Labfront alternatives for studies that need more than sensor data
Labfront gives researchers some of the most detailed Garmin and Movesense data available on a self serve platform, at a price a grant can cover. When the study also needs regulatory grade eConsent, validated ePRO, Apple Health participants and a participant app under your own brand, WeGuide brings the wearable data and the rest of the study into one managed platform, with native Garmin, Apple Health, Health Connect and Fitbit Air integrations.
No pressure, no hard sell. A 30 minute walkthrough with a research colleague who has run wearable studies like yours.
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Where WeGuide differs
Regulatory grade consent and validated ePRO
Apple Health and Fitbit Air participants included
Whitelabel participant apps under your brand
Used by leading research and medical institutes.
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Why research teams look for a Labfront alternative
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The short version
Labfront launched in 2021 to make high resolution physiological data practical for academic research. It pairs Garmin wearables, Movesense sensors and Dexcom CGM with EMA surveys, adherence tracking and optional analysis packages, and says it has more than 2,000 researcher accounts across more than 150 institutions in more than 20 countries.
Why teams look elsewhere
Teams rarely leave Labfront because of the data. Beat to beat intervals from Garmin, ECG and motion data from Movesense, configurable sampling and published prices are exactly why researchers choose it. The pressure comes from what a study grows into. Labfront is built for researchers collecting physiological signals and in the moment surveys. When a protocol moves towards a clinical trial, a patient registry or a multi year cohort, the requirements change: consent with version control and reconsent, validated instruments rather than custom surveys, eScreening, televisits, translation into several languages, and integration with REDCap or an EHR.
Device coverage is the other trigger. Labfront supports Garmin, Movesense and Dexcom, and its own FAQ says Apple and Fitbit devices are not yet compatible. If your participants bring an iPhone and an Apple Watch, they either need a second device or they fall outside the study. WeGuide integrates natively with Garmin, Apple Health, Health Connect and Fitbit Air, and sponsors can also provide devices to participants. If raw sensor resolution is the heart of your protocol, Labfront may well remain the better tool, because it samples faster than WeGuide does, and we will tell you that plainly.
Budget structure changes as well. Labfront's published paid plans include 20 participants, with each additional participant, analysis package and developer access charged on top, which is ideal for a pilot or a lab study and easy to put in a grant. As a cohort grows into hundreds of participants, or the study needs consent, translation, telehealth and integrations that sit outside a sensor platform, many teams find themselves adding vendors around it. The useful question is where the hard part of the study sits: in the physiological signal, or in the participant journey around it. That is the line this comparison tries to draw honestly.
Key differences between WeGuide and Labfront
For teams whose wearable study has turned into a full research programme, with consent, outcome measures and engagement to manage alongside the sensor data, here is what changes when you move to WeGuide.
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Regulatory grade consent and validated ePRO
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Apple Health and Fitbit Air participants included
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Whitelabel participant apps under your brand
Full comparison: WeGuide vs Labfront
Top alternatives to Labfront in 2026
Here is the shortlist research teams evaluate when they are moving on from Labfront. Some go wider on the participant journey, some go deeper on sensors, and some trade Labfront's self serve model for a regulated, sponsor grade one. Each one has a different sweet spot, so start from your protocol's hardest requirement rather than the longest feature list.
Where WeGuide goes further
For teams that want the participant side of a study in one platform, here's what changes when you move to WeGuide.
eConsent built for regulated research
Validated instruments, not just custom surveys
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Garmin, Apple Health, Health Connect and Fitbit Air
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Whitelabel apps under your brand
Engagement beyond reminders
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Screening, telehealth and translation in one place
Integration Engine
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Regulatory grade, managed for you
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One participant record, not three datasets
Built for regulated research
Every WeGuide study runs on our managed infrastructure. Your IT team doesn't patch servers, manage backups, or run disaster recovery drills.
