Oura Ring 5 vs Ring 4: Is It Worth It?

The Oura Ring 5 is the smart ring the market has been waiting for. It marks a turning point. Oura has cut the hardware down to a genuinely normal size, the kind you would not think twice about wearing all day. Yet, the week-plus battery life and, by the company’s own account, the sensing accuracy make the brand the one to beat for most people choosing a smart ring. The Oura Ring 5 is the best in its class, and the reasons to buy it are simple: size, quality, and battery life.

Check the current Oura Ring 5 price and finishes.

If that is all you need, you can stop reading. What follows is for anyone weighing the Ring 5 against a Ring 4 they already own or could buy for less, and for readers who want the fuller picture, including answers to the questions Oura’s own claims leave open.

Oura Ring 5 vs Ring 4: the specifications

The headline change in this generation is primarily its physical form, from which almost everything else, like aesthetics, follows.

Oura describes the Ring 5 as 40 per cent smaller than the Ring 4 and the smallest smart ring on the market. I agree. The dimensions bear out the market leader’s direction of travel. For a device meant to be worn day and night, that reduction is the most useful change Oura has made since it moved to an all-titanium body. The longer battery life is a smaller gain, though a welcome one. The Ring 5 comes in six finishes: Silver and Black at £399 or $399, with Gold, Stealth, Brushed Silver and the new Deep Rose at £499 or $499.

Most of the new features also reach the Ring 4

Here is the point that decides the upgrade question, and the one Oura’s marketing does not lead with. The software launched alongside the Ring 5 is not exclusive to the Ring 5. The headline additions reach the Ring 4, and most reach the Gen 3 as well.

Health Radar, the new background-monitoring layer, brings two features at launch.

• Blood Pressure Signals tracks overnight blood pressure patterns and lets you log readings with an ordinary cuff.
• Nighttime Breathing gives a rolling 30-day view of breathing disturbances during sleep.

Both come to the Ring 4 and the Gen 3. So does Live Activity Tracking, which shows pace and distance in real time and pairs with a separate heart rate monitor.

It is worth being precise about what Live Activity Tracking is, because it matters to runners and cyclists. Your app can now show live workout stats, but here’s the rub. Distance, speed, and, obviously, the visual display all require the phone to be with you. Even if you leave your smartphone at home, the ring’s auto-detection will still record your heart rate and other motion metrics. This is not a replacement for a sports watch or a bike computer. It is the first time Oura has offered live, in-session feedback at all, after years as a recovery and sleep device, and the new capabilities read as a statement of intent to advance its fitness competencies rather than as a finished tool.

The same applies to GLP-1 Insights, which logs weight-loss medication, doses and side effects, and to Locate, which helps you find a misplaced ring.

The care partnerships sit at the account level too: ResMed for routing people with disturbed breathing toward a sleep assessment, and Counsel Health for on-demand medical advice from licensed physicians, the latter for an extra fee on top of the membership. One caveat for readers outside the US: at launch, Health Radar and the Counsel Health Service are available in English only in the United States, India, and the United Arab Emirates, so others will have to wait for a wider rollout.

A Ring 4 owner with an active membership gains almost the entire 2026 feature set at no extra cost. What stays with the Ring 5 is the part bound to the hardware: the comfort and battery of the smaller body, and the activity detection, which Oura says is more accurate than on any previous ring because of the new sensor layout.

The accuracy question Oura does not answer directly

Oura puts heart-rate accuracy at 99 per cent against a medical ECG and sleep-staging accuracy at 95 per cent against a clinical sleep lab. Those are the company’s figures, not independent ones, and they describe the platform rather than this specific ring.

There is a detail worth watching. The Ring 4 reads the signal from your finger along 18 separate light paths. The Ring 5 uses 12. Oura has cut the number while making each path count for more, with LEDs around four times as powerful and lower-profile sensors that sit closer to the skin. It says the result is steadier, more accurate readings, rather than a compromise. On paper, that is a real engineering achievement: a smaller ring, fewer paths and, by Oura’s account, no loss of precision. That accuracy claim is the company’s own, not an independent one. Until the Ring 5 has been measured against a chest strap and a trusted reference in normal use, treat its accuracy as promised rather than proven.

What the Oura Ring 5 still cannot do

Some limits are set by the hardware and cannot be removed by a software update, so they are worth knowing before you buy.

