What the Smart Ring Maker's IPO Filing Reveals About Wellness-Wearable Buyers, Plus a Three-Year Price Comparison Across Nine Trackers
Credit: Daily Vitality
If you've been eyeing a smart ring on a friend's finger at dinner, or wondering whether your trusty watch is worth replacing, there's a good chance the company that made the ring just filed to go public. Oura, the Finnish-born maker of the sleek titanium sleep and activity ring, is preparing to list on the Nasdaq, and its paperwork gives us something rare: a clear, audited look at who is actually buying these devices.
The headline surprised plenty of people in tech circles, though it may not surprise you. Most Oura members are women. That figure, alongside the company's own numbers on age, growth and how long people keep paying, says a lot about where wellness wearables are heading and who they're being designed for.
But a filing only tells half the story. The other half is what these devices cost you once the box is open, the charger is plugged in and the monthly fees start arriving. So we did the math across nine models from seven brands, adding up three full years of hardware and subscription costs, so you can see the real price of each tracker side by side and decide which pricing model feels right for your life.
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Oura's updated registration statement lays out the basics. The company and some of its existing shareholders plan to sell 50 million shares at an expected price of $40 to $44 each, and Oura has applied to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker OURA, according to its Form S-1/A filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Only 13.5 million of those shares are new ones sold by Oura itself. The other 36.5 million come from early investors and other existing holders cashing out part of their stakes.
At the top of that range, the offering would raise about $2.2 billion. Reuters, as carried by CP24, reported a targeted fully diluted valuation of US$15.62 billion, with pricing and the first day of trading expected in the week of September 28, 2026. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan are leading the deal.
The filing shows a company growing quickly. Revenue reached $1.21 billion for the nine months ended June 30, 2026, up 74% from $697.6 million in the same period a year earlier. For its full 2025 fiscal year, which ended in September, Oura reported $907.9 million in revenue.
Oura counted 5.0 million paying members as of June 30, 2026, and says it sold 3.6 million rings over the previous 12 months. That's roughly 2% of the approximately 212 million wearable devices shipped worldwide in that time, which is a helpful reminder that smart rings are still a small slice of a very large market.
You may have seen headlines calling Oura both profitable and deeply in the red. Both are technically true. The company earned $60.8 million in net income over those nine months, but an accounting charge of about $985 million, called a deemed dividend and tied to the terms of its preferred stock, turned the figure attributable to ordinary shareholders into a loss of about $924 million. It's a paperwork effect of how early investors' shares are structured, not a sign that the ring business itself is losing money.
This article is about what the filing reveals for people choosing a wearable. It is not investment advice, and nothing here is a view on whether Oura's stock is a good or bad purchase.
The single most talked-about line in the prospectus is a short one. "Approximately 72% of our members are women," Oura writes. For a category long marketed with images of marathoners and cyclists, that's a meaningful shift.
It isn't only that women are the majority. They are also the fastest-growing group. According to the filing, female membership has grown at a compound annual rate of about 143% since fiscal 2024, compared with about 94% for men. In simple terms, women have been joining Oura considerably faster than men for two years running.
Age matters here too, and this is where the filing speaks most directly to you. Oura reports that about 27% of its members are 46 or older, about 42% are between 30 and 45, and about 31% are 29 or younger. So while the typical member skews younger, more than one in four is in the Gen X or older bracket, and a large share of the 30 to 45 group is heading toward the years many women start paying closer attention to sleep, energy and cycle changes.
What Oura's filing says about who buys wellness wearables (facts from the S-1/A): About 72% of members are women. Female membership has grown at roughly 143% a year since fiscal 2024, versus about 94% for men. About 27% of members are 46 or older. Oura reports weighted-average 12-month paid member retention of about 85%, and a daily-to-monthly active user ratio of about 65%.
The company describes its women's health ambitions as spanning "menarche through contraception, conception, pregnancy, perimenopause, menopause, and ultimately healthy aging." That's Oura's stated product direction, not a promise about what the ring can measure or detect. Still, it tells you which life stages the company sees as its biggest opportunities, and perimenopause and menopause are firmly on the list.
If you're curious about what current research says about life after menopause, our roundup of the latest studies on post-menopause covers the findings in more depth.
