23andMe test now down to $99

The personal genomics company 23andMe has just announced that it has reduced the cost of its test from $299 to $99. The new price has been made possible following the company's announcement today that it has raised more than $50 million of funding with the aim of helping them to achieve their growth goal of one million customers. The full press release can be read here.

Note that postage for the 23andMe kits in the US costs just $9.95 but is significantly more expensive in other countries as the kits are sent not by post but by courier although a prepaid return service is included in the cost. In some countries there are additional customs charges. Shipping to the UK costs $79.95. It costs $59.95 to send the kits to Canada, and $74.95 for Australia and New Zealand. I have not checked all the prices but I noticed that 23andMe charge $94.95 to ship to Cyprus, Malta and Iceland and $118.95 to send kits to Bosnia and Belarus. For a list of countries that 23andMe will ship to see this FAQ on their website.

Note that if you test with 23andMe you can also transfer your results to Family Tree DNA's Family Finder database for genealogical matches. Note however that the Y-DNA and mtDNA results from 23andMe are not included in the transfer as these results are not compatible with FTDNA's genealogical matching database. Although the 23andMe test includes a Relative Finder feature many of the people who test with 23andMe do so for health reasons and aren't interested in researching their family tree. Family Tree DNA also has a much more international database than 23andMe, largely thanks to its association with the Genographic Project. FTDNA will in theory send kits to any country in the world and charge a flat rate of just $6 for international postage. For information on the process of transferring kits to FTDNA please read the FAQs on Third-Party Transfers.

For further information on the 23andMe test read my four-part feature on "Exploring my genome with 23andMe":

Part 1 Disease risks
Part 2 Carrier status and drug responses
Part 3 Traits
Part 4 Ancestry

See also my blog post on 23andMe's new Ancestry Composition - a British perspective.