Our methodology, written down so you can argue with it.
We take no affiliate commissions, we buy every kit with reader-supported funds, and we publish the spreadsheet. Below: what we score, how we weight it, and what it takes for a company to land in each tier.
Every issue we review the consumer whole genome sequencing market from scratch. No standing favorites, no grandfathered clauses. A company on last issue's Editor's Choice can fall to Proceed With Care by the next if our purchased-with-reader-funds kit comes back with a 22× average where 30× was promised.
How the 100-point composite is built.
| Dimension | Weight | What we measure |
|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | 20% | Agreement with a reference sample sequenced at 150× on a second platform; variant-level F1 against the GIAB truth set. |
| Coverage | 20% | Mean depth delivered vs. promised; uniformity across chromosomes; percentage of callable bases at 20×. |
| Reports | 20% | Clinical soundness, visual clarity, how well uncertain findings are contextualized, and whether a clinician could act on them. |
| Privacy | 20% | Data residency, retention controls, who can re-identify you, what happens on acquisition, and whether deletion is real. |
| Value | 20% | Price vs. delivered coverage, report depth, raw file access, and included clinician interaction. |
What a badge actually means.
At least 90 on the composite, ≥ 85 on every sub-score, and no unresolved operational red flags in the last two issues.
Strong across the board with clear caveats the reader should know about before purchase.
Excellent on at least one dimension that matters intensely to a specific buyer (e.g. Y-DNA genealogy) — but not a general recommendation.
The science is sound but reliability, support, or operational track record raises real questions. Buy eyes-open.
Six purchases. Three reviewers. One spreadsheet.
- Six kits purchased across the quarter from three different addresses.
- Each reviewer activates independently and records time-to-each-milestone.
- Raw FASTQ/BAMFASTQRaw sequencing read file. The unprocessed output of the sequencer. files are downloaded where offered and compared to our reference.
- Reports are scored blind by a panel that includes a board-certified genetic counselor.
- We submit a data deletion request; 90 days later, we verify it was honored.
- — Take affiliate or referral commissions.
- — Accept free kits from companies we review.
- — Let a company preview a review before publication.
- — Accept equity, advisory positions, or honoraria from anyone we cover.
We make mistakes. Here's how we fix them.
Corrections run at the top of every issue and are permanently appended to the affected review. Companies that dispute a finding can submit documentation; if we update a score, the revision is dated and the old score remains visible. Ghost-edits are disqualifying.