How to Test Cortisol Levels at Home: Kits, Accuracy and Cost

• You can test cortisol at home by collecting saliva, usually four times in one day, and mailing it to a lab. Some kits include a finger-prick blood sample for other hormones.
• Mail-in kits cost $99 to $199 as of September 2026, and most accept HSA or FSA cards. Everlywell and Quest don’t bill insurance.
• A home result is information to take to a doctor. It can’t diagnose Cushing’s syndrome or adrenal insufficiency, and “adrenal fatigue” isn’t a recognized medical condition.

Cortisol is a hormone your adrenal glands make, and your body releases more of it under stress. Several companies sell kits that measure it from saliva you collect at home. Quest and Labcorp sell a blood test you order online and go to a local lab to have your blood drawn. Home kits show how your levels rise and fall over a day, but they don’t diagnose anything, and many aren’t sold in New York.

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.

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What cortisol does and how it relates to stress

Cortisol is a steroid hormone made by your adrenal glands which sit on top of the kidneys. Your body releases it as part of the stress response to short-term, long-term and traumatic stress, but it also helps control blood sugar, metabolism, blood pressure, inflammation and sleep.

Levels follow a daily rhythm, highest shortly after waking and lowest in the middle of the night. That’s why every cortisol test depends on timing. If stress is what brought you here, our guide to stress management covers approaches that don’t depend on a lab result.

How cortisol testing works: saliva, blood and urine

Cortisol can be measured in saliva, blood or urine, and saliva is the one that can be collected fully at home.¹

At-home saliva cortisol test

An at-home saliva cortisol test asks you to spit into small tubes at set times, often on waking, around noon, in the evening and at bedtime. Saliva measures free cortisol, the portion your body can use, while blood measures total cortisol, most of it bound to a carrier protein.² Saliva stays stable at room temperature, so it can travel by mail. Late-night saliva samples are also considered one of the most reliable for diagnosing Cushing’s syndrome.

Finger-prick and blood draws

Some home kits add a finger-prick blood sample to measure the panel’s other hormones, such as testosterone or thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), while cortisol is still measured from saliva. A blood cortisol test is drawn at a lab, usually in the morning and sometimes again around 4 p.m.³

Urine and hair

A 24-hour urine test measures all the free cortisol you release in a day, as long as the collection is complete.² Hair can reflect months of exposure, though a 2018 review called hair testing experimental.⁴ None of the home kits reviewed here use urine or hair for cortisol.

At-home cortisol test kits compared

These are the main cortisol tests you can order without a doctor’s visit, as of September 2026. The Quest blood test and Labcorp OnDemand are drawn at a lab rather than at home.

LetsGetChecked’s standalone cortisol kit is currently listed as unavailable, so its only kit with cortisol is a men’s hormone panel. myLAB Box also sells a $99 Metabolism Test that pairs saliva with a finger stick.

Everlywell Cortisol & Stress Test

Everlywell’s Stress & Cortisol kit costs $99 and measures cortisol using 4 saliva samples taken morning, noon, evening and night, as well as testosterone and TSH using a finger-prick blood sample collected at home.⁵ Their Metabolism Test measures the same hormones, but only a single morning saliva sample is collected to measure cortisol. A CLIA-certified lab runs the samples, and an independent physician in your state reviews the order and the results, which are marked low, normal or high.

Everlywell presents it as a screening test and a first step for people with unexplained changes in weight or energy, and it suggests sharing results with your own provider. No free clinician consult is listed for this kit. For more on the company, see our Everlywell review.

Turnaround varies. The product page says results appear in your account in a few days, while Everlywell’s support center says most results take 5 to 7 business days after the lab processes the sample. One on-site reviewer reported waiting about two weeks.

On its own site the kit averages 4.57 stars from 965 reviews,⁶ a pool it shares with the Metabolism Test. Low-rated reviews center on accuracy, such as a cortisol curve one reviewer found implausible and a TSH result far from lab work done days earlier.

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How to test your cortisol levels at home, step by step

Most saliva kits work the same way, but be sure to follow the instructions for the specific test you choose:

1. Order the kit online. An independent physician reviews most orders, and Everlywell refunds you if its physician decides the test isn’t right for you.

2. Plan the collection day. Skip vigorous exercise the day before, since it can raise cortisol, and pause biotin supplements if your kit requires, which is 8 hours for LetsGetChecked and 24 for Eli Health. Labcorp asks 72 hours before its blood test.

3. Collect saliva at the times your kit specifies, usually on waking, around noon, in the evening and at bedtime on the same day. LetsGetChecked’s panel takes one weekday morning sample instead.

4. Don’t eat, drink anything but water, brush your teeth or use mouthwash for 30 minutes before each sample.

5. If your kit also needs a finger prick, collect the saliva first, because drawing blood can raise cortisol.

6. Mail the samples as your kit directs. Everlywell prepays shipping both ways, while the ZRT kit sold through Walk-In Lab needs refrigerating and overnight shipping Monday to Thursday.

