Oura challenged by fee-free competitors

The subscription is where Oura makes its ring business durable, but it is also where competitor pricing creates the clearest attack surface. Oura turned membership into about 20% of revenue in 2024, or roughly $110M from 2M paying subscribers, and that high margin software layer helps lift the business above pure hardware economics. The risk is simple, rivals like RingConn, Ultrahuman, and Samsung let buyers pay once and keep core insights, so Oura has to keep making the app feel meaningfully better every month, not just slightly better at setup.

• Oura already depends on membership more than a typical gadget maker. It introduced the model in late 2022, and by 2024 subscription revenue had grown to about one fifth of sales, with much higher gross margins than hardware. That makes retention and perceived app value central to margin protection.
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• The no fee alternatives are real and concrete. Ultrahuman says Ring AIR has no recurring fee for access to ring data. RingConn says its app has no subscription fees. Samsung positions Galaxy Ring health features inside the Samsung Health app with no separate ring membership requirement.
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• Oura is trying to outrun commoditization by packing more into membership. Recent additions include Health Panels in the app for U.S. members, metabolic health features with Dexcom integration, and a women’s health AI model. The strategy is to sell a living health service, not just sleep scores on a ring.
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Going forward, the market is likely to split in two. One tier will be lower cost rings that win on pay once simplicity. The other will be Oura and a few premium platforms that justify recurring fees by combining continuous biometrics, labs, coaching, and specialized health workflows into a product that gets more useful over time.