CircleDNA Review: Is Whole Exome Sequencing Worth the Cost?

Overview

1. Products: CircleDNA offers a variety of health, nutrition and ancestry reports, as well as Whole Exome Sequencing.
2. Cost: Test pricing ranges from approximately $318 to $510 per test depending on the bundle.
3. Reports: Covers diet, nutrition, disease risk, stress and sleep, drug responses, and ancestry with roughly 500 total reports.
4. Raw data access: Yes.
5. Privacy: Standard security measures; not fully HIPAA-compliant, and GDPR coverage is unclear.
6. Alternatives: SelfDecode offers more advanced, validated, and actionable health insights.

Pros

• Covers multiple report categories: diet, disease risk, stress and sleep, drug responses, and family planning
• Raw data access provided
• Offers whole exome sequencing

Cons

• Surface-level analysis using SNPs; no polygenic risk scoring (PRS), so results are descriptive, not predictive
• Recommendations do not integrate lab results, lifestyle factors, or current health conditions
• No published scientific validation
• Lacks relative matches for ancestry, limiting genealogical insights
• Customers report that ancestry results are often inaccurate, especially for non-Asian populations
• Expensive relative to depth and accuracy of insights; primarily curiosity-driven

About CircleDNA

CircleDNA was founded in 2014 by entrepreneur Danny Yeung and is based in Hong Kong under the parent company Prenetics. The company sells direct-to-consumer DNA tests covering areas like health, ancestry, diet, and lifestyle.

Review of CircleDNA Products & Features

CircleDNA offers one main product, the CircleDNA Premium test. This single package claims to cover everything from health and fitness to family planning and “success traits.”

Reports are divided into categories like diet (15 reports), nutrition (24 reports), disease risk (65 reports), stress and sleep (8 reports), drug response (105 reports), and ancestry.

At first glance, the number of reports may sound impressive, but the insights are generally surface-level. Diet and nutrition guidance tends to be broad recommendations that apply to most people, while disease risk assessments rely on limited genetic markers.

CircleDNA does not use polygenic risk scoring (PRS), which is considered the gold standard for predictive accuracy.

The platform also does not integrate lab results, lifestyle data, or symptoms, meaning the reports lack the depth required for truly personalized and actionable health recommendations. Unlike more advanced platforms such as SelfDecode, CircleDNA does not provide comprehensive recommendations that combine genetics with other health inputs.

Another limitation is the lack of published validation to support the accuracy of their findings. For a product marketed as a premium health service, the absence of transparency and scientific rigor is a major drawback.

SNP Analysis vs PRS vs Advanced PRS

CircleDNA relies on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis to generate its reports. This means it looks at individual genetic variants in isolation. While this can provide some basic insights, each SNP usually explains only a tiny fraction of overall genetic influence for most complex traits and conditions. The result is information that is largely descriptive, not predictive.

Polygenic Risk Scoring (PRS) takes a major step forward. PRS combines hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of variants into a single score, giving a much clearer picture of an individual’s genetic risk for complex diseases. It accounts for the combined effects of multiple genes, making it far more accurate and actionable than simple SNP analysis.

Advanced PRS, used by SelfDecode and OmicsEdge, goes even further, integrating ancestry adjustments, lab results, symptoms, and lifestyle factors to generate personalized health recommendations. This approach provides predictive, clinically relevant insights, validated across multiple studies and populations. Read more here.

By relying solely on SNP analysis, CircleDNA’s reports cannot offer the same level of accuracy or actionable guidance. Users may get a sense of “potential risk” but lack the comprehensive, validated information needed to make informed health decisions.

Cost of CircleDNA

CircleDNA offers several pricing tiers for its Premium DNA test, with the following options:

• Premium One (1 test): HK$3,999 (approx. US$510)
• Premium Trio (3 tests): HK$3,499 each (approx. US$445)
• Premium Family (5 tests): HK$2,999 each (approx. US$383)
• Premium Bundle (8 tests): HK$2,499 each (approx. US$318)

Health Recommendations from CircleDNA

CircleDNA provides health recommendations based on its Premium DNA test, covering topics such as diet, nutrition, disease risk, stress and sleep, drug responses, and family planning. Users receive insights about inherited conditions, optimal diets, fitness approaches, carrier status, and ancestry.

However, the recommendations are largely surface-level. They are based solely on a limited set of SNPs and do not incorporate polygenic risk scoring (PRS), meaning the results are not predictive of complex traits or disease risk.

