InsideTracker Review: Evaluating its health tests and insights

Keeping fit is hard. It’s so hard that about 80% of people who lose weight on a diet won’t keep it off for longer than a year.1 Everybody is built differently and has different needs; a one-size-fits-all routine simply can’t meet all of your unique fitness or nutritional requirements.

If you truly want to change your lifestyle to improve your health — whether that be weight, athletic performance, or if you just want to become more in-tune with your body — it’s important to consider what your body is made of first.

InsideTracker combines cutting-edge research in blood biometrics and genetic testing with game-like personal goal-setting (complete with achievement badges) to help you to figure out what your body is inclined to do and maximize your body’s functionality. We tested InsideTracker inside and out to uncover what it’s best for — and where it might fall short — so you can decide if InsideTracker is the next best move for your health journey.

InsideTracker is a fairly comprehensive service that provides you direct access to the science of your own body through blood and DNA testing, helping you tweak and personalize specific health decisions. While the data provided is extensive, costs can add up if you choose to repeatedly test as the company recommends.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers like you make more informed decisions to live healthier lives.

Our team has spent over 210 hours testing and researching InsideTracker and its close competitors in health and DNA testing to give you an unbiased exploration of your at-home testing options. Through a thorough and deliberate approach to every service and product we evaluate, we base our opinions on adherence to quality, the latest medical evidence, and current health standards. As the research evolves and the market changes, we’ll update this page accordingly.

Additionally, this review of InsideTracker, like all health-related content on this website, was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy.

To give you the best sense of InsideTracker’s strengths and weaknesses, our testing team focused on the scientific accuracy, cost, and opportunities for real-life application of InsideTracker’s products. Customer support and privacy were also strongly emphasized given the medically sensitive nature of genetic testing.

Scientific accuracy

If it wasn’t obvious from the homepage that InsideTracker’s team is made up of expert scientists, researchers, and physicians from Harvard, Yale, MIT, and Tufts, the level of scientific detail and accuracy throughout the process will tell you. Every small piece of scientific information is broken down and explained simply. Links to relevant scientific information appear everywhere. Plus, the InsideTracker team is always discovering new biological pathways from your blood and genetic data, adding to science’s understanding of the human body.

However, InsideTracker isn’t the only DNA testing company with experts in the field at the helm. One competitor, for instance, Nebula Genomics, has a similar scientific backbone — a professor of genetics at Harvard, George Church, founded the company.

Cost

InsideTracker is not cheap, even for a combined DNA and blood test. Both blood test plans alone are more expensive than comparable packages from other services, and that price only increases when adding DNA testing. Other services also offer testing for more biomarkers or genetic traits at lower prices. Because InsideTracker also adds long-term health goals and Action Plans, it recommends retesting every three months to see if your lifestyle changes are affecting your biomarkers.

Since they are not medically necessary tests, InsideTracker does not accept any insurance plans, so the cost all comes out of pocket. Especially if you choose to re-test at the company’s recommended frequency, the annual cost can easily crest thousands of dollars.

For a quick comparison, competitor MyToolBox Genomics offers a DNA + Epigenetics Test bundle for $299. While MyToolBox’s bundle looks at fewer wellness traits (16 compared to 29), it also checks your biological, eye, hearing, and memory age. This makes it comparable to purchasing the DNA Kit ($249) and InnerAge 2.0 ($249) from InsideTracker — a total of $498. Even if you do get a few more genetic traits and biomarkers tested with InsideTracker, the significant price difference doesn’t feel entirely worth it.

InsideTracker also recently removed the option to purchase its previously available Home and Essentials Kits, which were much more affordable. This makes the service less accessible to a wider audience and is something we found rather disappointing.

Real-life applications

Not only is InsideTracker a useful research tool, but the practical applications of knowing your blood biomarker statuses and genetic tendencies can help you treat yourself well in the long run as well. The Action Plan goal-setting tool provides specific recommendations for diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes based on your biomarker data. These come in simple dietary additions or substitutions, supplements, or lifestyle modifications like different types of exercise or mindfulness practice. InsideTracker even provides recipes using the ingredients you pick out. Of course, these suggestions are only as useful as you make them, but InsideTracker makes it easy to remember by highlighting up to five modifications of your choice and reminding you to do them daily or weekly via text, app notification, or email.

MyToolBox Genomics does something similar to InsideTracker’s Action Plan by offering you custom meal plans, training regimens, and vitamin recommendations.

Customer support

Customer support is easy to access, friendly, and fast. There are several options to choose from, but text-based instant messaging with a customer service representative is reliably the fastest way to get an answer to your questions, assuming your question isn’t answered by the FAQ, which you need to go through with an AI before you can talk to a human being. Both the representative’s name and an “active” label are visible as you talk, creating a greater sense of connection, but other people are only available to instant message during standard business hours (9 a.m. - 5 p.m. ET on weekdays). If you have an evening or weekend question, it’s best to email.

Privacy

While all of your information is covered by HIPAA and GINA (the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act), InsideTracker doesn’t always make its use of your information for research clear.2 When you sign up for an account, there is a pop-up to let you know that all information you provide — including bloodwork and DNA results — may be used in a scientific research study. InsideTracker might strip identifying information from your information for use in a research study, or share more specific data with organizations like the National Institute of Health, institutional review boards, or donors. However, you do need to provide your consent (a signature) for this, and it can be revoked. There is information about the consent you’ve given at the bottom of every page, in case you want to look back at it after signing up for your account.

On InsideTracker’s privacy policy page, the company lists the various ways in which it uses your data. This includes some more typically seen business aspects like improving services, processing transactions, and running promotions. However, the policy also notes that the company will disclose your information to law enforcement if necessary. InsideTracker will do its “best to provide you with notice in advance” unless the law prohibits it.

