At-Home STD Test Kits: What They Test, Accuracy and Cost

• Free home kits exist: TakeMeHome mails them at no cost in eligible ZIP codes, paid for by health departments, and CDC’s GetTested site lists free and low-cost testing near you.
• Paid kits run from $39 for a rapid syphilis test to $409 for a 14-infection panel as of September 2026. Everlywell’s 5-panel is $169 and covers chlamydia, gonorrhea, hepatitis C, syphilis and trichomoniasis, but it leaves out HIV.
• Urine kits only check the genitals. If you have oral or anal sex, you need a kit with throat and rectal swabs, or a clinic visit.

If you think you’ve been exposed to a sexually transmitted infection, testing at home is a convenient and discrete option. An at-home STD test lets you test in the privacy of your own home by collecting a sample yourself, either usually urine, swab, or a finger-prick of blood. Depending on the type of test, you either mail it to a lab or read a rapid result on the spot. As for cost, many state and local health departments fund test kits for free, though paid kits often let you test for a wider range of infections regardless of the state you live in and include a clinician follow-up if you get a positive result.

This article is for information only and is not medical advice. Talk to a doctor or licensed clinician before starting, stopping, or changing any treatment.

Compare Everlywell’s at-home STD tests

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Free and low-cost STD testing at home

HIV self-tests are free anywhere in the U.S. through Together TakeMeHome, while free kits covering chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis depend on your state or county.

TakeMeHome

TakeMeHome is a free home testing program paid for by local and state health departments, so you don’t need a credit card or insurance to order.¹ You enter your ZIP code and answer a few questions, including your date of birth and when you last tested. Eligibility doesn’t depend on gender identity, race or sexual orientation.

The options vary by ZIP code, but main ones include rapid HIV fingerstick or oral tests and rapid syphilis fingerstick tests that provide instant results, and chlamydia and gonorrhea swab and urine tests that are sent to a lab. Kits arrive in about one to four days in a discreet package. Mail-in kits need to go back within 60 days.

TakeMeHome asks people with STI symptoms, or who need a result urgently, to test in person instead. After a possible HIV exposure, PEP medication has to start within 72 hours to work, which is faster than any mailed kit.¹

Health departments and state programs

CDC’s GetTested locator at gettested.cdc.gov lets you search by ZIP code for HIV, herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and hepatitis testing, including self-collection options.² Many local health departments collaborate with organizations to provide home testing kits. Depending on your area, you may be able to pick up a kit or order one online for home delivery, often with little or no cost for the kit and lab processing.

Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood puts the cost of STD testing at $0 to $250, depending on which infections you test for and whether you need an exam. Many of its health centers offer free or low-cost testing, including at-home kits, based on your income, insurance and any state or local programs that help with costs.

At-home STD test kits compared

Paid kits make sense if free kits aren’t offered in your ZIP code or you want to test for infections not included in a free test. The prices below were current as of September 28, 2026.

• Free kit in your ZIP code: TakeMeHome or your health department, if you’re eligible.
• Broad panel with free physician follow-up: Everlywell’s 5-panel ($169), with HIV added separately.
• Oral sex: myLAB Box’s 3-site chlamydia and gonorrhea kit ($189), which tests the mouth as well as the genitals.
• HIV in the same box: myLAB Box’s Uber Box ($209), which includes a rapid HIV test.
• A result in about 30 minutes without a lab: the Visby test ($149), for women 14 and older.
• Lab-drawn HIV testing with confirmation: Everlywell’s in-person Basic panel ($119) at a Quest location.

Everlywell

Everlywell’s At-Home STD Test costs $169 and checks for five infections using a urine sample and a finger-prick. A physician reviews the results, which reach your account a few days after the lab gets your sample. Single tests for chlamydia and gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, syphilis or hepatitis C cost $69 each. If a result comes back positive, a clinician follows up at no extra charge. Everlywell accepts HSA and FSA cards.

