, walking, or cycling. You also have to manually tell it to record your workout by starting the activity before you begin. (It purports to have automatic activity detection, but in my personal experience using the ring, it wasn’t reliable.) None of this worked well for me.

I’m not an athlete—nobody is paying me for my workout performance. But I am active, and I do want to see how my workout, hike, run, or walk frequency, duration, and intensity impacts my health, sleep, and recovery. Oura couldn’t do that for me, both because I had to remove it for most of my workouts, and because it only tracks a tiny number of activities (one of which I don’t even do).

Versus WHOOP: WHOOP tracks all of my intra-workout statistics for a huge number of modalities, from strength training to yoga to paddle boarding to hiking. Its automatic activity detection is reliable and consistent. (I can also quickly start an activity if I want to be 100% sure I’m capturing all of it.) WHOOP also picks up stressful events that aren’t even workouts! Knowing that book tour signings and packing for a trip are perceived as “stressful” on my body has been huge for helping me plan for big events. In addition, it integrates with Strava, giving me tons of data about heart rate, pacing, elevation gain, and performance on hikes and trail runs.

Step counter

While neither device has a step counter, Oura does have an “Activity Score” designed to incorporate steps, movement throughout the day (like cleaning or organizing), and exercise. However, I had tremendous issues with Oura’s Gen 3—it grossly over-reported my Activity Score. After going back and and forth with customer service, we determined that Oura was counting my computer mouse movements and typing as “activities.” This made the Activity Score virtually useless for me.

Versus WHOOP: WHOOP doesn’t have a step counter either—they use a daily Strain score to measure cardiovascular and muscular exertion, which translates to physical and mental stress for the day. If you want to count steps, get a basic pedometer. I bought one for $16 on Amazon, and it’s super accurate. (Plus it doesn’t require yet another screen!) Just attach it to your waistband and go.

The verdict

For convenience, comfort, completeness of data, and functionality, WHOOP has remained the hands-down winner, and I’ve been wearing it exclusively since 2021.

You don’t have to be an athlete to benefit from a device capturing your unique health data 24/7! If you simply want to perform better in life, sleep better, manage stress more effectively, or motivate yourself to walk or exercise more, WHOOP can help. You can see all of my free WHOOP resources here.

What kinds of questions do you have about WHOOP? Leave them in comments—they’re open to all today!

XO, MU