How much does a home finger-prick blood test cost in Germany and what is included
A home finger-prick blood test in Germany costs €79 including VAT and shipping, covering 21 markers from lipids to thyroid, but no full blood count.
The HealthOS Blood Test in Germany costs €79 per kit, with VAT and shipping to you included. The panel covers 21 markers from a finger-prick sample: total, LDL and HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, HbA1c, creatinine with eGFR, urea, sodium, chloride, calcium, ALT, AST, ALP, bilirubin, albumin, total protein, hs-CRP, ferritin, vitamin D and TSH. It is not a full blood count, and it is not a großes Blutbild.
How much does a home finger-prick blood test cost in Germany and what is included
One kit costs €79, flat. There is no separate delivery fee to you and no hidden lab fee at that price. You can order up to four kits in a single checkout, each with its own code, which matters if you are buying for a partner or a parent. The kit leaves within 2 business days and the return packaging is already inside.
| Marker group | Included? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Total, LDL and HDL cholesterol, triglycerides | Yes | Fasting sample for lipids |
| HbA1c | Yes | Average glucose, no fasting glucose |
| Creatinine, eGFR, urea, sodium, chloride, calcium | Yes | Kidney and electrolyte markers |
| ALT, AST, ALP, bilirubin, albumin, total protein | Yes | Liver and protein markers |
| hs-CRP | Yes | Inflammation marker |
| Ferritin, vitamin D | Yes | Iron stores and vitamin D |
| TSH | Yes | Thyroid-stimulating hormone only |
| Full blood count | No | No haemoglobin, MCV, RDW, white cell differential |
| Fasting glucose and insulin | No | No HOMA-IR or QUICKI from this panel |
| ApoB, Lp(a) | No | Not in this kit |
| Other hormones | No | No testosterone, cortisol, free T3/T4 |
| B12, folate, serum iron | No | Not included |
Scroll the table sideways for the rest →
The 21-marker finger-prick panel covers common metabolic, liver, kidney, iron, vitamin D and thyroid markers, but not a full blood count.
Each marker is measured in a certified German partner lab, and the results land in the app 3 to 5 working days after the lab receives the tube. The app marks each marker as optimal or not and explains it in plain words. The €79 covers the physical kit, the lab analysis, and that explanation layer. Shipping to you is included. It does not buy a medical diagnosis, and the service is explicit about that. You are paying for convenience and a defined panel, not for a doctor's letter.
A €79 finger-prick panel is a broad metabolic panel with iron stores and vitamin D, not a full blood count or a biological-age test.
What the sample process actually looks like
You take the sample at home, in the morning, before breakfast. Fast for 8 to 12 hours before the finger-prick, because triglycerides and LDL move after a meal. Water is fine. The box has two lancets, a small collection tube, an alcohol pad, a plaster and the return packaging.
The main mistake people make is squeezing the fingertip too hard. That can haemolyse the sample and push tissue fluid into the tube, which can affect some results. Warm the hand first, use the side of the fingertip, and let the drops form. Post the tube back the same day using the return packaging, Monday to Thursday, so it does not sit in a post box over the weekend. The lab reports results 3 to 5 working days after the sample arrives.
What the kit leaves out
The most important absence is the full blood count. This panel has no red cell count, haemoglobin, MCV, RDW, white cell differential or platelets. That means it is not a großes Blutbild, and it cannot produce a PhenoAge biological-age estimate. PhenoAge needs nine markers including several from a full blood count and a fasting glucose (Levine et al., 2018).
Also absent:
- fasting glucose and fasting insulin, so HOMA-IR and QUICKI cannot be calculated from this panel alone
- ApoB and Lp(a), which some people want for a fuller lipid picture
- hormones beyond TSH: no testosterone, oestradiol, cortisol or free T3/T4
- vitamin B12, folate and serum iron
- any infection or disease-specific test
If you already have a recent venous lab report, try the free blood tool first to see how your current markers are explained against age- and sex-matched ranges. Then check the Germany kit page to confirm exactly which markers are included before paying for a new draw.
The HbA1c here is not the same as a fasting glucose. HbA1c estimates average blood glucose over roughly the previous two to three months, so it can miss short-term patterns that a fasting glucose or continuous monitor would show. The PhenoAge calculator is strict: it will not return a result with missing markers, so this panel cannot produce a biological-age number.
When to skip this kit
If you need a full blood count because of fatigue, anaemia, bruising or repeated infections, this panel will not answer that question. If you want a biological-age estimate, you need a venous panel with a full blood count and fasting glucose. If you are trying to calculate insulin resistance with HOMA-IR or QUICKI, a lab draw only helps if it includes both fasting glucose and fasting insulin. The HealthOS Blood Test does not include fasting insulin in any country, so this finger-prick kit cannot provide those numbers.
What to do with the results
Once the results land, the numbers are only half the story. The same marker can look fine in a generic range but be trending the wrong way for you. The free tool at HealthOS blood explains each marker against ranges matched to your age and sex, and a second upload shows how each marker moved. If you have a full panel with the nine PhenoAge markers, the free PhenoAge calculator fills itself from the same report.
A single out-of-range value is usually not an emergency. Compare it with symptoms, repeat it if the lab suggests that, and take a persistent abnormal result to a doctor who can see the whole picture. Trends beat single values, and a browser that holds your last 12 reports will show a direction a chat message cannot.
Written by
HealthOS Research