The 5-panel averages 4.74 stars from 378 reviews on Everlywell’s own site. On Trustpilot, Everlywell scores 2.8 from 538 reviews across all its products, and recent complaints center on kit registration, delays, expired kits and refunds rather than STD results. Everlywell tests are for adults, with the Visby test (explained below) as the exception. For more on the company, see our Everlywell review.

Check Everlywell’s 5-panel STD test

LetsGetChecked

LetsGetChecked sells three STD panels, from the $99 Simple 2 to the $249 Complete 8, with lab results in about two to five days. The Simple 2 is FDA-authorized for home collection.³ The Standard 5 and Complete 8 aren’t sold in New York. A follow-up consultation costs $39 and medication is extra, and gonorrhea isn’t on its list of treatable infections. Its STD page shows a Trustpilot score of 4.4 from 18,830 reviews.

myLAB Box

myLAB Box has the widest range, from a $79 chlamydia and gonorrhea kit to a 14-panel kit priced from $379. Its 3-site chlamydia and gonorrhea kit ($189) tests the mouth as well as the genitals, and the Safe Box and Uber Box include a rapid HIV test you read at home. A positive result comes with a free telemedicine consultation with a physician in your state. Results take two to five days after you mail the sample. Trustpilot shows myLAB Box at 2 from 424 reviews.

FDA-authorized rapid tests

A few home tests carry FDA authorization and give a result without a lab.

• Visby Medical Women’s Sexual Health Test ($149 at Everlywell): he first test for chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomoniasis you can buy without a prescription and run fully at home, with a vaginal swab and results in about 30 minutes.⁴ Everlywell sells it for women 14 and older and includes a free same-day telehealth visit after a positive result; medication costs extra.
• First To Know Syphilis Test ($39 at Labcorp): A finger-prick antibody test with a result in about 15 minutes. A positive needs follow-up testing, and people who had syphilis before will usually test positive even after treatment.⁵⁶⁵⁶
• OraQuick HIV Self-Test ($49 at Everlywell): An oral swab test for HIV-1 and HIV-2, approved for ages 14 and older. A positive result is preliminary and needs confirmation.⁷

Quest and Labcorp: in-person lab tests you order online

Quest and Labcorp sell STD panels online, but you give the sample at one of their locations. Quest’s Basic panel (chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV) costs $149 plus a physician fee starting at $6, with results in two to three business days. Everlywell sells a Quest-drawn Basic panel with the same four infections for $119, and an Expanded panel covering seven infections for $189. Labcorp’s Complete STI Test is $489. Everlywell’s in-person panels run confirmatory testing on positive screens, and Quest confirms positive HIV and syphilis results at no extra cost.

Urine tests vs. throat and rectal swabs

A urine test only finds infections in the genital area. A urine test can’t rule out infection in the mouth, throat or rectum, and anyone with risk factors should see a provider.⁸ CDC advises people who’ve had oral or anal sex to ask about throat and rectal testing.²

This is an issue that home-kit users often mention. If you have oral or anal sex, TakeMeHome’s lab kit includes throat and rectal swabs where it’s offered, myLAB Box’s 3-site kit tests the mouth along with the genitals, and a clinic can swab any site.

Do at-home STD kits test for HIV?

At-home STD kits test for HIV only when HIV is listed on the panel, and Everlywell’s 5-panel and LetsGetChecked’s three panels don’t include it. You can add Everlywell’s $49 OraQuick self-test, choose Everlywell’s in-person Basic panel or pick a myLAB Box kit with a rapid HIV test inside. Free HIV self-tests are available nationwide through Together TakeMeHome. CDC recommends that everyone aged 13 to 64 get an HIV test at least once.²

How accurate are at-home STD tests?

At-home STD tests can be accurate, but how accurate depends on the test type and on when you take it. Planned Parenthood calls home testing safe and accurate.⁹ The published figures come from FDA-authorized tests, and Everlywell publishes none for its mail-in kits.

