Waitlist open for Cuttlefish: the most-wanted dupes get built firstWHOOP alternative Cuttlefish, recovery scores from the watch you own for $99 once
Daily recovery, strain and sleep scores from the Apple Watch you already wear. No band, no membership.
Pay once
$99 once (planned), against $597 for three years of WHOOP One.
No band, no membership
Scores come from the Apple Watch you already wear, read from Apple Health on your phone.
Build it free
Paste our starter prompt into Claude Code and build the core of Cuttlefish yourself, step by step.
| Feature | WHOOPOne · $16.58/mo, yearly | Cuttlefish$99 once · planned |
|---|---|---|
| Recovery score | Yes | Yes |
| Strain score | Yes | Yes |
| Sleep stages and sleep need | Yes | Yes |
| No membership | No | Yes |
| Data stays on your phone | No | Yes |
| Hardware includedCuttlefish needs an Apple Watch | Yes | No |
| Blood pressure and ECGWHOOP: Life | Yes | No |
| Android | Yes | No |
| Three years, one person | $99 |
WHOOP prices from comparison sites, per person. All WHOOP plans.
What's the best WHOOP alternative?
It depends what you want from it. The short answer, by need:
- No subscription
- Cuttlefish: $99 once (planned; waitlist open), against $597 for three years of WHOOP One. iPhone app · needs an Apple Watch.
- Free
- Garmin CIRQA Smart Band: all tracking and scores, no subscription.
- Android
- Oura Ring 5 runs on Own ring; iPhone and Android, from $5.83/mo.
More options and their catches in Other WHOOP alternatives.
Why people switch
Why people look for a WHOOP alternative
What WHOOP users raise in reviews and forums, and what its own pages say. In our words, with the source; checked Oct 12, 2026.
The band barely works without a paid membership, while rival trackers now sell with no subscription at all.
Source: engadget.comPlans cost $199–$359 a year on a 12-month commitment that renews automatically.
Source: support.whoop.comSome WHOOP 5.0 owners say workout heart rate reads far off chest straps, which throws off strain scores.
Source: community.whoop.comThe original
What WHOOP does
- A screenless band sold on a membership, with recovery, strain and sleep scores.
- One, Peak and Life memberships, billed yearly for new members; the band is included.
- Peak adds health and stress monitoring; Life adds blood-pressure insights and an ECG.
- If you cancel, you keep the band but lose the app's analysis.
The dupe
What Cuttlefish does
- A morning recovery score from your heart rate variability, resting heart rate and sleep, against your own baseline.
- A strain score through the day, with a target based on how recovered you are.
- Sleep stages, consistency, and how much sleep tonight's target needs.
- Everything stays on your phone, read from Apple Health.
The face of Cuttlefish
Meet Maren van der Merwe
masters rowing coach in Cape Town
Maren coaches masters rowing crews out of Zeekoevlei and reads her own body like weather, her skin shifting from calm green to strained red. She won't pay monthly dues for numbers her watch already measures.
Your heart did the work. Why are you renting the record of it?
Cuttlefish is named after the cuttlefish, whose colour shows how it's doing. Maren is a fictional character we made with ppl.studio, not a customer.
Waitlist open · Cuttlefish
Get Cuttlefish first
We build the dupes people sign up for first. Join and you'll get one email, the day Cuttlefish is ready.
$597 WHOOP One, 3 years$99 once
- Just your email: no card, no account
- One email when it ships, nothing else
- Planned price $99, once
Free
Build Cuttlefish yourself
Paste this into Claude Code in an empty folder. It builds the core of Cuttlefish in steps and stops after each one so you can try it.
- Built withSwift / SwiftUI · HealthKit · WidgetKit · Swift Charts
- You needClaude Code
- Not includedThe full spec, polish, updates
Build me an iPhone app called Cuttlefish: daily recovery, strain and sleep scores from the Apple Watch I already wear. No band, no subscription. What it does - Each morning: a Recovery score from 0 to 100, based on last night's heart rate variability and resting heart rate against my own 30-day baseline, plus sleep duration and respiratory rate. It shows the reasons: "HRV 12% above your baseline". - Through the day: a Strain score from 0 to 21 from time in heart-rate zones (zones from my max heart rate, editable), with a target based on today's recovery. - Sleep: duration, stages from HealthKit, consistency, and the sleep I need tonight given today's strain. - Trends over 7, 30 and 90 days, and a journal of yes or no habits (alcohol, late meal, caffeine) to see which ones move recovery. - A Lock Screen and Home Screen widget showing today's recovery. - Everything stays on the phone. Read-only HealthKit access, nothing uploaded. Tech - Swift and SwiftUI, iOS 17 or later, Swift Charts, WidgetKit, SwiftData. HealthKit queries for HRV (SDNN), resting heart rate, heart rate samples, sleep analysis and respiratory rate. Explain each formula in code comments, and make the baselines rolling windows. How to work Build it in steps and stop after each so I can try it: 1) HealthKit permission and raw data screens, 2) Recovery, 3) Strain, 4) Sleep, 5) trends, journal and widget. After each step tell me exactly how to run and test it, including with sample data on the simulator. Brand - The app's mascot is Maren van der Merwe, a cuttlefish in a navy rowing jacket and neon-yellow sports sunglasses. Use her portrait (https://dupe.software/characters/cuttlefish-icon.jpg) as the app icon, and her full-length picture (https://dupe.software/characters/cuttlefish.jpg) on the first-run and empty screens. - Write every label and message in her voice: blunt, dry, clipped and rigorously pragmatic. Maren would say: "Your heart did the work. Why are you renting the record of it?"