The 85% retention figure is worth pausing on as well. It means that, weighted across monthly groups of new members, roughly 85 out of 100 paying members were still paying a year later. For you, that's a rough signal that most people who try the subscription keep it, though it can't tell you whether you would.
Here is the heart of it. We added up what each tracker costs over three years, counting the hardware plus any subscription you need to use the device as designed. Optional add-on services are shown separately, so you can see the price with and without them.
All prices are US list prices before sales tax, checked on September 22, 2026. Subscription costs use annual billing, which is usually the lowest rate. The Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $399 for the 42mm case and $449 for the 46mm, after a $20 increase on the larger size reported by MacRumors.
A few things jump out right away.
First, WHOOP One and a base Oura Ring 5 land within $12 of each other over three years. Two very different products, one worn on the wrist and one on a finger, end up costing almost the same once the subscription is counted.
Second, a premium Oura finish (Gold, Deep Rose, Brushed Silver or Stealth) starts at $499, which lifts the three-year total to $708.97. That puts it right beside WHOOP Peak.
Third, the four no-subscription options cluster tightly. Samsung, Ultrahuman and Apple all sit at $399 over three years at list price, and RingConn's entry ring comes in at about half that.
Manufacturers rarely publish how many years a battery will last before it noticeably fades, so we can't give you a firm replacement horizon. What they do publish is how long a single charge lasts. The Garmin Venu 4 is rated for up to 12 days in smartwatch mode, while WHOOP lists 14 or more days for its 5.0 device.
The Oura Ring 5 is rated for six to nine days per charge, up from five to eight on the Ring 4, according to TechCrunch's launch coverage.
If you're new to all of this, our guide to the best fitness trackers for beginners based on your fitness goals walks through features in more detail.
Price tags only make sense once you know what each subscription does. The seven brands in our table follow four quite different models, and understanding them may matter more to your day-to-day experience than the dollar figures.
Oura Membership costs $5.99 a month or $69.99 a year in the US, and new members get their first month included. Here's the part that often gets missed. Without a membership, the ring and app still work, and you keep your three daily scores for Readiness, Activity and Sleep, along with your battery level and settings, according to Oura's own membership help page. You can also still download your data.
What the membership adds are the deeper insights and trends behind those scores. So Oura sits somewhere in the middle. The subscription isn't technically required, but most of what people buy the ring for lives behind it. That's why our table counts it as part of the real cost.
It also helps explain Oura's business. TechCrunch's reading of the filing puts membership revenue at $240.5 million for the nine-month period, at an 89% gross margin, while hardware brought in about $974 million. The ring is still where most of the money comes from, but the membership is the high-margin part.
WHOOP works differently from everyone else on the list. You don't buy a WHOOP band outright. You buy a membership, and the device comes with it. The current US plans are One at $199 a year, Peak at $239 a year and Life at $359 a year, each sold as a 12-month membership with a one-month free trial. Higher tiers include a wireless battery pack and different bands, and the Life plan uses the WHOOP MG device.
Because the hardware and the service are bundled, WHOOP is the only tracker in our comparison where you can't meaningfully use the device without paying. If you like the idea of one predictable yearly fee and no upfront hardware purchase, that may feel simple and tidy. If you prefer owning your device outright, it may feel less so.
The Apple Watch and Garmin Venu 4 both give you their core health and fitness features with no subscription at all. Each brand offers an optional paid service on top.
Apple Fitness+ costs $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year and provides guided workouts, with real-time metrics on screen when you wear a watch. Apple notes that you only need an iPhone to use it, so it's a content service rather than something that unlocks your watch data.
Garmin launched Connect+ in March 2025 at $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year. When it arrived, Garmin said everything users already had would stay free, as noted in DC Rainmaker's walkthrough of the service. The paid tier adds extras on top of the existing free app.
Three ring makers in our comparison charge nothing after purchase. Samsung doesn't charge anything extra once you own the Galaxy Ring, which lists at $399 and was discounted to $299 as recently as April 2026. If you spot it on sale, the three-year cost falls to about $8.31 a month.
Ultrahuman has had a bumpier road in the US. After Oura won a patent case at the US International Trade Commission, Ultrahuman rings were blocked from import, and the company returned to the US market on March 24, 2026 with its Ring Pro, starting at $399. There's no mandatory subscription, although Ultrahuman sells optional paid add-on features.
