Whoop vs Withings: Which analyser is better for your sleep?

I recently started wearing a Whoop Band to help improve my sleep.

The insights were really interesting, and I found myself thinking more about how our sleep can be measured, especially with consideration to the impact on our recovery each day. While this insight has often been chalked up as belonging to athletes, everyone's health is impacted by our rest and whether it's actually productive.

The Whoop band wasn't the first sleep-measuring instrument I tried. I have a Withings Sleep Analyser that I reviewed over 12 months ago. I hadn't used it in a while, but my experience with the Whoop taught me that more data is going to be more helpful, so I plugged it back in to get a second opinion on my sleep performance.

Here's what you should know about the sleep-analysing tools, side by side.

NOTE: Prices are accurate at time of publishing.

What is a Withings Sleep Analyser?

$197 on Amazon

While most sleep-tracking devices are worn on the body, the Withings Sleep Analyser is designed to sit beneath your mattress. It's powered by a USB cable and is mostly undetectable apart from the cord. It is noiseless and impossible to feel beneath you as you sleep.

From that position beneath your mattress, it can get a read on your sleep stages and your restlessness and tell you roughly how many times you woke up throughout the night. It can also detect your heart rate.

Best of all, the Withings Sleep Analyser can help detect sleep apnea, which is what really sets it apart in the sleep-tracking market. It's also been used in scientific studies on sleep, including the Cancer Council's Australian Breakthrough Cancer Study. In this study, 14 participants took part in a pilot study on sleep, where their sleep duration, efficiency, cycle, position, snoring, heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature and sleep apnea were all measured.

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Whoop Band 4.0

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Sleep analysis

A lot of the key metrics used to analyse sleep are the same for both the Withings Analyser and the Whoop Band. Both can give you a breakdown of the time spent in light, deep, and REM sleep. Both can tell you how many times you woke up, even if you don't remember waking in the night. Withings will give you a heart rate, measured in beats per minute, while the Whoop Band will give you your respiratory rate, measured in respiration, or breaths, per minute.

Both of these tools will also give you a sleep score, but they measure these differently. Whoop's sleep performance is measured by the amount of sleep you got, divided by how much you needed. Withings, on the other hand, gives you a final measure based on six parameters: sleep duration, sleep depth, interruptions, bed- and rise-time regularity and the time it takes you to both fall asleep and then get out of bed in the morning.

On a night that I used both trackers to measure my sleep, Whoop gave me a score of 94 per cent and alerted me that I had 13 minutes of sleep debt. Withings gave me a score of 84 per cent, and I'm considering it was the time it took me to fall asleep and the time to get up that lowered my score.

Since these are both 'good' sleep scores, despite being calculated differently, it's hard to say one is better than the other. It really comes down to personal preference in metric measurement.

READ MORE: Three Whoop Band users give their honest thoughts

Health analysis

A lot of the health-tracking features of the two tools are also similar. Both give you the option to track your menstrual cycle and log a range of factors that might affect your sleep performance and overall health. However, Whoop then uses these insights and your sleep performance to give you recommendations regarding recovery, strain and how you should train in response to your rest. This is why it's used by so many athletes, as it gives a holistic look. Furthermore, the Whoop Band 5.0 has recently been released, and has even more health insights to offer.

Withings won't give you the same depth of analysis from the Sleep Analyser alone. However, you can use the Sleep Analyser alongside their ScanWatch, which is the Withings health tracker. In fact, in their Breathing Disturbances breakdown, they recommend a ScanWatch as well as a Sleep Analyser for detection.

Price comparison

The Whoop Band costs $379 for the band and a 12-month subscription that gives you access to the app. After your 12-month subscription, you can pay for another year or spend $44 per month for a month-to-month membership.

The Withings Sleep Analyser is $197, but you can get it cheaper if you wait for it to go on sale. The accompanying Withings app is free, but Withings+ is the paid version, which gives you more data and insight. You can enjoy two weeks free, and then it's $14.99 a month going forward.

Overall, the month-to-month costs are lower with Withings.

Pros of the Whoop Band

• It's easy to keep on 24/7, given that it's waterproof and comfortable to wear on your wrist. The screenless design means it isn't distracting, either.
• It gives a sleep score based on the amount of sleep you get, divided by how much you need.
• It can give recommendations for training and strain based on your sleep performance.
• Tracking over time gives you greater insight, with the app being able to show you trends over months of use.

Price: $379 for a band and a 12-month membership

Pros of the Withings Sleep Analyser

• It's not wearable, so if you don't like the bulky feeling of a watch or band on your wrist while you sleep, it may be preferable.
• It can detect snoring. This is something the Whoop avoids altogether.
• The Withings Sleep Analyser has been used in scientific studies and has sleep apnea detection technology.
• It gives you a sleep score based on six key metrics, which offer room for improvement (such as time taken to get out of bed).

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