Oura Ring 5 In-Depth Review: Actually Worth It?

After weeks of testing, I dive into whether or not the Oura Ring 5 is actually worth it, especially compared to the Fitbit Air, Whoop 5.0, and other devices. From accuracy testing, to an app deep-dive, and plenty more.

The new Oura Ring 5 is a genuinely and significantly smaller ring than the previous Oura Ring 4 that was on my finger. That part isn’t really debatable. And the real-world battery life seems to be a *slight* improvement over the past, though most of the time Oura rings seem to slowly and quickly lose their battery life, so this could just be a case of new unit vs well-worn unit. And finally, indeed, there are some new features – but those too are available to all recent Oura ring owners, and aren’t specific to the Oura Ring 5.

Nonetheless, I’ve been putting it through its paces over the last near-month across everything from swimming to cycling to running to strength workouts, and of course, simply sleeping and daily life. After all, that’s frankly what the Oura Ring is best at: Things other than sports. In fact, to be really clear upfront, I’d argue that even with some minor new features in the sports realm, the Oura Ring 5 is now woefully behind even the most basic wearables when it comes to sports tracking. So much so that as I tried to do accuracy comparisons, I’d forgotten just how far behind they are in this realm (and that’s aside from the accuracy itself).

Still, there are reasons you want a ring (from any company), which is most simply summed up: You don’t want to wear a watch/smart band. If you already have one of those watch/band devices, there’s literally no reason to get an Oura Ring in 2026, everyone else is too good – even the budget ones.

With that, let’s dive into the details. Note that I purchased this unit myself, along with the previous few versions, and I pay for my own subscription to the Oura Ring service.