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TGA Registered
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ISO 27001
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Data Hosted in Australia
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GDPR Compliant
Biometric Security
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256-bit AES Encryption
Where Labfront excels
Its sensor data goes deeper than ours. On the Advanced plan, Labfront offers configurable sampling, including heart rate from 1 second, every beat to beat interval from Garmin, accelerometry at up to 100 Hz, ECG from Movesense at 125 to 500 Hz and Movesense motion data at up to 208 Hz. WeGuide collects raw accelerometer and gyroscope data at 25 Hz on supported Garmin models, so for HRV, sleep and movement research where the raw signal is the point, Labfront samples faster, and few self serve platforms go further.
Its pricing is public and grant sized. A free Tester tier lets you check a protocol with up to 5 participants before committing, Basic is $500 a year and Advanced is $1,250 a year, each including 20 participants. You can put that in a grant budget without a sales call.
It supports early career researchers. Labfront runs grant programmes that bundle devices, an Advanced account and an analysis package, including a 2026 Labfront and Garmin Health research grant and 2026 sleep science and aging science grants.
It goes beyond Garmin. Movesense HR2 adds chest worn ECG, RR intervals and a full inertial sensor, and Dexcom adds continuous glucose data, so physiology, movement and metabolism can sit in one study. Garmin's Index blood pressure monitor and Index S2 scale are supported too, and Labfront lists newer devices such as the screenless Garmin CIRQA band.
It can do the analysis for you. Optional HRV, sleep actigraphy and sleep regularity packages turn raw signals into reportable measures, which helps teams without a dedicated signal processing analyst. EMA surveys at fixed, random or semi randomised times, event tracking and just in time adaptive interventions round out a toolkit that suits psychology, sleep and sports science labs particularly well.
If your study is academic physiological research with Garmin, Movesense or Dexcom devices and simple consent, staying on Labfront is very likely the right call. We would rather tell you that than sell you something you do not need. The comparison only tips towards WeGuide when the study needs regulatory grade consent, validated outcome measures, Apple Health participants or a branded long term participant experience as much as it needs the signal itself.
Running WeGuide alongside Labfront
Labfront is not one of WeGuide's prebuilt integrations, so this is not a one click setup. A combined design can still make sense when a protocol needs Movesense ECG, Dexcom data or high frequency sampling from Labfront and also needs regulatory grade consent, validated ePRO and a branded app from WeGuide. The datasets are joined on a shared study ID at analysis, or through custom work using WeGuide's REST API and webhooks and Labfront's Developer Access. Bear in mind that a Garmin device paired directly to a research app can only pair with one app at a time. Labfront's Companion app pairs the watch directly over Bluetooth, and WeGuide's raw sensor collection runs through the Garmin Health SDK, so decide which platform owns each Garmin device before enrolment. For most Garmin or Apple Watch studies, collecting the wearable data in WeGuide directly is simpler.
How the switch works
For teams moving a wearable study to WeGuide, or running WeGuide alongside a sensor platform, here is how a typical onboarding plays out.
Discovery Call
A discovery call with our research delivery team. We look at your protocol, your devices, the metrics and resolution your endpoints depend on, and what you need around the data: consent, screening, validated instruments, languages. If a metric or sampling rate you need is outside what WeGuide's integrations provide, we will tell you on that call, and if a specialist sensor platform such as Labfront is the better fit for that part of the study, we will say so rather than stretch the platform to cover it.
Study Configuration
Our team configures the study alongside yours: screening, consent, ePRO schedule, wearable integrations and engagement content. We also agree whether the app ships under your own App Store account or runs in the existing WeGuide app, and whether participants use their own devices or devices you provide. If your eCRF lives in REDCap, we configure the Integration Engine at this stage. Typical timeline: two to four weeks.
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Participant Onboarding
The app launches. Participants download it, complete consent, connect their Garmin, Apple Health, Health Connect or Fitbit Air data once, and the study runs from there with reminders and education content ready to go. If you are moving an existing cohort, the timing of the move is agreed with you on the discovery call.