• There is no screen. Every reading lives in the phone app, which is also why live workout metrics appear there.
• Blood pressure is a trend signal, not a medical reading. The ring flags patterns that may deserve attention. It does not give you a systolic and diastolic number to replace a cuff. It gives a nudge to go and see a medical professional rather than a diagnosis.
• The ring needs a paid membership. Without it, an Oura of either generation falls back to a limited set of basic scores.
• The finger size range is narrower than before, at 6-13. Some Ring 4 owners at the ends of the old 4-15 range will not find a Ring 5 that fits, and a new sizing kit will apply.

The bigger picture: why Oura keeps winning

The Ring 5 arrives from a position of unusual strength, and the reason is not only the product. Oura has built a legal moat around the smart ring that its rivals cannot easily cross.

Since 2024, the company has run a steady campaign through the US International Trade Commission. It won an import ban against Ultrahuman and turned RingConn, OMATE and Circular into licensees that now pay royalties to sell their rings. Further actions are live against Samsung, Zepp Health, Reebok and Noise. The core patents cover the curved battery and the internal architecture, the very things that let a ring be both small and capable. As I have argued before, this comes close to patenting the smart ring itself.

The strategy is shrewd. By licensing its inventions rather than blocking them outright, Oura appears to be defending its work rather than stifling competition. The effect on the market is the same either way. Anyone building a serious smart ring must either pay Oura or design around patents that are difficult to design around.

That is the context for the Ring 5. Oura was already the one to beat. It is now the one to beat as a genuinely small, normal-looking ring. Competitors want to make directly comparable products but face the technical challenge while boxed in by Oura’s IP. Set against a confidential US IPO filing in 2026, a valuation near $11bn and around five million paying members, the Ring 5 looks less like a product launch and more like a company consolidating a category it pioneered and built.

Only the largest players could change this. Apple and Google have the resources to mount a serious challenge, whether through their own hardware or by directly challenging Oura on patents. So far, none has moved decisively into rings, and until one does, Oura’s lead looks set to hold for the foreseeable future.

Should you buy the Oura Ring 5?

• If you own a Ring 4, upgrading is hard to justify. The features that matter are already coming to your ring. Buy the Ring 5 only if the size and comfort of your current ring genuinely bother you, if the extra day or two of battery counts, or if you want the sharper activity detection. None of these is trivial for something you wear constantly, but none is a capability you lack today.
• If you own a Gen 3, the case is stronger, since you are two generations behind on hardware. Even so, a discounted Ring 4 runs the same software and may be the wiser choice.
• If you are buying your first smart ring, the Ring 5 is the one to own if the budget allows, on size and comfort alone. The Ring 4, now older and routinely discounted, runs the identical software and offers a wider choice of sizes for less money. If the Ring 4 falls far enough below the Ring 5, it becomes the value pick. The slimmer body is what the extra outlay buys.

The honest summary is that Oura has solved comfort, not capability. The intelligence now spreads freely across the range, so for most people, the real cost of an Oura is not the ring, but the membership that makes either one work, and that price has not changed.

Oura Ring 5 vs Ring 4: frequently asked questions

Do the new Oura Ring 5 features work on the Ring 4?

Yes, for the most part. Health Radar, Blood Pressure Signals, Nighttime Breathing, Live Activity Tracking, GLP-1 Insights, and Locate all reach the Ring 4, and most reach the Gen 3. The hardware-bound gains, chiefly the smaller size, longer battery life, and improved activity detection, stay with the Ring 5.

Does the Oura Ring 5 measure blood pressure properly?

No. It tracks blood pressure patterns overnight and flags possible strain, and you can log readings from an ordinary cuff. It does not give a clinical systolic and diastolic measurement.

Do you still need a subscription?

Yes. The Oura membership costs £5.99 or $5.99 a month on both the Ring 5 and the Ring 4, and the ring offers little without it. The Counsel Health care service costs extra again.

Is the Oura Ring 5 worth it over the Ring 4?

For a new buyer who wants the smallest, most comfortable ring, yes. For an existing Ring 4 owner, usually not, because the important software is coming to the Ring 4 anyway. The upgrade is about comfort and battery, not features.

What sizes does the Oura Ring 5 come in?

Sizes 6 to 13, a narrower range than the Ring 4’s 4 to 15. A new sizing kit applies, so order one before you buy if you are unsure of your fit.

Does the Oura Ring 5 use the same charger as the Ring 4?

No. The Ring 5 ships with its own size-specific charger and a USB-C cable. A separate Ring 5 charging case, priced at $99, holds several full charges and adds wireless charging. Ring 4 chargers and cases do not fit the Ring 5.

More Oura coverage on the5krunner: Oura files for IPO as sports-tech listings queue for limited funds, and Oura sues Amazfit, Reebok, and Noise over their rings.

Last Updated on 28 May 2026 by the5krunner

the5krunner

tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors. ID