RingConn is the budget anchor. Its current US lineup runs from $199 for the Gen 2 Air to $299 for the Gen 2 and $349 for the Gen 3, with no monthly fee on any of them.
Your phone may matter as much as the price. The Apple Watch pairs with iPhone, and Samsung's Galaxy Ring is built around Android phones, so your phone may narrow your list before your budget does.
There's no single best tracker here, only a best fit for how you like to pay and what you want to see. The table below pulls the numbers together into a few common situations.
Lowest cost overall goes to RingConn's entry ring by a wide margin. Among the bigger-name no-subscription rings, Samsung and Ultrahuman tie at list price, and a Galaxy Ring sale can tip the balance.
Among subscription-based trackers, the story is closer than most shoppers expect. WHOOP One and Oura Ring 5 are nearly even over three years. The real difference is the shape of the payment: WHOOP asks for nothing up front beyond the yearly fee, while Oura asks for $399 at checkout and a smaller yearly fee after that.
As for which models require a subscription to see core scores, only WHOOP does, among those we compared. Oura keeps your Readiness, Activity and Sleep scores visible for free, even though much of the richer detail is behind the membership.
Whatever you choose, it may help to remember that a score is a starting point for noticing patterns, not a verdict on your health. Our piece on why a smartwatch sleep score might be making you sleep worse explores that side of wearable life.
Consumer wearables like these are wellness devices. Their readings can be interesting and motivating, but they are not a substitute for medical testing or advice from a clinician.
Our three-year total cost of ownership uses one simple formula: the hardware price plus any required subscription multiplied over 36 months. Optional services such as Apple Fitness+ and Garmin Connect+ are shown in a separate column and are not included in the main total.
All prices are US list prices checked on September 22, 2026, except the Galaxy Ring sale price, which was reported on April 30, 2026. Subscription figures use annual billing. For Oura, paying $5.99 monthly for 35 months after the free first month works out to $209.65, almost identical to three annual payments of $69.99.
We did not include sales tax, which varies by state and city. We also left out accessories, extended warranties, replacement bands, charging cases sold separately and any trade-in credit. Free trial months are noted but not subtracted, because they vary by promotion.
Prices on wearables change often, especially around holidays and new model launches, so it's worth checking current prices before you buy. If you enjoy this kind of cost breakdown, our gym contract audit of fees to join, stay and leave applies the same approach to gym memberships.
Oura's IPO had not yet priced when this article was published. The share price range, share count and ticker come from Oura's S-1/A filing with the SEC. The final offering price and first-day trading results may differ, and we plan to update this article once they're public.
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About the Author
Ryan May is a digital publishing leader with more than 25 years of experience turning complex information into clear, useful editorial work. At Daily Vitality, he focuses on evidence-led reporting about nutrition, fitness, healthy aging, and long-term wellbeing, informed by his own interests in cooking, yoga, cycling, and sustainable healthy habits.
Oura began marketing its offering on September 21, 2026, and was expected to price its shares and start trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker OURA during the week of September 28, 2026.
Yes, in a limited way. Without Oura Membership, you still see your daily Readiness, Activity and Sleep scores, your ring battery and your settings, and you can download your data. The membership unlocks the deeper insights and trends.
In the US, Oura Membership costs $5.99 a month or $69.99 a year, and new members receive their first month included.
No. WHOOP sells memberships that include the device. The One plan costs $199 a year, Peak costs $239 a year and Life costs $359 a year, each as a 12-month membership.
Among the rings we compared, the Samsung Galaxy Ring, Ultrahuman Ring Pro and RingConn rings have no mandatory subscription. Ultrahuman does sell optional paid add-ons.
Yes. Ultrahuman returned to the US market on March 24, 2026, after resolving an import ban that followed a patent case brought by Oura. Its Ring Pro starts at $399.
Oura's filing says about 27% of its members are 46 or older, about 42% are between 30 and 45, and about 31% are 29 or younger.
Oura reported $60.8 million in net income for the nine months ended June 30, 2026. A roughly $985 million accounting charge tied to its preferred stock created a large loss attributable to common shareholders, but that charge reflects how early investors' shares are structured rather than day-to-day operations.
No. Garmin Connect+ is an optional $6.99-a-month or $69.99-a-year service, and Garmin said existing Connect app features would remain free when it launched.