7. Read your results online and share them with your doctor, which Everlywell also recommends.

How accurate are at-home cortisol tests?

At-home cortisol tests are as accurate as the lab and your sample timing allow, and no seller in the table publishes accuracy figures for its cortisol result except Eli Health. Eli claims 97% accuracy benchmarked against lab methods, with no study linked on its product page.⁷

Everlywell says its home collection methods are validated against clinic testing. Its tests are laboratory-developed tests, overseen by CMS under federal CLIA rules rather than reviewed by the FDA before sale.⁸ A 2024 FDA rule that would have changed that was struck down in March 2025.⁹

Cortisol also varies from day to day, so clinical guidelines call for at least two saliva or urine measurements before drawing conclusions about Cushing’s syndrome.² Home kits collect samples on a single day.

What can skew your results

Stress, exercise, pregnancy, hot or cold temperatures, serious illness and your sleep schedule can all affect cortisol levels, and so can some medicines, including birth control pills, estrogen, anti-seizure drugs and steroids such as prednisone or hydrocortisone.³ People who already take hydrocortisone often find it shows up in saliva readings.

With saliva, tobacco and licorice both contain a compound that can falsely raise salivary cortisol, and late-night testing may not suit shift workers or anyone with irregular sleep.²

How to read your results

Your report compares each reading with a reference range specific to that lab and sample type. Saliva results usually come in nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) and blood results in micrograms per deciliter (mcg/dL), so saliva numbers can’t be checked against blood ranges found online, and no single “normal” saliva range applies across labs.² Even blood ranges differ: Cleveland Clinic lists 10 to 20 mcg/dL between 6 and 8 a.m.,¹ while MedlinePlus gives 5 to 25 mcg/dL at 8 a.m.¹⁰

Home kit users often report confusion over these units, so use the ranges printed on your own report. If your daily curve looks unusual, check whether a missed timing window or a drink too close to a sample could explain it, then take the report to a doctor.

What a home cortisol test can’t tell you

A home cortisol test can’t diagnose a hormone disorder, and the sellers say so themselves. LetsGetChecked states its kit can’t diagnose or identify low cortisol, Labcorp OnDemand and Quest say their results don’t diagnose a condition, and Eli Health calls its reader a wellness device.

In medicine, cortisol testing is used to diagnose Cushing’s syndrome (too much cortisol) and adrenal insufficiency, including Addison’s disease (too little).³ Doctors usually confirm Cushing’s with two different tests, such as a 24-hour urine test, a late-night saliva test or a dexamethasone suppression test.¹¹ For adrenal insufficiency, the ACTH stimulation test is the one used most often.¹²

The Endocrine Society says no scientific proof supports adrenal fatigue as a medical condition, and that no test can detect it.¹³ People in adrenal insufficiency communities give similar advice, pointing each other toward a morning blood cortisol test with ACTH rather than saliva kits.

When to see a doctor

See a doctor rather than relying on a home kit if you have symptoms of a cortisol disorder or recently stopped taking corticosteroid medicine. Signs linked to Cushing’s syndrome include weight gain with thin arms and legs, a rounder face, extra fat at the base of the neck, easy bruising, muscle weakness and purple stretch marks.³

Signs of adrenal insufficiency include long-lasting fatigue, muscle weakness, loss of appetite, weight loss and belly pain. Others include nausea, dizziness or fainting on standing, salt cravings and low mood.

An adrenal crisis is a life-threatening emergency,¹⁴ and sometimes it’s the first sign of adrenal insufficiency. Warning signs include belly or side pain, weakness, confusion, fainting, vomiting, low blood pressure and a rapid heart rate. Call 911 or go to an emergency room if these appear.

If low mood, anxiety or poor sleep is the reason you’re thinking about a test, a doctor or therapist can assess those directly. If you’re thinking about suicide or feel unsafe, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

What cortisol tests cost and how to pay

Cortisol tests cost $85 to $199 as of September 2026: $85 to $89 for a single blood test at a lab, including Quest’s $6 physician fee, and $99 to $199 for mail-in saliva kits. Eli Health’s strips cost $79 a month for eight tests, less per test on longer plans.

Everlywell doesn’t accept insurance for kits, but you can usually pay with an HSA or FSA card because a physician authorizes each test. Quest, Labcorp OnDemand, LetsGetChecked and myLAB Box also accept HSA and FSA cards, and Eli Health is HSA and FSA eligible through a partner called Burst.

Where at-home cortisol tests aren’t available

State rules limit where many kits are sold, and New York is the most common exclusion. LetsGetChecked, myLAB Box and ZRT don’t sell these kits to New York residents. ZRT also excludes Maryland and needs a written order from a California-licensed prescriber for California residents.

Everlywell ships only within the US, excluding territories and military addresses, and flags any product not available in your state at checkout. Its New York status is unconfirmed, so New York readers should check there first. Quest’s cortisol blood test can’t be collected in Arizona, Hawaii or Puerto Rico. For more on how Everlywell’s physician review and lab network work, see is Everlywell legitimate.

See if Everlywell’s cortisol kit ships to your state