Both RequestATest and HealthLabs let you order lab tests online without a doctor and visit Quest Diagnostics or Labcorp for your blood draw. We have used both services to compare pricing, test selection, ordering experience, and results. Here is our detailed side-by-side breakdown.
Visit RequestATest (Our #1 Pick)Updated: March 31, 2026 · By the LabTestInsight Research Team
Head-to-Head Comparison
Before diving into the details, here is how the two services compare across every major factor. We have tested both services ourselves and verified each data point.
| Feature | RequestATest | HealthLabs |
|---|---|---|
| Testing Model | Lab visit (order online, visit Quest/Labcorp) | Lab visit (order online, visit Quest/Labcorp) + some at-home options |
| Test Selection | 50+ categories, hundreds of individual tests Winner | 40+ categories, broad catalog |
| Price Range | $29–$299 Best Value | $39–$399 (typically 10-30% higher) |
| Lab Network | 3,600+ locations (Quest Diagnostics & Labcorp) | 4,500+ locations (Quest Diagnostics & Labcorp) More Locations |
| Collection Method | Venipuncture at Quest/Labcorp | Venipuncture at Quest/Labcorp + some at-home collection kits |
| Result Turnaround | 1–3 business days | 1–3 business days |
| Accuracy | Lab-grade venipuncture (same labs) | Lab-grade venipuncture (same labs) |
| Doctor Consultation | Not available | Optional ($49-79 additional) Available |
| Website Experience | Functional but dated | Modern, polished interface Better UX |
| At-Home Collection | Not available | Some tests available for at-home collection |
| Test Variety — STD | Comprehensive panels (10+ infections) Winner | Comprehensive panels available (priced higher) |
| Test Variety — Hormones | Full hormone panels Winner | Full hormone panels (priced higher) |
| Test Variety — Wellness | Comprehensive wellness panels Winner | Comprehensive wellness panels (priced higher) |
| Insurance Accepted | No (cash pay, HSA/FSA accepted) | No (cash pay, HSA/FSA accepted) |
| Founded | 2002 (22+ years) Most Established | ~2015 (11 years) |
| Our Rating | 4.7 / 5 #1 Pick | 4.0 / 5 |
Key takeaway: RequestATest and HealthLabs are more similar than they are different. Both use the same underlying lab networks, both offer lab-visit testing without a doctor's order, and both deliver results in 1-3 business days. The difference comes down to price, where RequestATest wins consistently, and user experience, where HealthLabs has a slight edge. For most people, the savings from RequestATest matter more than a slightly slicker website.
Understanding the Difference
Unlike our comparison of RequestATest vs Everlywell, where the two services use fundamentally different testing models, RequestATest and HealthLabs are direct competitors offering essentially the same underlying service through different storefronts.
Both RequestATest and HealthLabs operate on the same model: you browse tests on their website, place an order, receive a lab requisition, and visit a Quest Diagnostics or Labcorp location for a standard blood draw. A trained phlebotomist draws your blood using venipuncture, the same equipment processes your sample, and results appear in a secure online portal within 1-3 business days. The lab work itself is identical regardless of which service you order through.
Think of it this way: RequestATest and HealthLabs are like two different travel booking sites that sell tickets for the same airlines. The flight is the same — same plane, same pilot, same route. The difference is in the price you pay, the website you use to book, and the additional services each platform wraps around the core product. With lab testing, the "flight" is your blood draw and lab analysis at Quest or Labcorp. What differs is the ordering experience, the price, and the extras.
This makes the comparison more straightforward than services with different testing models. We do not need to weigh accuracy trade-offs or different sample collection methods. The accuracy is identical because the labs are identical. The question is simpler: which platform gives you a better deal and a better experience for the same underlying lab work?
From our experience: We ordered the same three tests (comprehensive metabolic panel, thyroid panel, and testosterone) through both services within the same week. The lab results were functionally identical — which is expected, since both orders were processed at Quest Diagnostics locations. The only meaningful differences were the price we paid (RequestATest was cheaper on all three) and the interface we used to view results. The lab experience at Quest was indistinguishable between the two orders.
