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Quick answer: The Viome vs Function Health debate is a bit of a trap, because they are not measuring the same thing. Viome sequences your gut microbiome and cellular RNA from a stool (and sometimes saliva) sample to suggest foods and supplements. Function Health runs a large annual blood panel reviewed against clinical ranges. If what you actually want is a yearly full-body blood baseline you can track over time, our pick is Superpower: 100+ blood biomarkers, plain-language scores, and an action plan for $199 a year, which undercuts Function Health while covering the same screening job.
Disclosure: Vital Signs Today may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page, at no extra cost to you. This does not influence our evidence-based assessments. We are not a medical provider; talk to a clinician before acting on test results.
| Service | Best for | Pricing | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Superpower | Whole-body optimization | ~$179/yr membership | View › |
| Function Health | Annual deep panel | Annual membership | View › |
Viome vs Function Health vs Superpower (2026) at a glance
| Feature | Viome | Function Health | Superpower |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Kit + ~$199/mo supplements | $365/yr | $199/yr ($399 NY & NJ) |
| Biomarkers | RNA gut/food (not standard blood) | 160+ | 100+ (~150 with ratios) |
| Draws per year | At-home sample | 2 draws + urinalysis | 1 annual draw |
| Standout | Microbiome + supplement subscription | 6-month retest, clinician-reviewed | 17 health scores + action plan + AI concierge |
| Best for | Gut/food focus, not a blood baseline | Most clinically thorough | Best-value full-body baseline |
How should you read a three-way test comparison like this?
The simplest way to actually get this done
Superpower is a full-body lab membership that runs 100+ biomarkers, has each result reviewed by a doctor, and tracks your numbers year over year (about $199/year). It is what we point readers to when they would rather get one clean, complete draw than chase single tests one at a time. Here is superpower reviewed in full.
Before you weigh price or marker counts, sort the three products into the right buckets. Two of them, Function Health and Superpower, belong to the same family: annual blood memberships that draw venous blood and report biomarkers against clinical ranges. The third, Viome, belongs to a different family entirely, because it sequences the RNA in a stool sample to profile your gut microbes and the genes they are actively expressing. Comparing a Viome kit to a blood membership on price alone is a category error, since they answer questions that do not overlap.
The practical filter is to write down the single health question that pushed you to search in the first place. If it sounds like “are my cholesterol, blood sugar, thyroid, and vitamin D where they should be,” you are in blood-panel territory, and the real contest is Function Health versus Superpower. If it sounds like “which foods suit my gut and why do I feel bloated,” that is a microbiome question, and Viome is the only one of the three that even attempts an answer. Most disappointed buyers we hear from bought the wrong family, not the wrong brand.
Keep one more thing in view as you read: none of these three is a diagnostic device. They are screening and personalization tools. That framing matters when you get to the section on accuracy, because it changes what “worth it” means for each.
Viome vs Function Health vs Superpower: they answer different questions
The first thing to get straight in any viome vs function health comparison is that you are choosing between two different categories of test, not two versions of the same one. Buy the wrong category and the price difference stops mattering, because you paid for an answer to a question you were not asking.
Viome is a microbiome and RNA company. Function Health and Superpower are blood-biomarker companies. The honest way to decide is to start from the health question in your head, then match it to the test that answers it.
Viome: gut microbiome and RNA, not bloodwork
Viome analyzes a stool sample (and in some panels saliva) using RNA sequencing to profile your gut microbes and cellular activity, then turns that into food and supplement recommendations. Its flagship is marketed as a full-body intelligence test, but the input is your microbiome, not a blood draw. Viome does not measure cholesterol, fasting glucose, thyroid hormones, or a CBC, so it cannot replace standard bloodwork. Treat Viome pricing as per-kit or subscription and check the provider for the current number, since it runs frequent promotions and we will not quote a figure we have not verified.
Viome test reviews tend to split along one line: people who love a concrete food list walk away happy, while people expecting clinical blood markers feel the RNA-to-recommendation leap is hard to verify. Both reactions are fair. It is a personalization tool, not a diagnostic panel.
