Nebula Reports Alternatives: Keep Using Your Whole Genome Without a Subscription

Nebula Genomics, now sold as DNA Complete, keeps its reports and research library behind a subscription. Your whole-genome data is yours to download, though: take the VCF (.vcf.gz), and you can keep reading your genome without paying monthly. healthosx.com/dna reads a Nebula VCF free, in your browser, and your DNA story needs no account: medication genes, inherited risk factors, food and traits, plus optional ancestry.

First: download your data while you have access

1. 1.Sign in and open your data or downloads section.
2. 2.Files marked archived need Unarchive, which can take up to 48 hours.
3. 3.Download the VCF (.vcf.gz). The .tbi index is optional.
4. 4.If you can, also download the CRAM (and .crai). It's tens of gigabytes, but it's the only file that lets you re-analyse your genome from scratch later, for example for CYP2D6.

Which whole-genome file is which.

Alternatives, by what you want

Free, private, plain-language report: HealthOS /dna

Choose the VCF at /dna. Your browser streams it locally into around 50 findings: CYP2C19, CYP2C9, VKORC1, SLCO1B1, TPMT, DPYD, lipoprotein(a), iron overload, alpha-1 antitrypsin, LRRK2 G2019S, TTR V122I, macular degeneration genes, food and traits. Ancestry (15 regions) is optional. Ask your DNA can read a stored whole genome for haplogroups, polygenic scores and any variant you name, with five free questions.

One catch: many Nebula VCFs have no rsIDs (every ID is .). Ancestry still works on a GRCh37 file, but the trait and health report needs rsIDs. How to check, and fix it.

Maximum literature coverage: Promethease

Pay per report. It reads VCFs against SNPedia. It's dense, but deep. Compared here.

An app marketplace: Sequencing.com

Upload your genome and buy apps individually. Sequencing.com alternatives.

Relatives: GEDmatch

GEDmatch matching is built around chip-style files, so whole-genome customers usually convert their data first, with tools like WGS Extract. GEDmatch alternatives.

healthosx.com/dna

The short version: what is worth acting on, first.

healthosx.com/dna

Every finding opens up: what it means, what to do, and the genotype behind it.

What you lose by leaving Nebula's reports

• The research library, which updates as new studies come out.
• Polygenic risk estimates in Nebula's format. Ask your DNA offers polygenic scores from a stored whole genome, but they're computed differently.
• Anything read-level, like viewing the raw reads behind a variant. Keep your CRAM if that matters to you.

HealthOS /dna at a glance

• Price: the report is free. The story needs no account and no email; the full report opens in the HealthOS app after a one-time 6-digit email code. Ask your DNA gives you five free questions, then $1 for five more.
• Privacy: your file is read in your browser and not uploaded for the story or the report. Ancestry sends only the markers it needs and keeps them with your result until you delete them. The chat stores your file only if you choose to (encrypted, deletable).
• What you get: around 50 findings (food, sleep, movement, heart and metabolism, medication genes, traits), ancestry across 15 regions with the closest reference populations, and a chat that answers from your own results.
• Files: 23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA, Living DNA, WeGene and whole-genome VCFs.

Keep the files you can't get back

Whole-genome data is the one thing a subscription lapse can cost you permanently. While you still have access:

• Download the VCF. It's what every consumer tool reads.
• Download the CRAM (and its .crai) if you can. It's tens of gigabytes, but it's the only file that lets anyone re-call variants later, including the things a VCF can't capture, like CYP2D6 copy number.
• Store both encrypted, on a drive you'll still have in five years. Not your Downloads folder.

Which whole-genome file is which.

What you can still get from the VCF alone

A whole-genome VCF is a rich file. Read locally on /dna it gives you medication genes, lipoprotein(a), iron overload, alpha-1 antitrypsin, LRRK2 G2019S, TTR V122I, the macular degeneration genes, food and traits — and, through the chat on a stored file, haplogroups and polygenic scores.

FAQ

Will my Nebula VCF work without rsIDs?

Ancestry will, if the file is on GRCh37. The trait and health report needs rsIDs, which bcftools annotate adds from dbSNP. Full walkthrough.

Is a subscription ever worth it?

If you'll read the research library as it updates, yes. If you looked at your reports once and haven't opened them since, the data is yours either way.

Keep reading your genome, free, from the VCF you already own: healthosx.com/dna