Helix, the genomics company partnered with InsideTracker that processes your DNA, has its own policies. When it comes to law enforcement, Helix does not “collect, analyze, or store information related to short tandem repeats (STRs) in users’ DNA.” STRs are the most common type of genetic data stored in law enforcement databases.15

Nebula Genomics, by comparison, assigns you permanent ownership of your data, and if it’s ever accessed (with your permission), the researchers' identities are recorded and unchangeable. Your genetic data is also encrypted and protected through multi-party access control, meaning that no organization on its own can access it.

Founded in 2009 by a team of Harvard, MIT, and Tufts scientists, InsideTracker is part research study and part biometric-measuring service. InsideTracker aims to help you find exactly the right diet and exercise choices for your body, getting rid of time-wasting diet trends and unhealthy fads. The tests measure biomarkers — or biological reference points for bodily processes — in both your blood and DNA to point you in the right direction.

InsideTracker’s plans

InsideTracker (like most of its competitors) offers different plans for you to customize what information you wish to learn about your body. You can choose from a Blood Results Upload, which measures up to 48 biomarkers in your blood, a DNA Kit (or DNA upload) that analyzes up to 261 gene variants, or the Ultimate Plan, which combines the offerings of the two other options — analyzing up to 48 blood biomarkers and 261 genetic markers. There’s also InnerAge 2.0 available to compare your results against others who have used InsideTracker.

A majority of InsideTracker’s insights are based on blood biometric information. And a personalized Action Plan is included with both of the blood biometric tests (Blood Results Upload and the Ultimate Plan).

Unlike lab results from a doctor’s office, which just reveal whether or not you are in a “normal range” for the biomarker, InsideTracker gives a sense of how close to “optimal” your results are. This optimal zone is calculated based on your age, hormonal sex, and activity level, among other demographics. A young female athlete, for example, will have an optimal ferritin (iron) level that is higher than a male athlete of the same age to account for iron loss during her menstrual period.3

When it comes to costs, InsideTracker’s kits are, frankly, expensive. You even have to purchase a plan to upload DNA results from other companies — something that comes free with a Nebula Genomics membership. The list below breaks down the costs of InsideTracker’s various offerings and bundles:

• Ultimate Plan: $699
• Ultimate Plan + DNA Kit + InnerAge 2.0 calculation: $853
• 2 Ultimates + 2 InnerAge 2.0: $1,388
• 4 Ultimates + 4 InnerAge 2.0: $2,681
• Blood Results Upload: $119
• InnerAge 2.0: $249
• DNA Kit: $249
• DNA Results Upload: $29
• Digital Gift Card: $29

Focus on actionable results and research

The fun of InsideTracker begins after your lab results arrive. Once you know how your body is performing, InsideTracker prompts you through its app, an email, or a text to set health-improving goals based on your identified deficiencies. These can include anything from “lose a few pounds” to “improve quality of sleep” to “prevent injuries.”

Improving your health is as easy as picking one to five small actions that move you toward your goal. InsideTracker pulls these from a database of over 7,500 different possible actions and cross-references them with your blood test results to see what might help you the most. To verify you’ve done those tasks after you’ve chosen them, InsideTracker asks that you check in every day and sets a re-test date for you three months after setting up your Action Plan.

The doctors, scientists, and researchers behind InsideTracker aren’t just doing this for your insight: InsideTracker is the vehicle for a series of research studies investigating biomarker interactions, goal-setting, and lifestyle changes. By joining InsideTracker, you are helping to contribute to this body of knowledge. Nebula Genomics has a similar mission, providing an easier path for researchers to “enable patient-centric genetic studies.”

InsideTracker’s scientists published a study in October 2018 in Scientific Reports with revelations about the first 1,032 users.4 Some things researchers found backed up things we already knew — vitamin D and cholesterol are related — while other things are entirely new.5 (For instance, magnesium may play a role in muscle repair because it seems related to creatine kinase.)4

While InsideTracker users’ average demographic information is shared in studies like this, no personal data or anything that could identify you is given to the public. Taking part in these studies requires no extra steps on your part, only a signature on a consent form if InsideTracker’s team decides to move forward with your information in a study.

Giving permission to Nebula Genomics for research is a similar process and, like InsideTracker, your consent can be revoked whenever you want.

InsideTracker customer reviews

InsideTracker is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, and the company has a C+ rating. There are no reviews, but there’s a single complaint from a customer about not receiving their InnerAge results. This complaint has no company reply and the customer followed up a month later stating they never heard back from InsideTracker.

On Trustpilot, InsideTracker has a 4.1 star average rating from 290 reviews. The company is much more active on Trustpilot, with 94% of negative reviews receiving replies in less than one week.

There are relatively few restrictions on who can use InsideTracker. For the most part, anyone over the age of 18 in the United States can use any of the plans to test their biomarkers and DNA to see where they might be able to improve their health.

The Ultimate Plan and InnerAge 2.0 require a blood draw, either through InsideTracker’s partnership with Quest Diagnostic laboratories or InsideTracker’s mobile blood draw service. If you cannot have blood drawn for whatever reason, you can still use the DNA test, which only requires a cheek swab.

Mobile blood draws are a convenient way to have your blood drawn at your own pace. For an additional $99, InsideTracker will send a registered nurse or phlebotomist to your home, office, or other location of your choice. This way, you can avoid the waiting room and get your results comfortably and conveniently.

Mobile blood draws are required in New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Arizona, and Canada. Otherwise, blood draws are fast and easy to do at your local Quest Diagnostics lab. With over 2,500 Quest Diagnostics locations across the country, you’ll likely be able to find one near you. An appointment isn't necessary, though it could save you a fair bit of time. Our team has experienced significant differences in wait times when going to Quest with an appointment (5-10 minutes) and without (30-60 minutes).