All of their plans
What WHOOP costs
whoop.com blocked our price check, so these are the US prices reported by comparison sites. Confirm on whoop.com. Checked 2026-10-12.
| Plan | Billing | Per month | 3 years | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WHOOP One | annual | $16.58 | $597 | $199 a year, band included |
| WHOOP Peak | annual | $19.92 | $717 | $239 a year |
| WHOOP Life | annual | $29.92 | $1,077 | $359 a year |
| Cuttlefish | once | — | $99 | planned price |
Not sold on a dupe?
Other WHOOP alternatives
Cuttlefish isn't for everyone. These do the same job in other ways: free plans, open source, teams, other platforms. Prices from their own pricing pages, checked Oct 12, 2026.
Oura Ring 5
People who'd rather wear a ring than a band, especially to bed
Free plan: Sleep, Readiness and Activity scores only, no detail. The catch: Ring 5 starts at $399, and most insights need the membership. Runs on Own ring; iPhone and Android. Price from Oura's membership page; the $399 ring price from its US store as indexed by search.
Garmin CIRQA Smart Band
Garmin users wanting a screenless band for sleep and training readiness
All tracking and scores, no subscription. The catch: $199.99 band; no built-in GPS, and Connect+ extras cost $6.99/month. Runs on Own band; iPhone and Android.
Amazfit Helio Strap
Budget buyers who want a screenless band and never want a subscription
All tracking and scores, no subscription. The catch: $99.99 band; no single strain score, just training load and BioCharge energy. Runs on Own band; iPhone and Android.
Google Fitbit Air
Fitbit and Google users wanting a cheap band, with coaching optional
Free plan: Readiness, sleep score and cardio load; coaching is paid. The catch: $99.99 band; the AI coach needs Premium, $9.99/month after three free months. Runs on Own band; iPhone and Android. Price from Google's own announcement posts (the Google Store asked us to sign in).
Bevel
Apple Watch owners who want WHOOP-style scores free, with no new hardware
Free plan: Recovery, strain and sleep scores; AI coach is paid. The catch: iPhone only; the AI coach costs $14.99/month or $99.99/year. Runs on iPhone and Apple Watch; also reads Oura, Garmin, Fitbit. Price from Bevel's App Store listing (its site shows no prices).
Athlytic
Apple Watch owners who want the cheapest paid recovery and exertion scores
The catch: Subscription only after a 7-day trial: $4.99/month or $29.99/year; Apple devices only. Runs on iPhone and Apple Watch.
We don't earn anything from these links, and none of these companies is affiliated with dupe.software. Seen a price change? Tell us. How we research these pages.
Leaving WHOOP?
Take your WHOOP data with you
Whatever you switch to, export first, then cancel. From WHOOP's own help center, checked Oct 12, 2026.
1 · Export
Export your WHOOP data
- In the WHOOP app, tap More. On iOS go to App Settings > Data Export; on Android, straight to Data Export.
- Confirm your email address, then tap Create Export.
- Within 24 hours you get an email with a download link. Download it promptly: the link expires after 7 days.
- FormatsCSV files: daily cycles (recovery, resting heart rate, HRV, strain, sleep), sleeps, workouts and journal entries.
- Watch outExport runs only from the mobile app, and the files hold daily summaries, not raw data: members report no intraday heart rate and no sleep-stage timeline. WHOOP doesn't say whether you can export after the membership ends, so export before it lapses.
2 · Cancel
Cancel WHOOP
- Sign in at app.whoop.com and open Membership.
- Click Cancel Your Membership at the bottom of the page.
- Pick the option for your plan: paid upfront, cancel at the end of the commitment; paying monthly within the 12 months, pay off the rest or cancel at the end.
Afterwards: The membership runs to the end of the commitment (12 months, or 24 if you chose it). After that the band stops recording and WHOOP stops analysing your data, though you can still view past data in the app. Resume within 90 days and your baseline is kept.
Source: support.whoop.comQuestions
WHOOP alternative FAQ
Does Cuttlefish replace the WHOOP band?
No. Cuttlefish reads the Apple Watch you already wear. If you don't have one, a WHOOP membership includes its band.
Is there a WHOOP alternative with no subscription?
If you have an Apple Watch: Cuttlefish, $99 once when it ships, or free if you build it from the starter prompt on this page.
Is Cuttlefish affiliated with WHOOP?
No. It's an independent app built from our own spec. WHOOP is a trademark of its owner.
When can I get Cuttlefish?
Cuttlefish is on the waitlist: we build the dupes people sign up for first. Join and you'll hear the day it's ready.
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Cuttlefish is an independent app, not affiliated with or endorsed by WHOOP. WHOOP is a trademark of its owner, named here only to describe what Cuttlefish is an alternative to. All dupes.