Superpower vs Empirical Health

How do Empirical Health and Function Health compare?

Empirical Health and Function Health are not the same kind of company: one is a medical practice, the other a testing membership, and that split is the whole comparison. Empirical Health is a licensed medical practice whose in-house physicians prescribe as part of clinical care rather than through a marketplace, and it sells a comprehensive panel at $190, one time. Function Health is a testing membership: $365 a year buys 160+ lab tests, testing twice a year and on demand, results explained by physicians and researchers, and a stated position that it does not offer medical treatment.

Everything else follows from that split. A practice can order the next test, refer you on, and write a prescription inside one relationship. A membership hands you a wide set of numbers, an interpretation, and a protocol to follow, and anything clinical goes to a physician you choose. The price shape follows too: a single purchase on one side, an annual subscription on the other.

Who can write a prescription after the results, Empirical Health or Function Health?

Only Empirical Health ends a result in a prescription, issued from inside its own medical practice. Empirical Health's physicians work inside its own medical practice, so a prescription is issued as clinical care, not sold as a separate product. Function Health sells a testing membership and states that it does not offer medical treatment, so a prescription comes from a clinician of your own.

What that decides is who you speak to next. At Empirical Health, the clinician reading your panel is the clinician who can act on it, which keeps the assessment, the prescription, and the follow-up in one place. At Function Health, you hold a full set of results and take anything that needs a prescription to your own doctor, which is a short step if you already have one and an extra appointment if you do not.

Where does Empirical Health's blood draw happen, and how often does Function Health's?

Empirical Health draws at a testing site by appointment; Function Health tests twice a year and on demand, at home or at a lab. Both companies send you to a lab, and one of them will also come to you. Empirical Health draws blood at one of 2,000+ testing sites. Function Health includes testing twice a year and on demand, taken either at home or at 2,000+ lab locations.

Cadence matters more here than the site count. Empirical Health's comprehensive panel is a purchase you make when you want it. Function Health's year has two draws built into the membership, so the second reading arrives whether or not you remember to schedule it. One draw gives you a baseline; two in a year is what shows a marker moving.

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Who reads the panel at Empirical Health and Function Health, and what can they do next?

Empirical Health's own physicians read the panel and can act on it directly; Function Health's physicians and researchers interpret it, then hand anything clinical to your own doctor.

• Empirical Health: positions itself as proactive primary care, with in-house physicians covering clinical evaluation, prescriptions, lab orders, imaging, and specialist referrals, so a panel sits inside an ongoing clinical relationship. What follows a panel is a custom nutrition plan built with those physicians rather than a product it sells.
• Function Health: results come with interpretation from physicians and researchers and a personalized protocol for instant action included in the membership, plus member chat for questions about what a marker means. SuppCo is now part of Function, connecting a supplement routine to biomarker data.

What are the official 2026 membership prices for Empirical Health and Function Health?

Empirical Health sells a single $190 panel; Function Health sells a $365-a-year testing membership.

Test 150+ biomarkers

Two blood draws a year. Get a full picture of your health and the action plan you need to improve it.

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Test 150+ biomarkers

Two blood draws a year. Get a full picture of your health and the action plan you need to improve it.

Book your testLoading...

Who is Empirical Health best for, and who is Function Health best for?

Empirical Health is best for:

• People who want the panel inside a licensed medical practice, where the physicians reading it can prescribe, refer, and order the imaging.
• People who want a one-time $190 comprehensive panel, with ApoB and Lp(a) included, rather than an annual subscription.

Function Health is best for:

• People who want the larger published test list of the two, at 160+ lab tests for $365 a year, with two draws built into the year.
• People who already have a physician, and want breadth, fast first results, and interpretation without a care relationship attached.

The bottom line: does Empirical Health or Function Health fit you?

If you want a doctor attached to the numbers, Empirical Health fits. If you want breadth and repetition, with your own doctor for the clinical part, Function Health fits. Empirical Health is a medical practice that runs a panel: $190 one time for 100+ high-signal biomarkers, read by physicians who can prescribe, refer, and order what comes next. Function Health is a testing membership: $365 a year for 160+ lab tests, two draws in the year, first results within 48 hours, and interpretation without a prescribing relationship.

Superpower: a care team that goes further than explaining the number

Both models ask you to decide where the follow-up lives: in a practice you visit for Empirical Health, or with your own physician once Function Health hands back an interpretation and answers follow-up questions in member chat, which it says does not give medical advice. Superpower keeps that decision off your desk. $349 a year covers an initial complete draw returning ~90 health metrics and a built-in follow-up draw later in the year that repeats ~60 key trackable markers, 150+ across the two, and it puts a 24/7 care team behind them — one you message on the day a question arrives, rather than at a visit you had to schedule or in a thread scoped to what a marker means. What comes back with the results is a personalized action plan, one 93% of members rated as more useful or even life-changing than their yearly checkup, and the same team stays reachable while you work through it.

Understanding a marker and knowing what to do about it are two different services. Start your health journey with Superpower and get both from the same membership.