If you live outside of the United States but are interested in InsideTracker, there are select plans you can still purchase and use. Canadians can purchase and use the Ultimate Plan, InnerAge 2.0, and Blood Results Upload, though a mobile blood draw is required. All other international orders are restricted to using Blood Results Upload only.

InsideTracker’s specialty is its blood testing. While the company used to offer more plans, there are currently two options for blood testing — the Ultimate Plan and the Blood Results Upload, which test different numbers of biomarkers at different price points.

After processing your blood work results, InsideTracker analyzes them based on your optimal zones. Your information is then delivered to you in a clear, easy-to-read, and intuitive form through the website, highlighting test results that were less than ideal.

InsideTracker wants to help you change those less-than-optimal biomarkers through an Action Plan. Action Plans come free with every blood biomarker test and give you a list of potential goals to improve your life. InsideTracker pulls your biomarker information from your blood test results to suggest what small tweaks you need to make in order to achieve your health goals.

MyToolBox Genomics offers similar plans for improving your health (meal plans, training regimens, and vitamin recommendations). However, InsideTracker is one of the only health and DNA testing companies that follows up with you to make long-term improvements.

Ultimate Plan

InsideTracker’s Ultimate Plan is a blood test that measures “up to 48” different biomarkers covering a wide range of bodily functions. These include:

• Energy and metabolism: glucose, HbA1C, insulin, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides, ApoB
• Strength and endurance: creatine kinase, testosterone, free testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEAS), cortisol, sex-hormone-binding globulin, albumin
• Bone and muscle: calcium, vitamin D
• Brain and body: magnesium, red blood cell magnesium, folate, vitamin B12
• Oxygen and performance: hemoglobin, ferritin, total iron-binding capacity, iron, transferrin saturation
• Inflammation: white blood cell count, high-sensitivity c-reactive protein (hsCRP)
• Minerals: potassium, sodium
• Liver functioning: alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT)
• Hormone balance: estradiol, progesterone, TSH
• Complete blood count: red blood cell count, hematocrit, mean cell volume, mean cell hemoglobin, mean cell hemoglobin concentration, red cell distribution width, platelets, mean platelet volume, monocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes, eosinophils, basophils

Each of these biomarkers is a strong indicator of overall health and bodily functioning, both established and experimental. If you’re looking to explore some interesting nutritional relationships and cut to the core of your biological functioning, the Ultimate package may be best for you.

One order of an Ultimate Plan costs $699, and you can add on a DNA test, InnerAge 2.0, previous blood or DNA results upload, or a mobile blood draw for additional fees. Bundles that include the Ultimate Plan are as follows:

• Ultimate Plan + DNA Kit + InnerAge 2.0 calculation: $853
• 2 Ultimates + 2 InnerAge 2.0: $1,388
• 4 Ultimates + 4 InnerAge 2.0: $2,681

The Ultimate Plan and its bundles are quite pricey in comparison to more popular “mainstream” competitors, like 23andMe’s Health + Ancestry Service, which costs $299 — a difference of $400. Of course, the right testing kit for you depends on your specific goals, interests, and needs, so the more expensive Ultimate Plan might be just what you’re looking for.

As an additional note, InsideTracker recommends that Ultimate Plan testing be repeated every three months to monitor your goals, which could lead to a cost of nearly $3,000 per year (or $2,681 with the 4-pack bundle).

Blood Results Upload

If you’ve had blood testing done recently, you can upload your results to InsideTracker’s site for fast analysis of your biomarkers. This bypasses the blood draw step of the Ultimate Plan but still gives you the benefits of optimization based on InsideTracker’s health algorithm, along with a personalized Action Plan. InsideTracker will look at any of the 48 biomarkers tested in the Ultimate Plan, but won’t analyze anything that isn’t already pre-programmed within its system. If you want to have your estrogen and progesterone levels optimized, for example, you wouldn’t be able to do it with the Blood Results Upload plan.

This plan costs $119 and does not include a blood draw. You can add a DNA Kit or InnerAge 2.0 to this for additional insights, but the comparisons will be based solely on the results you have uploaded. Additionally, none of InsideTracker’s competitors appear to offer a similar service at this time.

InnerAge 2.0

InnerAge is a comparative program run through InsideTracker that looks at other users’ data and compares your blood biomarkers to theirs. It will then assign you a new biological age based on the age demographic your biomarkers best resemble. This, it says, is your InnerAge. There was a new version of InnerAge, 2.0, released in mid-2021 that doubled the number of biomarkers analyzed to determine your InnerAge. There are now 14 biomarkers for women:

• Albumin
• Basophils (as a percent of total white blood cell count)
• DHEAS
• Eosinophils (as a percent of total white blood cell count)
• GGT
• Glucose and HbA1C
• LDL and triglycerides
• Lymphocytes
• Monocytes (as a percent of total white blood cell count)
• Red blood cell size
• Total iron-binding capacity

There are 18 biomarkers used to determine InnerAge for men:

• Albumin
• Basophils (as a percent of total white blood cell count)
• Calcium
• Hematocrit
• hsCRP
• LDL and triglycerides
• Lymphocytes
• MCH (mean corpuscular hemoglobin, the average amount of hemoglobin in a red blood cell)
• MCHC (mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, the amount of hemoglobin per red blood cell)
• Neutrophils (as a percent of total white blood cell count)
• Sex-hormone binding globulin
• Testosterone and free testosterone

Your InnerAge does not add to your Action Plan but gives you a point of comparison for your health. It’s an interesting insight, but it’s important to note that, as of the most recently published information, 85% of the user base is white.4 They also tend to be moderately active with normal BMIs and an average age of 40 for women and 43 for men. If this isn’t you, your InnerAge isn’t going to be accurate. While we don’t know how InsideTracker’s consumer population has changed since late 2018, take your InnerAge with a hefty grain of salt. You may be more — or less — healthy than people of your race, gender, age, and activity level.