Ongoing Support
You get a named delivery contact, not a ticketing queue, for the life of the study.
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Case studies: research teams that needed more than sensor data
BRACE Trial (Murdoch Children's Research Institute)
An international randomised trial of the BCG vaccine in healthcare workers during COVID-19, run across several countries with thousands of participants. It was a hybrid trial, with vaccination and blood collection in person, and WeGuide supported the participant facing side of the study.
GenV (Generation Victoria)
A whole of state longitudinal birth cohort in Victoria, Australia, covering roughly 124,000 people (about 50,000 children and 74,000 parents). At that scale and duration, the participant relationship matters as much as the data it produces, and it has to be maintained for years under the organisation's own name.
FSHD Global
A longitudinal patient registry for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy that combines patient reported outcomes with wearable integration. Device data and what participants report sit side by side, over years rather than a single study window.
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Questions
Straight answers on how WeGuide compares to Labfront, what moving a wearable study looks like, and when staying on Labfront is the right call.
Contact usIs WeGuide a replacement for Labfront?
For studies that need consent, validated ePRO, Apple Health participants and a branded app around Garmin, Apple Health, Health Connect or Fitbit Air data, yes, WeGuide covers the whole study in one platform. For studies built on Movesense ECG, Dexcom CGM or sampling above 25 Hz, Labfront may remain the better tool, and we will say so on a discovery call. Many teams find the deciding factor is not the sensor but the protocol: once a study needs regulatory grade consent, validated outcome measures and long term engagement, the participant platform matters more than the sampling rate.
Does WeGuide collect raw accelerometer or beat to beat data like Labfront?
WeGuide collects raw accelerometer and gyroscope data at 25 Hz through the Garmin Health SDK on supported Garmin models. Raw sensor data comes only from Garmin, not from Apple, Samsung or Fitbit devices, WeGuide also logs Garmin beat to beat intervals, but it does not collect ECG. Labfront goes further on resolution: accelerometry at up to 100 Hz on its Advanced plan, Movesense motion data at up to 208 Hz and Movesense ECG at 125 to 500 Hz. If your endpoint depends on that level of detail, Labfront is the stronger choice for the signal. For actigraphy endpoints in regulated trials, a dedicated platform such as Ametris CentrePoint is another option built around movement data.
Does Labfront support Apple Watch?
Not today. Labfront's FAQ says it plans to integrate Apple and Fitbit devices but that they are not yet compatible. WeGuide integrates natively with Apple Health, alongside Garmin, Health Connect and Fitbit Air. Among the other alternatives on this page, MyDataHelps also lists Apple Health and Fitbit data sources, so it is worth checking how each one handles the data you need.
How does pricing compare?
Labfront publishes its prices: a free Tester tier for up to 5 participants, Basic at $500 a year and Advanced at $1,250 a year, each with 20 participants included, plus paid extra participants, analysis packages and developer access. Plans are billed annually in advance and devices are bought separately. WeGuide is project based, quoted on request, and the quote includes hosting, support and modules. For a small pilot Labfront is usually the cheaper route. For a larger study that needs consent, ePRO and engagement as well, compare the total cost of every tool in the stack.
Can we use WeGuide and Labfront together?
Yes, though Labfront is not one of WeGuide's prebuilt integrations. It makes most sense when Labfront collects Movesense or Dexcom data and WeGuide runs consent, ePRO and engagement, with datasets joined on a shared study ID. Plan which platform owns each Garmin device, because a directly paired Garmin device can only pair with one app at a time.
How long does it take to move a study to WeGuide?
After a discovery call, configuration with your team typically takes two to four weeks, followed by launch and a named delivery contact for the life of the study.
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A 30 minute walkthrough with a research colleague, focused on your protocol, your participants and the tools you already run.
