WHOOP is about to take up a lot more real estate in Boston. Literally. 

The company just signed on for roughly 107,000 square feet of new office space next to its current Fenway-area headquarters, which should be enough room for another 1,000 employees. 

It’s part of a bigger growth push. WHOOP plans to hire 600 people this year alone, a jump of about 75% to its total headcount, and CEO Will Ahmed says the company is on track for an IPO in roughly a year and a half, off a $10.1 billion valuation.

None of that changes what a WHOOP actually does on your wrist. But it’s a pretty clear sign that investors (and a lot of new employees) are betting its popularity isn’t leveling off anytime soon.

The Wearable Price War Is Heating Up

WHOOP isn’t expanding into an empty market. Google’s Fitbit division put out the Fitbit Air earlier this year at $100, with an optional $10-a-month subscription for extra features. It’s a direct shot at WHOOP’s model, which skips the hardware cost, but requires a membership starting at $199 a year just to use the device at all.

Ahmed has been upfront about the strategy, though. WHOOP is positioning itself as the premium option, betting people will pay more for what it considers a more capable piece of hardware and a deeper set of health data. The screenless design, 14-day battery life, and features like ECG-based heart screening, blood pressure trend estimates, and AI-assisted recovery guidance are the pitch for why the extra cost is worth it.

Wherever you land on that argument, the competition is good news if you’re shopping. It’s part of why WHOOP’s free trial exists in the first place, and why now’s a decent time to see which side of the price war you actually care about.

Should You Actually Try It?

You don’t need a Boston office lease or a pro locker room to get something out of WHOOP. The premise is pretty simple: wear it, and it tells you how your sleep, recovery, and daily strain add up, then nudges you toward small changes you can make, instead of just logging your step count. 

WHOOP’s proprietary data suggests members who wear it consistently log more weekly activity and get better sleep than people who use it on and off.

WHOOP is currently offering a one-month free trial for new members, with memberships starting at $199/year afterward, which gets you the 5.0 Device, a wired charger, and a CoreKnit band at that tier. A free month is plenty of time to see whether the data actually changes anything about how you sleep, train, or recover. At least, before deciding which side of the WHOOP-vs-Google wearable fight you’re on.