InnerAge 2.0 is another plan that is retestable as your biomarkers shift. InsideTracker recommends retesting every three months, like the Ultimate Plan. While you can use InnerAge on its own, it’s more informative to use alongside an Ultimate Plan. To encourage this, each InnerAge purchase costs $179 on its own but can be bought at a discounted $99 when combined with an Ultimate Plan.

While MyToolBox Genomics’ Epigenetics offerings test your biological, eye, hearing, and memory ages, it doesn’t compare them to other users like InsideTracker.

Unlike InsideTracker’s other products, the DNA Kit uses an at-home cheek swab instead of a blood draw (and DNA Results Upload only requires your previous DNA results from 23andMe or AncestryDNA). It also only needs to be completed once, not multiple times a year like InsideTracker recommends for its blood-based tests.

Genetic insights

InsideTracker has partnered with Helix, a personal genomics company, to analyze up to 261 different genes associated with the biomarkers you have had blood testing for. Associated insights are expansive and pertain to:

• Higher BMI, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides
• Potential to lose weight on a low-fat diet or high-saturated-fat diet
• Caffeine metabolism6
• Potential to need more sleep
• Lower magnesium, vitamin D, calcium
• Lower hemoglobin
• Higher diastolic and systolic blood pressure
• Higher vitamin B12
• Higher white blood cell count, C-reactive protein, and GGT
• Potential to excel at endurance activities or power activities
• Higher testosterone and free testosterone levels
• Gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance, and peanut allergies

You may not get complete answers about each of these insights. DNA is delicate, so it is rarely possible to read your full genome from a cheek swab, even when performed perfectly.

All of the information about your genetic analysis is packaged into a PDF for your ease of reference. Each trait gets its own page (with some repeated), explaining what genes are associated with the trait, where your risk falls based on what genes you have, and how that aligns with your blood biomarker results. The last few pages of the packet share raw DNA data (specific alleles you have and the alleles associated with higher or lower risks).

DNA Kit

You won’t need to leave the house for your DNA test. InsideTracker will mail a small package with sample materials and a prepaid envelope. To collect a sample, swab the inside of your cheek and swirl the end into the test tube full of solution. The genetic material will stay in the solution, which you will ship back to InsideTracker, who will then ship it to Helix. You can expect results back in 4-6 weeks.

Your DNA results do not affect your Action Plan (if you have one). Rather, your results provide insight into your natural predispositions and whether you may have a harder (or easier) time getting some of your biomarkers into their optimal zones. This may help to prepare you psychologically, or it may just satisfy your curiosity. There is no information shared about personal heritage or ancestry, nor any serious health information (such as whether or not you carry genes for major illnesses or cancers). Nebula Genomics is a potentially ideal alternative if you’re seeking that information.

The DNA Kit is available for purchase in all 50 states across the U.S. and Washington, DC. The kit costs $249 as a solo package, but you might find it most effective when purchased and used alongside a blood biomarker plan. This is something you’ll only have to purchase once, however, as your DNA will not change over time in response to lifestyle changes. If you have previously used 23andMe or AncestryDNA, you can upload your raw genetic data for analysis through InsideTracker. For a $29 fee, Helix will analyze your DNA exactly like it would if you had purchased the kit through InsideTracker.

As an alternative, for a total of $219, you can get the Standard kit and a one-year membership from Nebula Genomics. This decodes the “most important” parts of your DNA and also gives you some insight into your family history with an ancestry report.

DNA Results Upload

As mentioned above, if you have previously had your DNA tested, you can upload your genetic information for a fast analysis of InsideTracker’s 261 tagged alleles. A previous DNA results upload adds $29 to the total cost of your plan, which is a bargain compared to the other plans. However, InsideTracker will only accept your genetic information if you had it tested by 23andMe or AncestryDNA. Nebula Genomics also only accepts DNA uploads from 23andMe and AncestryDNA, but it allows you to upload for free, provides you with a complementary DNA report, and gives you free additional insights.

Like the full InsideTracker DNA Kit, an Action Plan is not included in your DNA Results Upload. However, if you also have blood biomarkers analyzed through the Ultimate Plan or Blood Results Upload, your DNA will be compared against your blood results.

As you likely know, the overall experience of a service doesn’t only include the use of the product itself. In this section, we delve further into the InsideTracker customer experience — from ordering and making your account to testing procedures, reading your results, and more.

Ordering tests

Signing up for InsideTracker is simple: first, you need to pick out and purchase a plan. You won’t have the option to create your account until after you’ve submitted a blood or DNA sample. This likely cuts down on the number of participants the researchers will have to sift through to find full sets of data for research purposes.

After deciding on the plan (or plans) you want, you’ll be prompted to create a preliminary account with your full legal name and email address. Then you can go ahead and purchase your plan. There will be a page to review your decisions and add any additional plans you’re interested in, such as a DNA Kit or InnerAge 2.0. Payment is accepted through credit or debit card, PayPal, and Google Pay. Note that you’ll have to review your payment information twice before payment is accepted. InsideTracker isn’t a medical service, so insurance isn’t accepted. However, the products are HSA/FSA eligible under some insurance plans, but you’ll need to check with your insurance first.