Pricing Breakdown
Since both services use the same labs and deliver the same quality results, pricing is the most important differentiator. Here is what we found when comparing prices for the most commonly ordered tests.
| Test | RequestATest Price | HealthLabs Price | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Metabolic Panel | $39 | $49 | Save ~$10 |
| Comprehensive Metabolic Panel | $39 | $49 | Save ~$10 |
| Complete Blood Count (CBC) | $29 | $39 | Save ~$10 |
| Thyroid Panel (TSH, T3, T4) | $69 | $89 | Save ~$20 |
| Lipid Panel | $39 | $49 | Save ~$10 |
| Testosterone (Total) | $49 | $59 | Save ~$10 |
| 10-Panel STD Test | $198 | $249 | Save ~$51 |
| Comprehensive Wellness Panel | $199 | $249 | Save ~$50 |
| Hemoglobin A1c (Diabetes) | $39 | $49 | Save ~$10 |
| Vitamin D | $49 | $59 | Save ~$10 |
Across every test we compared, RequestATest was cheaper. The savings ranged from about $10 on individual tests to over $50 on comprehensive panels. On a percentage basis, HealthLabs was typically 10-30% more expensive for equivalent tests. The gap is consistent enough that it is clearly a structural difference in pricing strategy, not a random variation.
For a single test, the difference might not feel significant. But if you are ordering multiple tests, testing regularly to monitor a chronic condition, or comparing comprehensive panels, those savings compound quickly. Ordering a comprehensive wellness panel plus a thyroid panel plus a testosterone test through RequestATest would save you roughly $70-80 compared to the same order through HealthLabs — for the exact same blood work at the exact same lab.
Why the price difference? Both services are essentially middlemen between you and Quest/Labcorp. The cost of the actual lab work is similar. The difference in consumer pricing likely reflects different margin strategies, overhead costs, and the additional services HealthLabs bundles in (like their doctor consultation option, their more modern website, and their at-home collection offerings). RequestATest runs a leaner operation focused on getting you the lowest price for lab work, while HealthLabs has invested more in platform features and charges accordingly.
Deep Dive
After ordering 7 tests through RequestATest over several months, here is our detailed assessment of the service and why it earns our top recommendation over HealthLabs.
RequestATest offers the broadest direct-to-consumer test catalog we have found. With 50+ test categories and hundreds of individual tests, you can order everything from a basic CBC ($29) to comprehensive wellness panels ($199), full STD panels covering 10+ infections, hormone panels, thyroid function, allergy testing, tumor markers, autoimmune panels, and more. If your doctor would order it through Quest or Labcorp, there is a strong chance you can order it yourself through RequestATest at a lower price.
The test catalog is slightly broader than HealthLabs in our assessment, particularly for specialty and niche tests. Both services cover the standard blood work categories well, but when we searched for less common tests like specific autoimmune markers and advanced cardiac risk panels, RequestATest had listings that HealthLabs did not. For everyday testing, the catalogs are comparable. For specialized testing, RequestATest has a modest edge.
This is where RequestATest separates itself most clearly. Their prices range from $29 for individual tests to around $299 for comprehensive panels. In our testing, every price listed on the website was the price we paid at checkout — no hidden fees, no processing charges, no surprise upsells. HealthLabs uses similar transparent pricing, but at a consistently higher price point.
For context: a basic metabolic panel through RequestATest costs about $39. The same panel through HealthLabs runs about $49. Through our insurance with a doctor's order, the same panel was billed at $187, of which we owed $45 after insurance adjustments — and that does not include the $40 copay for the doctor visit to get the order. Both direct-to-consumer services beat the insured rate, but RequestATest beats it by a wider margin.
RequestATest's website is functional but admittedly dated. Navigation works fine, test descriptions are clear, and the checkout process is straightforward, but the design does not have the modern polish of HealthLabs. For a service where you spend maybe 5-10 minutes on the website placing an order, this is a minor consideration, but it is worth noting honestly.
Once you place your order, you receive a lab requisition that you take to any Quest Diagnostics or Labcorp location. The in-lab experience is identical to HealthLabs because it is the same lab. Front desk staff scan your requisition, verify your identity, and a phlebotomist draws your blood. Total time from walking in to walking out averaged about 15 minutes across our visits.
Results appeared in our secure portal between 24 and 72 hours after the blood draw, depending on the complexity of the tests ordered. Standard blood work came back in about 36 hours consistently. Each result shows your value, the reference range, and a clear flag for anything outside the normal range. You can download results as a PDF formatted exactly like a standard lab report — identical to what a doctor would receive.
Our assessment: RequestATest is the best-value online lab testing service available. When you are getting the exact same lab work at the exact same facilities, paying less for it is a straightforward advantage. The 22-year track record provides additional confidence that the service is established and reliable.
Visit RequestATest — See Full Test CatalogCLIA-certified labs · 3,600+ locations · Results in 1-3 days
Already know which test you need? RequestATest lists all prices upfront with no hidden fees. Search by test name or browse by category.
Browse RequestATest Tests & PricingSame labs as HealthLabs · 10-30% lower prices
Deep Dive
We ordered 3 tests through HealthLabs over 2 months to evaluate the platform. Here is our honest assessment of what HealthLabs does well and where RequestATest has the advantage.