Function Health: the thorough annual blood membership
Function Health is a $365-per-year membership built around blood testing: 160+ biomarkers, two draws per year plus a urinalysis, and a 6-month retest built into the plan. That cadence is its strongest feature. Two scheduled draws plus a urinalysis make it the most clinically thorough of the three on the blood side, and the breadth of markers is genuinely deep.
The trade-offs are price and polish. At $365 it is the priciest option here, and its AI chat layer is newer than the rest of the experience. If you want maximum marker coverage and a built-in retest and the cost does not faze you, Function Health earns its keep.
Superpower: the full-body blood baseline at $199
Superpower is a $199-per-year membership: one comprehensive annual blood draw covering 100+ biomarkers (about 150 once you count calculated ratios), 17 plain-language health scores, a personalized action plan, and an AI concierge you can chat with about your results. It is built to give a health-conscious adult a clean yearly baseline and then track it, not to diagnose disease. (Membership runs $399 in New York and New Jersey because of state lab rules.)
Against Function Health it is the value play on the blood side: a bit fewer markers, one draw instead of two, but roughly half the annual price and a friendlier results layer. Against Viome it simply does a different job, the one most people picturing a full-body test actually have in mind.
What does each test actually measure?
The marker counts in the table hide a lot of detail. Here is what is really inside each service, because that is where the buying decision usually turns.
What Viome measures
Viome’s core input is metatranscriptomic sequencing, which reads the RNA in your stool sample to see not just which microbes are present but which genes they are switching on. From that it generates scores such as gut microbiome health, gut lining health, inflammatory activity, and cellular or mitochondrial health, then converts them into personalized food lists: superfoods to eat, foods to minimize, and supplement or probiotic formulas Viome will sell you on a subscription. The output is a diet and supplement plan, not a set of blood values. There is no cholesterol number, no fasting glucose, no thyroid panel, and no complete blood count anywhere in the report.
What Function Health measures
Function Health runs a broad venous blood panel of 160+ biomarkers spread across categories like heart, metabolic, thyroid, liver, kidney, immune, nutrients, and hormones, plus a urinalysis. The distinguishing feature is cadence: the membership schedules two draws a year with a six-month retest, so you see movement rather than a single snapshot. Results are reviewed against clinical reference ranges and flagged when they fall out of range.
What Superpower measures
Superpower’s single annual draw covers 100+ biomarkers, and once calculated ratios are included the report lists roughly 150 data points. The panel spans the clinical territory most people care about: a lipid panel for cardiovascular risk, fasting glucose and often insulin and HbA1c for metabolic health, a full thyroid workup, sex and stress hormones, inflammatory markers, a complete blood count, liver and kidney function, and nutrient markers such as vitamin D, B12, ferritin, and folate. It then rolls those into 17 plain-language health scores and an action plan, so a non-clinician can see at a glance which systems look solid and which need attention.
The takeaway from lining them up: Function Health and Superpower cover the same clinical job, with Function Health adding marker depth and a second draw, and Superpower adding a friendlier scoring layer at a much lower price. Viome is measuring something neither blood panel touches.
Viome vs Superpower: microbiome RNA or full-body bloodwork?
This is the comparison most people mean when they search viome vs superpower, so it deserves a clear call. They overlap almost nowhere. Viome tells you about your gut ecosystem and which foods may suit it. Superpower tells you what your blood says about your metabolism, organs, hormones, inflammation, and nutrient status.
If your main concern is digestion, bloating, or building a personalized diet, Viome is the more relevant buy and Superpower will not give you a microbiome readout. If your concern is the broader stuff (cholesterol creeping up, blood sugar, thyroid, vitamin D, a yearly baseline to watch as you age) then Superpower is the right tool and Viome will not touch those numbers.
The genuinely informed move, if budget allows, is to treat them as complementary rather than competing: Superpower for the blood baseline, Viome for the gut layer. They are not rivals so much as different instruments.
How accurate are these tests, and what should you trust?
Accuracy works differently for a blood panel than for an RNA microbiome test, and the distinction is worth understanding before you spend.