Personalizing your account

Once you’ve paid for your tests, you can proceed to create a full account. InsideTracker asks you to set it up first with standard demographic information:

• Gender (closest hormonal match)
• Date of birth
• Ethnicity
• Height
• Weight
• Address
• Phone number

You’ll also be prompted to create a password for your account. InsideTracker uses this basic information to set parameters like BMI for your biomarker test. A small window pops up next, letting you know about InsideTracker’s research studies. Since InsideTracker is as much a research organization as it is a wellness guide, you’ll have to decline or opt out of the study if you don’t feel comfortable sharing your information.

As with all good research studies, InsideTracker won’t share any personal information with the general public. If any of your information is used in a research study, you will receive an additional consent form later. All of your identifying information will be stripped from the published data (this is similar to how Nebula Genomics handles your information if used in a study).

As soon as your account has the basics and you’ve come to a decision about participating in the research study, there’s an additional series of questions that you can answer if you want to further personalize your account. They ask about your preferences and current:

• Diet (frequency of food groups and intolerances)
• Supplements (any vitamins you take)
• Exercise (how often and what type)
• Lifestyle (drinking, hours of sleep, and caffeine consumption)

Answering these questions will help InsideTracker give you the most specific recommendations once your results arrive. These questions took our testers about ten minutes to answer in full.

Blood draw information

Purchasing a blood biomarker test seems like all you need to do before having your blood drawn. However, you’ll need to pause before getting in your car to get lab work done: ordering a test means that InsideTracker will need to create a lab order and slip for you to print off and take in physically to your local Quest Diagnostics lab. On average, this lab order takes about 48 hours to create; our testers found theirs in their email inbox the following day.

There are some behavioral changes you’ll need to keep in mind before your blood draw. Prior to drawing blood, you will need to avoid:

• Exercise within the past 48 hours
• Alcoholic beverages within the past 24 hours
• Food within the past 12 hours

Those activities affect your blood biomarker results. If you don’t heed these instructions, you won’t receive accurate information. Whenever you decide to get tested, we recommend going first thing in the morning for the best results that require the least disruption to your dietary routines.

Once you have your lab order printed, you can take it to any Quest Diagnostics location. You can set an appointment (our testers were able to get an appointment for the following day) or walk into any Quest Diagnostics lab. The blood draw is straightforward; it took all of our testers less than an hour to get in and out, even with a significant wait in the office — the Ultimate Plan needs about six vials of blood to test all 48 biomarkers. Since this is a fasting test, consider bringing something sugary, like juice or candy, for after your blood draw.

If you purchased a mobile blood draw, you’ll need to set an appointment in your account in the same “orders” section. It’s even easier from that point: a registered nurse or phlebotomist will come to the address you’ve specified at the time you set and draw the blood for you.

All blood results will show up in 5-7 business days. Our team found that timeline to be accurate, with results coming in after five or six days. You’ll receive an email notification when your results are ready, typically first thing in the morning. Signing into your account on the InsideTracker site will automatically take you to the results page when you’re ready.

Getting blood results

InsideTracker gets all results back quickly. Once they’re ready to read, you’ll receive an email alert from the service directing you to your account. Here, you’ll get a full web page of information on your blood biomarkers, grouped into primary categories (such as “Inflammation”) with easily searchable tags.

When looking at your blood biomarker results, InsideTracker automatically sorts your results so that any biomarkers out of an optimal range are placed first. Specifically, any clinically problematic biomarkers (too high or too low) are at the top of the webpage, followed by biomarkers outside of InsideTracker’s optimal zones. These details are handily color-coded:

• At-risk (problematic) biomarkers are colored red.
• Biomarkers that need improvement are yellow.
• Optimized biomarkers are green.

While InsideTracker is not a medical site, be sure to keep an eye out for at-risk biomarkers; you may need to print off your information from InsideTracker to share with your primary medical provider.

Within each biomarker’s analysis, there is an almost overwhelming amount of information to look through. First, the overall category’s score is shown based on InsideTracker’s average analysis of all of the biomarkers within the category. This is positioned on the left-hand side of the screen; the right-hand side holds potential ways to remedy or support the biomarkers. These suggestions include healthy foods, supplements, and exercise recommendations. If the suggestions are relevant to more than one category, InsideTracker lists all of the ways they may help.

For example, one of our testers had low vitamin D (which is extremely common in Americans).7

InsideTracker recommended:

• Spending at least 20 minutes in direct sunshine each day (to help low vitamin D)
• Taking a 5,000IU vitamin D3 supplement daily (to help low vitamin D, above-optimal LDL, above-optimal total cholesterol, above-optimal triglycerides, and below-optimal HDL)
• Taking a 325 mg magnesium citrate supplement daily (to help below-optimal magnesium, high C-reactive protein, and low vitamin D)

These linked recommendations are based on scientific literature and InsideTracker’s research. Luckily, each recommendation has a “reference” link to point you to exactly how it made that recommendation. For example, 5,000IU of vitamin D3 is recommended to help vitamin D levels in those with a clinical deficiency because of a study conducted in 2013.8 (4,000IU is the tolerable upper intake level for healthy adults that don’t have a deficiency).16 A separate “science” tab underneath your recommendations explains what the biomarker is, why it’s important, and how it relates to other important biomarkers.

InsideTracker has over 7,500 recommendations in its database, ready to help you optimize your body. However, reading through all 7,500 would be a daunting task, let alone trying to sort through which ones will help you in the most areas. Once you’ve read over your biomarker results to see what is and isn’t optimized in your body, InsideTracker lights your path to self-improvement. Heading back to your dashboard will prompt you to create an Action Plan.

Action Plans are available for every package that involves a blood test, whether you took it with InsideTracker or have uploaded prior results. From there, you can pick a major goal to improve your well-being. InsideTracker will filter its suggestions to improve non-optimal biomarkers associated with your goal so that you can take steps easily.

