No black-box scores. Here's exactly how we read your gut.
A lot of gut tests hand you a mysterious number and hope you don't ask how they got there. That's the biggest problem in this whole category — and it's the thing we refuse to do. Here, in plain language, is how your test actually works.
Your gut is a living, wild ecosystem — not a horoscope. So we'd rather show you the real picture and be honest about what it does and doesn't mean than dress up a guess as a score.
From your sample to a clear picture.
We read your DNA
Your sample is sequenced with a well-established method (16S rRNA, the V3–V4 region) that reads the genetic barcode bacteria carry. It is a reliable way to see who is living in your gut.
We clean it up
Raw sequencing is noisy. We tidy it with a method called DADA2, which separates real bacteria from the small errors sequencing machines make — so what is left is signal, not static.
We name every microbe
Each cleaned-up sequence is matched against GTDB, a modern, current reference database, so your bacteria get their correct, up-to-date names instead of outdated ones.
You get a clear picture
The result is a plain read on which bacteria are in your gut and in what proportion, at the genus level — the everyday groups, not a wall of unreadable data.
We name your bacteria correctly.
Here's something the industry doesn't talk about: many tests still identify your bacteria using an outdated reference database that mislabels common gut microbes. If the name is wrong, every bit of guidance built on top of it is standing on the wrong foundation.
We use GTDB, the current, modern standard, so your bacteria are named the way today's science names them. It's an unglamorous detail that quietly makes everything else more trustworthy.
The same sample, the same answer.
Run it twice, get the same result.
Our method is built to be reproducible: the same sample run through the same steps gives you the same picture. A result you can't repeat isn't a result you can trust.
We record exactly how we did it.
Behind every result we keep a record of the exact version of the method used to produce it. If our process improves over time, we can always tell you precisely how your result was made.
We won't show you a number we can't stand behind.
Right now, your report shows you your microbiome composition — the real makeup of which bacteria are in your gut and in what proportion. That part is honest and ready today.
The single Biome Score — one tidy number — is a different story. We're still validating it against a real reference population before we put it in front of you. Until that work is done, we're not going to hand you a number and pretend it means more than it does. When it's ready and we can stand behind it, you'll see it. Not before.
Great at some things. Honest about the rest.
What it's great at
- Who is living in your gut — the bacterial groups that are present.
- How much of each — the proportions that make up your community.
- How diverse your gut is — whether it looks broad and varied or narrow.
What we won't pretend to know
- Exact strain-level detail — which specific strain of a microbe you carry.
- Precisely what your microbes are “doing” inside you day to day.
- A diagnosis — this is a wellness and educational tool, not a medical test.
If a sample isn't good enough, we don't guess.
Sometimes a sample comes back low quality — it happens. When it does, we flag it and re-test rather than quietly filling in the gaps with a guess. We'd rather take a little longer and give you something real.