The blood side is the more established science. The individual assays Function Health and Superpower run, a lipid panel, an A1c, a TSH, a metabolic panel, are the same standardized tests a hospital lab performs, and both companies use accredited labs to process them. The value they add is not inventing new measurements but aggregating a wide panel, tracking it over time, and translating it into plain language. The main thing to watch is that reference ranges vary between labs, and an “optimal” range promoted by a wellness company can be narrower than the standard clinical range, which is why a flag on your report is a prompt to investigate, not a diagnosis.
The microbiome side is newer and more contested. RNA sequencing of stool is real technology, but the leap from a microbial RNA profile to a specific “eat this, avoid that” recommendation is where independent scientists raise eyebrows, because that translation depends on proprietary models that are hard to validate from the outside. That does not make Viome useless. Plenty of users find the food lists a helpful nudge. It means you should treat Viome’s recommendations as informed suggestions to experiment with, not settled clinical fact.
For a health-conscious adult who wants numbers they can act on and revisit, the blood panel is the safer foundation, and that is a large part of why our default pick sits there.
Price and value: the real annual math
On the two blood memberships the numbers are simple. Superpower is $199 a year for 100+ biomarkers and one draw. Function Health is $365 a year for 160+ biomarkers, two draws, and a urinalysis. So Function Health gives you roughly 60% more markers and a second draw for roughly 80% more money.
Whether that premium is worth it comes down to one question: do you need the second draw and the extra marker depth this year, or do you mainly want a solid baseline you can trust and revisit? Most people in the screening-and-tracking bucket get what they need from the $199 tier, which is why Superpower is our default recommendation for this audience.
Viome sits outside this math entirely. Its pricing is per kit or subscription and aimed at diet personalization, so comparing its cost to a blood membership is comparing a recipe app to a lab report. Check Viome directly for current pricing before you buy.
Where does each test not make sense?
Knowing when to skip a product is as useful as knowing when to buy it.
Skip Viome if what you actually want is a blood baseline. It is easy to be seduced by the phrase “full body intelligence,” but if your questions are about cholesterol, blood sugar, thyroid, or vitamins, Viome will not answer any of them, and the ongoing supplement subscription can quietly become the largest line item. Buy it for the gut, not for a checkup.
Skip Function Health if the second draw and the extra marker depth are not things you will use this year. The 160+ panel and six-month retest are genuinely valuable for someone managing several markers or who loves maximum data, but a lot of first-time buyers pay the $365 for coverage they never look at, when a single clean baseline would have told them what they needed.
Skip Superpower only in two cases: if your real question is about the gut rather than the blood, in which case Viome fits better, or if you specifically want two draws a year and the deepest possible marker list and you are happy to pay for it, in which case Function Health is the better match. For the middle of the market, though, Superpower is the one that does the expected job at the lowest price.
One cost note that catches people out: Viome’s headline kit price is not the whole story, because the model is built around a recurring supplement and probiotic subscription. Budget for the ongoing cost, not just the kit, or the comparison to a flat annual membership will mislead you.
How do you actually use the results once they land?
Buying the test is the easy part. The value shows up in what you do with the report, and each of these rewards a slightly different routine.
With a blood membership, start by reading the flagged markers, then look at the trend rather than the single value if you have a prior draw. A one-off “high” reading can reflect a poor night’s sleep, a hard workout the day before, dehydration, or a non-fasting sample, so the first move on any surprising result is usually to confirm it on a clean retest before you overhaul your life. Anything clearly out of range, especially in cardiovascular, metabolic, thyroid, or kidney markers, belongs in a conversation with a clinician. For prep, most panels ask for an 8 to 12 hour fast, water only, and it helps to book a morning draw, stay hydrated, and avoid intense exercise and alcohol the day before, because all of those can move glucose, liver enzymes, and lipids.
With Viome, the results are a menu to experiment with. Give a food or supplement change several weeks, notice how digestion, energy, and bloating respond, and re-test down the line to see whether your scores moved. It is an iterative diet tool, so treat it like one.
Two realistic scenarios
The 42-year-old who just wants a baseline. No specific symptoms, a family history of heart disease, and a vague sense that they should get checked. This is the textbook case for Superpower: one annual draw, 100+ markers, a clear score on cardiovascular and metabolic risk, and a number to watch each year for $199. Viome would tell them nothing about the cholesterol they are worried about, and Function Health would do the same job for nearly twice the price.