Overall, the bloodwork results page is stuffed with important information but also easy to navigate and understand, thanks to great graphic design and layout choices. It goes above and beyond to keep you informed not only on your own body but the science behind it as well.

Action Plans

Action Plans put theory into action by helping you to set easily achievable goals personalized for your body.

Out of all your potential choices, InsideTracker suggests you choose between 1-5 steps to start. These steps vary from eating more nuts and taking supplements to sitting outside for 20 minutes a day. One of our testers wanted to improve their cognition and was told to lower their average blood sugar by working on mindfulness and taking alpha-lipoic acid supplements.9 10 These steps all have links to previous scientific studies that support the recommendations.

Once you've set your steps, InsideTracker begins sending notifications for you to check-in. Action Plans have an achievements page where you can unlock badges for doing things like completing tests every three months, checking in daily, and optimizing various biomarkers.

InsideTracker also has a wide recipe database with fun ways to integrate all of the suggested healthy ingredients put together by registered dieticians. If you’re having a hard time coming up with healthy meals, the Food Basket page helps you to sort through the recipe database by ingredients you like or those InsideTracker has recommended you eat.

When it comes to making lifestyle changes that stick, the American Psychological Association suggests having a support system that you can lean on and that can hold you accountable for acting on your plans, as well as making small steps toward improvement.11 While not exactly the same, InsideTracker’s Action Plan tries to be both of those things for you. By breaking down your goal into 1-5 steps to improve the associated biomarkers, InsideTracker provides the small steps recommended for your success. The company aims to describe how various goals and underlying health concerns interrelate, as well, helping you identify the action items that could help you more broadly.

And when it comes to accountability, InsideTracker will send you daily or weekly notifications through its app, with a text, or via email.

Each recommendation has scientific studies linked that explain why InsideTracker recommended that particular step to achieve your goal. Not all of the lifestyle recommendations are created equally, however. There are a handful of them where stretching your imagination is required to make the science fit your goal.

For example, one of InsideTracker’s suggestions for lowering your overall blood glucose is to use mindfulness. The suggestion includes a link to a 2015 study, which summarizes that when obese people practiced mindfulness behaviors regularly, they were less likely to snack throughout the day and therefore lowered their average blood sugar.12 While it is a thorough study, you may not be obese or struggling with mindless eating. In that case, it’s unclear whether or not mindfulness would help you to lower your blood glucose. Like with the rest of InsideTracker, not every point is going to help every person, so be sure to do your own research as you personalize your health journey.

DNA testing

You won’t have to leave your home to get your DNA tested. Instead, InsideTracker ships you a small box with all of the necessary materials. For our testers, the package arrived five or six days after placing the order. InsideTracker does have tracking information on its site for your package so you can know when to anticipate its arrival.

Upon receiving your package, you’ll need to register your DNA Kit with your account before doing anything else. It helps to have InsideTracker open and available while you take your DNA sample, as the site walks you through step-by-step instructions. Inside each brochure-sized box, you will find:

• A prepaid return envelope
• A biohazard bag
• A test tube with solution
• A sterilized pre-packaged swab

Your kit registration number is accompanied by a barcode on the small test tube. InsideTracker’s website asks for the last four digits. This is an important step, as registering the kit with your account means your information will stay tied to you.

Make sure that you haven’t eaten, smoked, or drunk anything within 30 minutes of testing, as DNA from anything ingested can linger in your mouth, and knowing the DNA of the cheese in your sandwich isn’t as useful as knowing your own genetic makeup.

Collecting DNA requires a cheek swab. This method of testing is like a nasal swab test, such as a COVID-19 or flu swab, but on the inside of one of your cheeks instead of up your nose. You’ll need to unwrap the swab halfway out of the package, roll the fuzzy end around the inside of your cheek as instructed to collect cells, swirl the swab into the solution in the test tube, then pull the swab out and discard it.

Your genetic material is now floating in the solution, ready to be analyzed. Put the tube in the biohazard bag, seal it, place the biohazard bag in the prepaid envelope, and drop it in the mailbox.

No pain or discomfort should come from a cheek swab, but aggressive swabbing may cause some mild dryness or discomfort that should go away quickly.

After you put your DNA in the mail, there’s a considerable waiting period before you get results. InsideTracker quotes that DNA testing will take 4-6 weeks to get information back to you after it receives and processes your DNA. However, our testers found that DNA results came back ten days after InsideTracker notified them of receipt. This is considerably faster than quoted, and while we can’t promise that it’ll be that fast every time, the speed our testers experienced was impressive. It didn’t come at any sacrifice to quality, either: analysis showed every allele tested came back whole.

Getting DNA results

InsideTracker gets all results back quickly. Once they’re ready to read, you’ll receive an email alert from the service directing you to your account. Here, you’ll get a link to download a PDF about your genetic markers.

The PDF begins with several pages of clearly laid-out information about the science of genetics, what it means, and how both InsideTracker and partner company Helix analyze your DNA. In this case, Helix isolates and sequences your DNA, and InsideTracker compares that to genetic markers and your blood work (if you’ve had it done) to offer ways to work with — or against — your body’s natural inclinations.

Each section of the packet begins with a page explaining the science behind the general category, such as weight, and whether or not it is influenced heavily by genetics. The packet also includes:

• The factors considered when making recommendations (for weight, this is your BMI, fasting glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides)
• The types of solutions offered (such as type of diet)

Factors each get their own minimalist page with color-coded information. You can see your genetic risk for each factor at the bottom of the page, below some general and approachable information about the factor itself, including how many genetic markers were analyzed. This is color-coded in shades of blue:

• Pale blue indicates a reduced risk
• Medium blue indicates an average risk
• Navy blue indicates a high risk

If the factor is comparable to blood analysis, such as triglycerides, a similar-shaped box will sit to the right of your genetic risk. Your actual blood analysis reflects exactly the same information as your blood biomarker page, including the same style of red, yellow, and green color coding. In some cases, the page will include the same bar-style chart showing you where your blood biomarker results are. If there is more than one gene that contributes to your genetic risk, a similar bar chart will show you exactly how low (or high) your genetic risk is.

