What consumers are paying for

Membership prices vary widely, but most companies have settled into an accessible, if not always apples-to-apples, range. Most will provide you with 100+ lab tests but buyer-beware, each differ is what those lab tests are versus what they will up-sell you on.

Function Health – charges $499 in the first year for access to 100+ clinician-ordered labs, dropping in subsequent renewals.

Levels – on the other hand, charges $199 a year for its app which includes an AI marco counter but leaves the cost (an additional $89) of the CGM sensor to the user.

Superpower – is like the others and similarly charges $199 a year but upsells you on other biomarkers for an additional $189 at check-out.

ZOE – runs $395 for its at-home diagnostic kit, which combines glucose tracking with microbiome analysis, while Viome’s gut tests start at $149.

For anyone exhausted by memberships, Labcorp OnDemand sells comprehensive single panels for $169, showing just how easy it has become to purchase bloodwork the way one might order groceries.

Moving up the stack

The clearest signal that this is more than a short-term trend came when Function Health acquired Ezra in May 2025, the startup known for full-body MRI scans. By combining labs, imaging, and a longitudinal health portal, Function is positioning itself as a premier “prevention platform”—a full-stack alternative to the traditional annual checkup. This move reflects where the industry is heading: away from single-modality insights and toward bundled prevention packages that feel holistic and high-touch.

Who’s building what

At a glance, the space breaks into a few archetypes. There are the bloodwork-first providers like Function and InsideTracker, both of which emphasize ongoing biomarker tracking.

Then there are the CGM-first models like Levels, Nutrisense, and Veri, which bundle real-time glucose monitoring with coaching, food, or app insights.

ZOE and Viome lean hard into microbiome science, turning gut health into nutrition protocols.

Behind the scenes, giants like Labcorp and Quest quietly provide the infrastructure that makes all of these services compliant and scalable, handling the physician orders, lab draws, and result delivery.

Regulation and the road ahead

Like so much, the regulatory weather matters a lot here. The FDA’s clearance of Dexcom Stelo marked a watershed moment, pushing CGMs into true consumer channels. At the same time, the agency finalized its new rules around laboratory-developed tests, phasing out a decades-long “enforcement discretion” era and bringing more biomarker panels under stricter oversight. Privacy is another flashpoint. Recent FTC actions against digital health companies that misused sensitive data have sent a strong signal that “consumer wellness” apps will be held to near-clinical privacy standards.

The Market Dynamics

This isn’t a fringe hobby anymore. Analysts estimate the at-home medical testing market will reach roughly $45–46B by 2030, growing in the double digits annually. Continuous glucose monitoring already commands a multibillion-dollar footprint in the medical world, and with OTC access, new tributaries—sports performance, weight management, longevity—are flowing in fast.

The business models reflect this growth. Most startups anchor themselves on a recurring membership, then layer on pass-through costs for devices or panels. Some even charge more to add-on biomarkers they think you may be interested in. It’s blood measuring à la carte. That keeps margins healthy while allowing heavy users to self-select into higher spend. Distribution, meanwhile, runs heavily on influencer and podcast channels—because this is a product that requires translation, trust, and a steady stream of education.

Risks and Opportunities

The biggest risk is overselling. If these services feel like expensive dashboards without clear links to outcomes, churn could be unforgiving. Regulation may also tighten, especially for companies relying on exotic marker combinations that fall outside FDA approval. And privacy—one errant pixel could erode consumer trust overnight.

Still, the opportunity is enormous. The next 12 months will likely bring consumer-facing CGMs on retail shelves, more “full-stack prevention” bundles combining labs with imaging, and new inroads through employer benefits, particularly as GLP-1 medications drive demand for metabolic monitoring. Europe, too, remains a bellwether, often debuting athlete-focused biosensors years before the U.S. market.

What started as a handful of startups selling kits has turned into a new layer of consumer health infrastructure—one that might reshape how people think about prevention, longevity, and the very idea of an annual checkup.

Why Buy What You Could Get at the Doctor?

The obvious pushback on all of this is simple: why should you pay $300, $500, even $1,000 for biomarker testing when you could ask your doctor for bloodwork at your annual exam?

The answer comes down to convenience, frequency, breadth, and interpretation.

Most annual physicals cover a basic metabolic panel (glucose, kidney, liver function), cholesterol, and maybe vitamin D, if you ask.

But the panels Function, InsideTracker, or ZOE offer can span 50 to 100+ markers — ApoB, hs-CRP, ferritin, omega-3 index, sex hormones, thyroid, and more. Many of these aren’t included in routine care unless there’s a medical reason or you’ve advocated hard for them.

Then there’s cadence. The consumer-facing platforms pitch themselves not as one-and-done snapshots, but as continuous monitoring. Members can repeat tests every 3–6 months, tracking how diet, exercise, or medication changes affect their data. That’s a different promise than a once-a-year panel.

Interpretation is another key differentiator. Traditional lab reports are designed for clinicians, not consumers. They flag results outside “normal ranges” but often stop there. You might even get a 50minute call from your doctor. But that’s about it.

Companies like InsideTracker and ZOE take those same results and overlay them with action plans — nutrition swaps, supplement suggestions, lifestyle tweaks. Function Health emphasizes longitudinal tracking with clean dashboards so you can see change over time.

The Doctor Question

But does this replace a doctor? Not quite.

Some platforms, like Function Health, stress that they are not a substitute for medical care. Instead, they frame themselves as “prevention partners.” Others, like InsideTracker, make it clear they don’t diagnose disease but aim to help optimize performance and longevity.

That said, a growing number of services do include or upsell access to clinicians. Levels has dietitians on hand to help with solutions. Function Health members, can schedule telehealth consultations with licensed doctors to review their results, typically priced at $150–$200 per visit. Nutrisense pairs its CGM subscription with one-on-one access to registered dietitians for $350–$400 per month all-in. Viome sells a premium tier that includes functional medicine practitioner calls.

Why It Matters

For some consumers, especially those already navigating complex health issues, their doctor’s office may still be the better, safer, and cheaper place to start. But for the growing population of health-optimizers — people curious about longevity, peak performance, and personalized prevention — the appeal is clear. These companies take what feels like an opaque, gatekept process and repackages it as something on-demand, interpretable, and actionable.

In other words, you’re not just buying lab results. You’re buying convenience, context and an in-depth look into your own health and how your body operates on a day-to-day basis.

All things people will pay a lot of money for.