Published accuracy figures

In FDA’s review, Visby correctly identified 97.2% of positive and 98.8% of negative chlamydia samples, 100% of positive and 99.1% of negative gonorrhea samples, and 97.8% of positive and 98.5% of negative trichomoniasis samples.⁴ In OraQuick’s study of 4,999 people, 99.9% of those without HIV got a correct negative and 91.7% of those with HIV got a correct positive.⁷ TakeMeHome lists First To Know at 99.5% for negative and 93.4% for positive results.¹

Most mail-in kits, Everlywell’s included, are lab-developed tests run in CLIA-certified labs and overseen under federal CLIA rules rather than reviewed by the FDA before sale. An FDA rule that would have changed that was vacated by congress in March 2025.¹⁰

Window periods

Testing too soon after exposure can miss an infection. For HIV, CDC says antibody tests, which include most rapid and self-tests, usually detect HIV 23 to 90 days after exposure. Blood from a vein picks it up sooner than a finger-prick or oral fluid, and a negative result after a possible exposure should be repeated once the window period has passed.¹¹ If you might have been exposed to hepatitis C in the past six months, CDC says doctors should order an RNA test rather than an antibody test.¹²

For the other infections, window period figures come from kit makers. LetsGetChecked says chlamydia and gonorrhea can take one to three weeks to show up, trichomoniasis up to four weeks, and hepatitis B and syphilis up to 12 weeks.¹³

What to do after a positive result

The next step after a positive home result is confirming it with a provider. CDC says a positive HIV self-test needs lab confirmation, and FDA says a positive syphilis self-test must be followed by more testing.¹¹⁵¹¹⁵ Chlamydia and gonorrhea can be cured with certain antibiotics, and CDC’s advice is to get treated, tell your partners and get retested in three months, even if your partner was treated too.¹⁴ With trichomoniasis, about 1 in 5 people get reinfected within three months of treatment, so CDC also advises retesting at around three months.¹⁵

An STD diagnosis can bring strong emotions, but it’s important to understand that STIs are common, often cause no symptoms and may have come from a past relationship without anyone knowing.¹⁴

If you’re worried about telling your partner, a service called TellYourPartner.org lets you notify partners anonymously. Your provider or health department also help.¹ In some states a provider can give you medication or a prescription for your partner, a practice called expedited partner therapy whose legal status varies by state.¹⁶

Also important to know is that people with HIV whose viral load is undetectable won’t transmit HIV through sex.¹¹

Treatment after a home test, by state

After a positive chlamydia, gonorrhea or trichomoniasis result, Everlywell offers a free consult with a physician licensed in your state, who may prescribe treatment in 33 jurisdictions.¹⁷ New York and New Jersey aren’t on that list, so readers there get the consult but fill treatment through their own provider. LetsGetChecked says state rules keep it from offering treatment everywhere. If a kit company can’t treat you, health department clinics, family planning clinics, student health centers and urgent care offer low-cost or free treatment.¹⁴

See Everlywell’s STD tests and physician follow-up

Privacy: who sees your results

Everlywell and LetsGetChecked ship kits in plain packaging, and Everlywell says it doesn’t share results with other providers or insurers. Everlywell also notes that its lab and physician network must report results to state health authorities for disease tracking. Quest’s online tests skip insurance, so no explanation of benefits reaches a family plan.

In 2025, a court gave final approval to a $5 million class action settlement over claims that Everlywell’s website sent customer information to Meta and Google through tracking pixels. The class covers purchases from April 2019 to December 2024, with a subclass for buyers of sensitive tests such as STI tests, and Everlywell denies any wrongdoing.¹⁸

Waiting for your results

Planned Parenthood says to expect about a week for mail-in results, while rapid HIV self-tests take about 20 minutes.⁹ If you have symptoms, test in person instead of waiting on the mail. Home-kit users often describe health anxiety and shame while they wait out a window period or a result. If anxiety about your status is weighing on you, TakeMeHome suggests texting Crisis Text Line at 741741, and you can also call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.