Every result has a section explaining what your results mean. You may learn that you need more caffeine than the average person or that you have a genetic predisposition toward lactose intolerance. These are not medical recommendations; if you have questions or concerns, it’s a good idea to bring your results to your primary medical professional.

At the end of the packet, there are two indexes defining all of the major scientific terms used throughout. Finally, the last five pages are full of tables identifying your raw genetic data. These three-column tables identify the rSID number (the scientific name for the gene), your genotype, and the abnormal alleles for that gene. This way, you can compare your actual genes to the current literature and future studies. While the science behind recommendations isn’t quite as strong in the DNA packet, this multiple genetic marker trait index lets you investigate what you want at your own pace.

There is no Action Plan associated with the DNA test. Rather, the DNA test helps you understand your blood biomarker results and prioritize changes. If you’re looking for something like an Action Plan based on your DNA, DNAFit could be an alternative for you. It provides personalized dietary and exercise recommendations (and more, depending on the kit) based on your DNA — which also means you only need to test once, not every three months.

Through DNA testing, you might become more aware of things that make lifestyle changes even more difficult, such as a genetically predisposed risk of having higher-than-optimal levels of certain biomarkers. On the flip side, it may also set you at ease if all looks well, but remember that this is not a medical test and cannot diagnose (or exclude a diagnosis of) anything.

By signing up on InsideTracker’s website, you're providing your informed consent to participate in the organization’s long-term research studies. This means that your information, while anonymized, may be used in research studies, shared with outside researchers and investors, and potentially published in scientific journals. For example, the study published in September 2021 includes the information of over 900 users, though none are named or have identifying information attached.

After you make an account with InsideTracker, you’re notified of potential research use of your information and given the option to decline. If you later change your mind and aren’t comfortable with your information being used this way, you can email customer support to opt-out. Should InsideTracker’s scientific team publish research with your information, you’ll be sent another separate consent form to sign.

InsideTracker does not have access to all of your genetic information either. InsideTracker’s parent company uses Helix, a population genomics company based in California, to analyze your DNA. Helix finds the genetic information for the particular genes InsideTracker looks at and sends them only that information.

Helix has strong privacy measures in place, including strong SSL and TLS ciphers and data encryption to keep your genetic information safe. Helix also does not collect or store short tandem repeats (STRs) from your DNA. STRs are the most common type of genetic data used by law enforcement for things like forensics.15

All of your personal medical information within the site is protected by both HIPAA and GINA. There are no medical providers you can directly interact with through InsideTracker, as its insights and suggestions aren’t meant to be taken as medical advice.

InsideTracker is far from the only at-home DNA and health testing service on the market. While there are dozens of different companies out there, we’ve compiled information on a few popular services and some of our top alternatives.

Nebula Genomics

Founded by a Harvard genetics professor, George Church, Nebula Genomics aims to “usher in the era of personal genomics by providing access to affordable and secure Whole Genome Sequencing.” Personal genomics helps individuals learn more about their biology and risk factors, along with information on potentially beneficial health plans and treatments tailored to their DNA.13 The concept of tailored health plans is very similar to InsideTracker’s Action Plans, but InsideTracker bases its information on biomarkers instead of DNA.

There are three whole-genome sequencing kits available from Nebula (Standard kit costs change based on the membership option you purchase — quarterly, yearly, or lifetime):

• Standard ($229 - $299): Basic ancestry report, detects common genetic predispositions, “medium” accuracy of DNA sequencing. 04x DNA sequencing depth, 2GB of data
• Deep ($374): Deep ancestry report, detects all genetic predispositions, detects rare genetic mutations, “high” accuracy. 30x DNA sequencing depth, 100GB of data
• Ultra Deep ($874): “Ultra deep” ancestry report, detects all genetic predispositions, detects rare genetic mutations, “ultra high” accuracy. 100x DNA sequencing depth, 300GB of data

Nebula Genomics states that there are nine broad categories of information you can learn from its whole genome sequencing:

1. Learn about your ancestry and find new relatives
2. Decode all of your genes and identify any mutations
3. Get full access to your genomic big data
4. Find out the right diet and supplementation for you
5. Determine the exercise plan you need to lose weight
6. Learn about how your genetics affect your mind, personality, and behavior
7. Use genetic information to extend your life
8. Discover more about your oral microbiome
9. Learn how new and upcoming genomic research applies to your results

MyToolBox Genomics

MyToolBox Genomics from Dr. Erika Gray seeks to help customers understand their genes and epigenetics (or “expressions of your DNA”). The company offers two different tests and one bundle. Perhaps obviously, these tests are for DNA and Epigenetics and include the following:

• DNA Test ($199): Test for 16 health traits, including immunity, diet & weight loss, anti-aging, mental health & memory, sleep, vitamin deficiencies, stress, skin health, supplement response, injury risk, muscle health, eye health, gut health, heart health, exercise response, and health overview. You also receive a virus risk score, custom meal plan, training regimen, and vitamin recommendations.
• Epigenetics Test ($273): Checks your biological age, eye age, hearing age, memory age, and inflammation score. You can also track DNA expression changes over time and see how your local air quality impacts your health.
• DNA + Epigenetics Test ($299): Includes everything from both tests.

Getting the DNA + Epigenetics Test from MyToolBox is similar to purchasing the DNA Kit and InnerAge 2.0 from InsideTracker. MyToolBox Genomics, however, doesn’t compare its “age” data against a pool of others like InsideTracker.