HealthLabs has the better website — that much is clear immediately. The interface is modern, clean, and well-designed. Browsing tests by category is intuitive, test descriptions are detailed and written in accessible language, and the checkout process feels polished. If you are comparing the two platforms purely on the experience of navigating the website and placing an order, HealthLabs wins.
Founded around 2015, HealthLabs entered the market later than RequestATest and clearly invested heavily in their digital experience from the start. The site loads quickly, works well on mobile, and presents information in a way that feels contemporary. For first-time users who may be unfamiliar with direct-to-consumer lab testing, HealthLabs' design does a better job of building confidence and guiding you through the process.
HealthLabs advertises 4,500+ lab locations through its partnerships with Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp. This is slightly more than RequestATest's 3,600+ locations. In practice, the difference is modest. Both services provide excellent coverage in most suburban and urban areas. Where the extra locations might matter is in certain rural areas where HealthLabs may have a nearby option that RequestATest does not list. We did not encounter this difference in our testing, but it is theoretically possible for some users.
The lab visit experience itself is identical because it is the same labs. You walk into Quest or Labcorp, hand over your requisition, and a phlebotomist draws your blood. Nothing about the in-lab experience differs based on which platform generated your requisition.
HealthLabs offers optional doctor consultations for an additional fee, typically $49-79. After you receive your results, you can schedule a phone or video consultation with a physician in HealthLabs' network who will review your results and provide guidance. This is a feature RequestATest does not offer.
The consultation option has genuine value for people who do not have a primary care physician or who want quick professional input without scheduling a separate appointment. However, there are important caveats. The consulting doctor does not know your medical history, is reviewing a single set of lab results without broader context, and the consultation is necessarily brief. For many people, taking their results to their own doctor — who knows their history, medications, and overall health picture — will produce more useful guidance.
The doctor consultation also adds significant cost. If you are ordering a $49 test and adding a $49-79 consultation, you have nearly tripled the effective cost of your lab work. For that price, you could order the same test through RequestATest for less and put the savings toward a copay for an office visit with your own physician. The consultation feature is convenient, but the economics only make sense in specific situations.
HealthLabs offers some at-home collection options for certain tests. This puts them in a hybrid position between traditional lab-visit services like RequestATest and fully at-home services. For the at-home kits, the same caveats apply as with any self-collection service: sample quality depends on your collection technique, and some physicians prefer venous blood draws for clinical decisions. The at-home option is a nice addition for specific situations, but most people will get better results from a standard lab visit.
This is HealthLabs' primary weakness compared to RequestATest. Across every test we compared, HealthLabs charged 10-30% more for the same underlying lab work. Since both services route orders to Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp, the higher price does not buy you better accuracy, faster results, or access to different tests. What it does buy is the more polished website experience and the option to add a doctor consultation.
Whether that premium is worth it depends on your priorities. For most price-conscious consumers — and in our experience, most people ordering direct-to-consumer lab tests are doing so specifically to save money — paying more for the same lab work is hard to justify.
Category Winners
Here is our honest verdict in each category that matters when choosing between these two services.
10-30% cheaper across the board for equivalent tests. Since both services deliver the same lab work from the same facilities, lower pricing is a clear and meaningful advantage. This is the single biggest reason to choose RequestATest.
Slightly broader catalog, particularly for specialty and niche tests. Both services cover standard blood work well, but RequestATest has a modest edge in the depth of available tests across 50+ categories.
HealthLabs has a noticeably more modern, polished website. The browsing experience is smoother, test descriptions are well-presented, and the overall design feels more contemporary. For people who value a clean digital experience, this matters.
The optional doctor consultation and at-home collection options give HealthLabs more feature breadth. These come at additional cost but provide options that RequestATest does not offer at all.
Both services offer comprehensive STD panels, but RequestATest prices them lower. For STD testing specifically, our STD testing guide recommends lab-visit services, and RequestATest offers the best value.
Combining lower prices, broader test selection, and a 22-year track record, RequestATest delivers the best overall value. The lab work is identical. The price is lower. For most people, that is what matters.
RequestATest wins 4 of 6 categories in our head-to-head comparison, including the most important one: price. When the lab work is identical, paying less is always the right move.
Visit RequestATest — See Tests & PricingFair Assessment
We believe in fair assessments. There are specific situations where HealthLabs makes more sense, and we want to be transparent about them.
If you want a doctor to review your results. RequestATest delivers your results directly to you with no interpretation or consultation included. If you do not have a primary care physician, or if you want quick professional input without scheduling a separate doctor's appointment, HealthLabs' optional physician consultation fills that gap. The $49-79 consultation fee is not trivial, but for someone without an established doctor-patient relationship, it provides value that RequestATest cannot match. This is particularly relevant for people who are ordering tests for the first time and are unsure how to interpret their results.
