Fitbit Edge Price: US$179.99, but Two Years With the AI Coach Is US$390

Google’s Fitbit Edge costs US$179.99 (CA$229.99 in Canada), with pre-orders open since Google announced it on Oct. 12 and the tracker on shelves Oct. 27. The sticker price is the small number. The Gemini-powered Health Coach that Google puts at the centre of the pitch needs a Google Health Premium subscription, which starts at US$9.99 a month or US$99 a year once the three free months that come in the box run out. Pay monthly for the rest of a two-year stretch and the subscription costs US$209.79, more than the tracker. Two years, all in: US$389.78.

That math is the whole story for anyone weighing the Edge against a watch, so here it is in full, in both currencies, along with what you get without paying a cent more.

Fitbit Edge price and specs: what US$179.99 buys

The Edge slots between the screenless US$99 Fitbit Air that Google launched in May and the Pixel Watch 5. Bloomberg reports it replaces the Fitbit Charge 6 from 2023 and that Google will discontinue the Charge line, so this is the screened Fitbit now.

The hardware is a pill-shaped AMOLED display that Google says has 46% more viewing area than previous Fitbit trackers, an 11.5mm-thin aluminum case and built-in GPS that Google claims tracks up to 40% more accurately than earlier generations. 9to5Google’s spec rundown lists ECG, red and infrared SpO2 sensors, a skin temperature sensor, an altimeter and an IP68/5ATM rating. Battery life is rated at about a week with the always-on display off and about two days with it on. Five minutes on the magnetic USB-C charger buys roughly a day.

Two details matter for the long run. Google calls the Edge Fitbit’s first repairable tracker, with a replaceable battery, though neither Google nor the early coverage has said what a replacement battery costs. And there’s no NFC, so no Google Wallet tap-to-pay, per 9to5Google.

The Stephen Curry Special Edition is US$219.99. Extra bands run from US$39.99 (Active Sport) to US$149.99 (Metal Links), with a US$59.99 Magnet Band and a US$49.99 Performance Loop listed as coming soon.

Google Health Premium price: where the money goes

Google Health, the app that replaced the Fitbit app in May, is free. Tracking activity, sleep and heart rate costs nothing, and Google’s store page says the free tier includes Health Guardian alerts for high and low heart rate plus Irregular Rhythm Notifications.

The paywall sits over the features Google is marketing hardest. Google’s Health Premium page lists a 24/7 personal coach built with Gemini, adaptive fitness plans, detailed sleep insights, and what it calls advanced Health Guardian features: blood pressure trends, insulin resistance levels and sleep breathing patterns. Google’s Edge announcement says those trend features are for general wellness, not diagnosis.

The price also went up this year. When Fitbit Premium became Google Health Premium in May, Android Authority reported the annual plan rose from US$79.99. Google’s own figure is US$99 a year. Bloomberg rounds the plan to US$10 a month or US$100 a year; Google lists the cents.

Over two years, the Fitbit Edge costs US$179.99. The subscription that unlocks its AI coach costs US$209.79.

Fitbit Edge vs Pixel Watch 5 vs Fitbit Air: two-year cost

The table below assumes you start Health Premium when the three-month trial ends and pay US$9.99 a month for the remaining 21 months. Google confirms the trial for the Edge and the Air; for the Pixel Watch 5, the three-month offer is listed on Google’s Canadian store. Prices exclude sales tax and spare bands. Pixel Watch 5 prices are from Google’s launch post and Droid Life.

Paying annually helps a little. Buy one US$99 year when the trial ends, then go monthly for the final nine months, and the subscription comes to US$188.91, a saving of US$20.88. Over two years that works out to about US$15.37 a month for the Edge, everything included.

Notice what the table does to the gap between devices. On hardware alone the Pixel Watch 5 costs more than twice what the Edge does. Add the identical subscription and the Pixel’s two-year bill is about 56% higher, not 122%. The fixed cost of the coach makes the cheap tracker look less cheap.

Fitbit Edge price in Canada, and a renewal-price mismatch

Google’s Canadian store lists the Edge from CA$229.99, which MobileSyrup and others rounded to CA$229. That’s actually about CA$20 below a straight conversion of the US price at roughly 1.39, so for once the Canadian sticker isn’t the bad news.

The subscription is where it gets messy. The Edge’s Canadian product page says the trial is followed by “$12.99/month,” and a Best Buy Canada review of the Fitbit Air gives the same CA$12.99 figure. But the fine print on Google’s Canadian Pixel Watch 5 offer says Health Premium renews at CA$9.99 a month. We couldn’t find a Canadian annual price on the Google pages we checked.

If the CA$9.99 rate is the one you’re billed, knock CA$63 off each total. Check the price the Google Health app shows before the trial ends.

What to do before you pre-order

• Check whether you already pay for it. Health Premium is bundled into Google AI Pro (US$19.99 a month) and Ultra. If you’re a subscriber, the Edge really is a US$179.99 purchase.
• Set a reminder for the trial. Three months from activation, billing starts. Put the date in your calendar the day you set the tracker up.
• Decide if you want the coach at all. GPS, ECG, heart rate alerts and sleep tracking work without a subscription. If those are why you’re buying, the free tier covers you.
• Price the watch on sale. In Canada, the Pixel Watch 5 is CA$80 off until Oct. 15, which narrows the gap if you were on the fence.

For how the rest of the wearable market is pricing AI features, see our guide to the four kinds of AI glasses, our look at what Gemini’s free tier lost on Oct. 9, and Google’s October price increases in Canada. More in wearables.

One last number. The replaceable battery is Google’s argument that the Edge should outlive the two-year window this math covers. If it does, year three costs US$99 more, and the tracker will have cost about as much as its subscription.