23andMe Health

As one of the best-known DNA testing services, 23andMe analyzes your DNA for a wide variety of traits. This includes:

• Ancestry
• Physical traits (such as flat feet and eye color)
• Health predispositions (such as gestational diabetes and eczema)
• Carrier status (if you carry — but don’t display traits for — genetic illnesses such as sickle cell anemia)
• Wellness (such as caffeine sensitivity)
• Pharmacogenetics (how you metabolize drugs)

There are two different versions of 23andMe, one that covers ancestry information only and one that also covers all of your health information (23andMe Health). Ordering 23andMe’s Health + Ancestry Service costs $299 in total. Like InsideTracker, 23andMe health tests are potentially FSA/HSA eligible, depending on your plan.

While 23andMe covers more ground genetically than InsideTracker, there are no wellness plans or tracking services available through 23andMe. What you do with your information is up to you here; if you are curious about your DNA without wanting to implement any lifestyle changes, this may be a good alternative.

That said, 23andMe may point out sensitive information, such as if you have the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes (which are very closely tied to breast and ovarian cancer).14 If this is the case, you may wish to consider contacting a genetic counselor or your medical provider for more insight. InsideTracker does not diagnose or analyze any sensitive information of that nature.

AncestryDNA

AncestryDNA is another common name in the genetic testing space. It’s one of the two testing companies, alongside 23andMe, from which InsideTracker will accept genetic information. If you have previously had an AncestryDNA test done, you can upload your results into InsideTracker’s dashboard, and the company will analyze it for its genetic markers (for a $99 fee).

While AncestryDNA primarily focuses on heritage and ancestry information, there’s an option to look at health markers like InsideTracker. AncestryDNA Traits is a $20 add-on to AncestryDNA’s $99 genetic testing kit ($119 total). This analyzes your genetic information for 40+ separate traits, including:

• Your sensitivity to various nutrients (like vitamin D)
• Sensory information (like sun sneezing)
• Fitness (like weight predispositions)
• Appearance (like eye color and cleft chins)

Many of these traits are also covered under InsideTracker’s DNA Kit (fitness predispositions, nutrient information, and a few sensory traits such as caffeine sensitivity and lactose intolerance). Whereas InsideTracker will help you to design a healthier lifestyle moving forward, AncestryDNA Traits looks back at the past to map regional and global patterns of inheritance to find where exactly you got your thick facial hair and attached earlobes. AncestryDNA does not do any blood testing; it strictly works with genetics, so you will not be able to get any short-term biomarker information from this service.

DNAFit

DNAFit offers genetic testing to help you identify and refine an ideal diet, fitness routine, and lifestyle based on your genetic predispositions. The company promises to find optimal diet and macronutrient balances for you, personalizing your food needs at similar price points to InsideTracker. DNAFit overlaps with InsideTracker’s DNA testing abilities and will also let you upload information from previous AncestryDNA or 23andMe tests. The team behind DNAFit uses your information for publishable research studies, just like InsideTracker, but has even stronger security measures.

Like InsideTracker’s DNA Kit, it’s recommended you only take a DNAFit test once, as your genetic information won’t change over time like blood biomarkers. You’ll get your results back in 10-15 days, as opposed to the 4-6 weeks that InsideTracker promises (though we found InsideTracker’s actual time to be closer to DNAFit’s). That said, there is little opportunity for follow-up testing or monitoring lifestyle changes as InsideTracker allows. DNAFit does not offer any blood tests, only DNA analysis, so it may not be as useful for short-term lifestyle changes.

DNAFit offers three different test options, including:

• Diet Fit ($189): Diet insights, nutrient insights, and personalized meal plan
• Health Fit ($249): Diet, nutrient, fitness, stress, and sleep insights, along with meal and training plans
• Circle Premium ($629): Over 500 DNA reports from 20 categories, including topics like cancer risk, family planning, drug responses, diet, nutrition, ancestry, traits, and more

EverlyWell

If immediate concerns are a higher priority than long-term bodily optimization, EverlyWell can send you an at-home testing kit. All you’ll need to do is a finger prick test — no trips to the lab necessary — to check your blood glucose, food sensitivities, fertility, and more. Everlywell bundles each test into individual packages ranging in price from $49 to $299. Like InsideTracker and 23andMe, EverlyWell kits may be HSA/FSA eligible.

EverlyWell’s blood testing may require purchasing more packages if you want a more comprehensive experience akin to InsideTracker’s, but the individual-test design lets you completely customize your experience. EverlyWell does not test DNA, nor does it provide a comprehensive follow-up plan. It can, however, provide you with prescriptions for certain test results, like some positive STD tests. Otherwise, it recommends you follow up with your primary care provider, rendering your results in a physician-standard format for you to print off.

In-person care

If you have concerns about any out-of-the-ordinary symptoms or family histories of genetic abnormalities, it’s always a good idea to bring your primary care doctor into the conversation. They will be able to order the same blood tests as InsideTracker, as well as more specific and diagnostic blood tests. If you need treatment for things like high cholesterol, your primary care provider can prescribe you the appropriate medication. InsideTracker will neither diagnose nor treat any conditions, even if your blood biomarkers point toward an obvious concern.

If any of your genetic information throws you for a loop, or if you have any concerns, you can also see a genetic counselor, to whom your primary care provider can refer you. Many of them specialize in genetic risks for cancer and congenital disabilities, and they will be able to test for a wider range of traits more precisely than any non-medical service like InsideTracker. However, they may not be able to get you the same broad information that services like InsideTracker can, including genetic markers for things like sleep quality or lactose intolerance if you are not displaying troublesome symptoms.