The person with chronic bloating and food reactions. Blood markers keep coming back normal, but digestion is a daily problem. Here Viome earns its place, because the question is about the gut, not the blood. The genuinely thorough move is to pair a blood baseline for the big-picture numbers with Viome for the gut layer, since they answer different halves of the question.
Which one is right for you
Here is the short version of the three-way call, based on the job you are hiring the test to do.
- Choose Viome if your priority is your gut microbiome and a personalized food and supplement plan, and you understand it is not bloodwork.
- Choose Function Health if you want the deepest annual blood panel available here, two draws plus urinalysis, and the $365 price is fine.
- Choose Superpower if you want a comprehensive full-body blood baseline with plain-language scores and an action plan, at the best price of the three blood-screening options at $199 a year.
For the largest group of readers, a health-conscious adult who wants to know where their blood markers stand and watch them year over year, Superpower is the cleanest fit on value and usability. Function Health is the upgrade when you want maximum depth, and Viome is a separate purchase for the gut question.
One caveat that applies to all three: none of these services is a diagnosis. Any result that lands outside the normal range should be reviewed with a clinician before you act on it.
Full-body lab membership: 100+ biomarkers, doctor-reviewed, tracked over time.
Related reading on Vital Signs Today
- Viome Alternatives (2026): Microbiome and Blood Test Options
- Is Viome Legit? The Science, the Hype, and a Better Baseline (2026)
- Viome Cost: Test Pricing and Subscriptions (2026)
- Superpower Blood Test Review (2026): Is It Worth the Membership?
Frequently asked questions
Is Viome better than Function Health?
Neither is strictly better, because they test different things. Viome profiles your gut microbiome and RNA to suggest foods, while Function Health runs a 160+ biomarker blood panel reviewed against clinical ranges. If you want bloodwork, Function Health (or Superpower at a lower price) is the right category. If you want gut and diet personalization, Viome is.
What do Viome test reviews generally say?
Common themes users report are that the personalized food and supplement lists feel novel and actionable, but that some buyers expected clinical blood markers and were surprised the test does not include them. The recurring lesson across viome test reviews is to know going in that it is a microbiome tool, not a blood panel.
How does the viome vs superpower decision actually break down?
Viome answers gut and diet questions from a stool or saliva sample. Superpower answers blood questions (metabolism, organs, hormones, inflammation, nutrients) from one annual draw of 100+ biomarkers for $199 a year. They barely overlap, so the choice is really about which question you want answered, and many people end up wanting both.
Can I replace a doctor’s blood test with any of these?
No. Superpower and Function Health are screening and tracking services, and Viome is a personalization tool, so none of them diagnoses disease. They are useful for spotting trends and starting conversations, but any out-of-range result should be confirmed and interpreted with a licensed clinician.
How often should I retest with any of these?
For a blood baseline, once a year is the standard rhythm for a healthy adult, which is why both memberships are annual. If you are actively changing something, a new medication, a serious diet or training shift, or you are chasing an out-of-range marker back into range, a three to six month retest on that specific marker makes sense. Function Health builds a six-month retest into the plan, while with Superpower you would time a recheck yourself. For Viome, re-testing after you have run an experiment on the food and supplement recommendations, usually a few months later, is the way to see whether your scores actually moved.
Do I need to fast before a Superpower or Function Health draw?
Generally yes. Most comprehensive panels include fasting-sensitive markers like glucose, insulin, and triglycerides, so an 8 to 12 hour water-only fast and a morning appointment give the cleanest read. Follow the specific instructions the provider sends, since a few markers do not require fasting and requirements can change.
Can I use Viome and a blood test together?
Yes, and for a lot of people that is the smartest setup. They do not compete, because the blood membership covers metabolism, organs, hormones, and cardiovascular risk, while Viome covers the gut microbiome and diet personalization. If budget allows, running a blood baseline plus Viome answers both the “how are my systems doing” and the “what should I eat” questions at once.