If you strongly prefer a polished digital experience. Some people care a lot about the design and usability of the websites they interact with. HealthLabs' modern interface, clean layout, and intuitive navigation are genuinely better than RequestATest's more utilitarian design. If a dated website makes you less confident in a service, HealthLabs' polish might be worth the price premium for the peace of mind it provides. We would argue that the quality of the lab work matters more than the quality of the website, but user confidence has value too.
If you need a lab location that HealthLabs covers but RequestATest does not. HealthLabs' network of 4,500+ locations is modestly larger than RequestATest's 3,600+. For most people in suburban or urban areas, both services will have convenient locations nearby. But if you are in an area where the nearest RequestATest-affiliated location is inconvenient while HealthLabs has one closer, that practical difference trumps the price savings. We recommend checking both services' location finders before ordering.
If you want at-home collection for specific tests. HealthLabs offers some at-home collection kits, which RequestATest does not. If you need testing but truly cannot make it to a lab location for a particular test, this hybrid option gives HealthLabs an advantage. Keep in mind that at-home collection has the same sample quality trade-offs as any self-collection service — a standard lab visit is always more reliable.
Our honest take: HealthLabs is a good service. We rate it 4.0 out of 5, which reflects genuinely solid quality. The reason we recommend RequestATest over it comes down to a simple principle: when two services deliver identical lab work from the same facilities, the one with lower prices wins. The situations where HealthLabs' advantages outweigh RequestATest's pricing edge are real but specific. For the majority of people, RequestATest is the smarter choice.
When both services use the same labs, lower prices and a deeper test catalog make RequestATest the clear winner for most people.
Visit RequestATest — Browse Tests & Pricing50+ test categories · $29-299 · Results in 1-3 days
Decision Guide
Use this simple framework to decide which service fits your specific situation.
For most people reading this comparison, RequestATest is the better choice. When both services route your order to the same Quest Diagnostics or Labcorp location, the lower price wins. The savings are real, consistent, and meaningful — especially if you order multiple tests or test regularly to monitor your health.
If you are new to direct-to-consumer lab testing, our guide on ordering lab tests without a doctor explains the process step by step. And if cost is a primary concern, our breakdown of lab test costs without insurance shows how services like RequestATest can save you money compared to the traditional healthcare route.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the most common questions we receive about choosing between these two services.
Yes. RequestATest is consistently 10-30% cheaper than HealthLabs for equivalent tests. For example, a basic metabolic panel costs about $39 through RequestATest versus $49-59 through HealthLabs. A comprehensive STD panel shows a similar gap, with savings of $50+ on larger panels. Since both services use the same underlying labs (Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp), the difference in price is purely a markup difference between the two platforms. You are getting the same lab work for less money.
Yes, both services route orders through Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp, the two largest clinical laboratory networks in the United States. This means your blood is drawn by the same phlebotomists, processed on the same equipment, and analyzed using the same FDA-approved methodologies regardless of which service you order through. The lab results are functionally identical. The differences between the two services are limited to pricing, the ordering website experience, and additional features like HealthLabs' doctor consultation option.
Yes. HealthLabs offers optional doctor consultations for an additional fee, typically $49-79 depending on the complexity of the results being reviewed. A physician in their network will review your lab results and provide guidance over the phone or video. RequestATest does not offer this service. However, you can take your RequestATest results to your own doctor, and many people prefer consulting their existing physician who knows their medical history rather than a telemedicine doctor seeing their data for the first time. The consultation is most useful for people who do not currently have a primary care physician.
HealthLabs advertises approximately 4,500+ lab locations, while RequestATest lists 3,600+. Both networks use Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp facilities. The practical difference is minimal for most people living in suburban or urban areas, where both services will have multiple convenient locations nearby. The slight edge in location count from HealthLabs may matter in some rural areas, but we recommend checking both services' location finders with your zip code to see which has a more convenient option for your specific situation.
Neither service accepts insurance directly. Both operate on a cash-pay model where you pay the listed price upfront and receive results without involving your insurance company. This is actually an advantage for many people: it means your results are not reported to your insurer, and the direct-to-consumer price is often less than what you would pay through insurance after factoring in copays, deductibles, and the cost of a doctor visit to obtain a lab order. Both services accept HSA and FSA payments, which can help offset the cost using pre-tax dollars.
After using both services side by side, RequestATest earns our top recommendation. When two platforms deliver identical lab work from the same Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp facilities, the one with lower prices, a broader test catalog, and a 22-year track record is the clear winner. HealthLabs offers a more polished website and useful add-ons like doctor consultations, but those extras come at a premium that most people do not need to pay.
Visit RequestATest — Browse Tests & Pricing50+ test categories · $29-299 · 3,600+ locations · Results in 1-3 days · 22+ years trusted