We sell one of these, so read this with that in mind. We have deliberately left every competitor unnamed — partly because naming them invites a fight we would rather spend the money on testing, and partly because a page full of other companies' prices is out of date the week they change them. What follows is the structural comparison, which does not go stale.
The chemistry is not the difference
Start here, because it collapses most of the category's marketing: nearly every whole-body testing service in the United States sends your blood to the same handful of CLIA-certified reference laboratories. The assay that measures your ApoB is the same assay regardless of whose logo is on the app. Nobody in this category has better chemistry, and anyone implying they do is selling you the laboratory's work as their own.
What you are actually choosing between is the layer on top: what gets ordered, who reads it, and what happens next.
Why marker counts are the least useful number
The category argues loudly about panel size, and the numbers are close to meaningless — because there is no agreed way to count. A single order at the laboratory can return a dozen separate results. A comprehensive metabolic panel is one order and fourteen numbers. Several of the values on any panel are not measured at all but calculated from others: LDL is derived from the rest of the lipid panel, eGFR is an equation applied to creatinine, every ratio is division.
So a service can count orders, or results, or calculated values, or count a mid-year retest of the same marker as a second test — and reach a number two or three times larger than another service with a genuinely identical panel. All of it can be technically true. The useful question is not how many but which ones, and are they measured or computed. Our biomarker library explains what the markers that matter actually tell you.
The four models in the category
Strip away the branding and there are four shapes. Each is the right answer for somebody.
1. The data membership
An annual fee, a broad panel once or twice a year, and a well-designed app that visualizes your results with algorithmic summaries. These are the best-known names in the category. The panels are real and the software is genuinely good. The limit is in their own terms of service, which typically state the company is not a medical provider and does not offer medical advice — so the journey ends at discuss this with your doctor. Right for you if you want a beautiful yearly dataset and you already have a physician who will act on it.
2. The lab marketplace
A small monthly fee over near-wholesale test pricing: you assemble your own panel and pay per test. The cheapest way to buy specific markers, and the most honest about what it is. Interpretation is thin, often partly behind an extra charge. Right for you if you know exactly what you want measured and intend to drive the process yourself.
3. A la carte, no membership
Consumer storefronts run by the large reference laboratories, plus the resellers on top of them. No subscription; you buy each test outright. Nobody reads the results. Right for you if you want three to five specific numbers — at that size, every membership in the category is a worse deal, ours included. Our cost guides price these routes honestly against each other.
4. The clinician-reviewed panel
A panel ordered by a licensed clinician and read by a physician who writes you something individual, with a medical practice standing behind it if a result needs care. Fewer services do this, because it costs more to deliver than software does. This is the model we chose. Right for you if the part you actually want is somebody qualified telling you what your results mean.
What separates them, in one table
| Model | What you pay for | Who reads your results | If something is wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data membership | A broad annual panel plus software | Algorithmic summaries; per their terms, generally not a medical provider | You are advised to see your own doctor |
| Lab marketplace | Individual tests near cost, plus a small monthly fee | Largely you; deeper review often costs extra | Suggested retests; consults sold separately |
| A la carte | Exactly the tests you choose | Nobody — results land in a portal | Entirely your next move |
| Clinician-reviewed | A panel a clinician chose for you, and the reading of it | A physician, in writing, every panel | Critical results escalate the same day, and the practice behind the panel can treat it |
Where we fit, honestly
We built Terve Health because the category got the first half right — comprehensive cash-pay testing, no referral, good data — and mostly gave up on the second half: someone with a medical license who reads your results, tells you what they mean, and can do something about them.
So that is the product. One fasting draw at a lab near you. A whole-body panel across heart, metabolic, hormones, thyroid, kidney, liver, blood count, nutrients and inflammation, ordered for you by a licensed clinician. Every result reviewed by a physician and returned as a written, plain-language plan. Critical values escalated the same day. And when a result needs real follow-up, the licensed practice behind your panel delivers it rather than pointing you at a doctor you may not have.
What we will not pretend: we are the new entrant, and we are open in California, Nevada, Montana, Nebraska, New York and Michigan today, not nationwide. If nationwide availability matters more to you than who reads your results, one of the larger services is the better buy right now. That trade is the whole choice, and we would rather you make it with your eyes open than feel misled later.
Questions worth asking before you pay anyone
Including us. Any service that dodges these is telling you something.
- Is a licensed clinician reading my results, or is software? Ask for it in writing. "Clinician-reviewed" and "a physician reviews and writes your plan" are very different products.
- Does your own terms of service say you are a medical provider? Go and read that section. It is usually the most honest page on any company's website.
- What exactly is ordered — the list, not the count? You are entitled to see the requisition. If a service will not show you what it orders, the number it advertises is unverifiable.
- What happens if something comes back seriously abnormal? Ask who calls you, how fast, and whether care is included or sold separately.
- What does year two cost, and how do I cancel? Effectively everything in this category auto-renews, ours included. Know the terms before the card goes in.
- Are add-ons the real business? If the membership is a front door to scans and supplement stacks, the sticker price is a floor and the incentives point at selling you more testing.
The short decision rule
- Want three to five specific numbers → skip memberships entirely and buy those tests a la carte.
- Want the broadest panel and the best app, and you will handle interpretation → a data membership.
- Want to buy tests cheaply and drive it yourself → a lab marketplace.
- Already have a doctor who orders and reviews comprehensive labs → you have the expensive part; do not duplicate it.
- Want a physician to read the whole thing and real care behind it, and you are in one of our states → that is what we built.
Frequently asked questions
What should I compare between blood test memberships?
Not marker count. Every service in the category draws blood at the same CLIA-certified laboratories, so the chemistry is identical. What actually differs is who reads your results, whether that person is a licensed clinician, whether they write you something individual, and what happens when a result needs real care.
Why do marker counts vary so much between services?
Because there is no standard for counting. One lab order can yield a dozen reportable results, and some services count each of those separately, count values that are calculated rather than measured, or count a mid-year retest of the same marker as an additional test. Two services with identical panels can advertise very different numbers honestly. Ask what is measured, not how many are counted.
Do blood test memberships include a doctor?
Usually not in the way people assume. Every legitimate service has a licensed clinician authorizing the panel — that is how self-ordered testing works. But most memberships' own terms state that the company is not a medical provider and does not give medical advice. Read that section before you buy. It is the difference between being handed data and being given care.
Is a membership cheaper than ordering tests myself?
It depends entirely on how many tests you want. If you want three to five specific numbers, buy them a la carte — every membership, ours included, is the wrong purchase. If you want a whole-body panel, memberships are generally far cheaper than buying the same markers individually.
Terve Health measures and helps you understand your biomarkers; it does not diagnose, treat, or prevent disease. Laboratory testing performed by independent CLIA-certified laboratories; testing is ordered and results are reviewed by licensed clinicians at an independent medical practice. This page describes business models in the diagnostics category generally and makes no claim about any particular company.