Unlike more advanced platforms such as SelfDecode, CircleDNA does not analyze lab results, lifestyle factors, or current health conditions, which limits the personalization of its guidance.

Additionally, CircleDNA does not provide advanced recommendations that integrate symptoms, lab data, and millions of genetic variants. The suggestions are generic and lack actionable depth, and the company has no published validation studies to support the accuracy or clinical relevance of its recommendations.

In practice, this means users may receive basic guidance on nutrition, exercise, or supplementation, but it is unlikely to deliver truly personalized or clinically actionable insights.

Review of CircleDNA Privacy & Data Security

CircleDNA states that it takes user privacy seriously and stores genetic and personal information securely. The company claims to comply with local regulations in Hong Kong and other regions where it operates, and DNA samples are reportedly destroyed after testing.

However, there are limitations to its privacy safeguards. CircleDNA does not appear to be HIPAA-compliant, and it is unclear how consistently GDPR or equivalent protections apply across all markets.

Users may have limited control over how their data is used for research or third-party purposes, and transparency around long-term storage policies is minimal.

CircleDNA Reviews

User feedback for CircleDNA is mixed, but overall, it leans toward critical, particularly when it comes to accuracy, value, and ancestry insights.

Many users report that the ancestry breakdown is broad and often inaccurate, especially for non-Asian populations. One Redditor shared that CircleDNA estimated their ancestry as only 38% Northwestern European, while 23andMe and Ancestry both gave over 97%, which is a significant discrepancy. Others noted that the ethnicity estimates can be “extremely unreliable” or “crazy inaccurate.”

Several reviewers also questioned the value for money. The tests are expensive, yet users found that similar insights could be obtained elsewhere at lower cost or even for free by uploading raw DNA data to third-party services. Many commenters described the product as a “luxury, not a must-have” and criticized paying hundreds of dollars for what they considered marginally useful reports.

In terms of health and wellness reports, opinions were more divided. Some users found the nutrient and macronutrient insights interesting, but others noted that the information was not life-changing and sometimes inconsistent with their own experiences.

Overall, CircleDNA seems to deliver basic genetic insights, but users frequently raise concerns about accuracy, cost, and practical usefulness, especially compared to more established competitors like 23andMe, Ancestry, or Genomelink. Many concluded it’s more of a novelty or curiosity than a truly actionable health tool.

Alternatives to CircleDNA

CircleDNA offers a basic overview of health, ancestry, and lifestyle traits, but it falls short in predictive accuracy, actionable recommendations, and comprehensive data analysis. For those seeking truly advanced, personalized insights, solutions like SelfDecode, powered by OmicsEdge, provide a far more robust alternative.

SelfDecode and OmicsEdge use advanced AI and multi-omics analysis to deliver insights that go well beyond what CircleDNA offers. Their platform integrates genetics, lab results, symptoms, and lifestyle factors to generate recommendations tailored to each individual. Unlike CircleDNA, SelfDecode’s predictive models are validated in published studies and use ancestry-adjusted polygenic risk scoring for highly accurate risk predictions.

The platform analyzes 200 million genetic variants, including millions per report, and produces over 1,500 reports covering conditions, traits, nutrition, fitness, stress, and more. It can integrate blood tests with genetic data for multi-omics insights, providing personalized guidance based on symptoms, lab results, and millions of variants. SelfDecode and OmicsEdge also adhere to strict privacy and security standards, including HIPAA and GDPR compliance.

The cost and infrastructure behind SelfDecode and OmicsEdge are substantial, reflecting a platform built for high-quality, reliable, and actionable results. CircleDNA, by contrast, offers surface-level insights with limited predictive value and no published validation.

SelfDecode/OmicsEdge is ideal for anyone looking to move beyond basic curiosity and gain predictive, actionable, and scientifically validated health insights, while CircleDNA remains a broader, more superficial option.

CircleDNA Review Summary

CircleDNA positions itself as a premium DNA testing service, offering insights across health, fitness, nutrition, and ancestry. Its primary product, the Premium test, covers areas like diet, disease risk, stress and sleep, drug responses, and family planning.

While it provides a broad overview, the testing remains surface-level, analyzing only a limited set of genetic variants without using polygenic risk scoring (PRS). This makes the results largely descriptive rather than predictive.

The platform does not incorporate lab results, lifestyle data, or symptoms into its recommendations, and there is no published scientific validation of its predictive models. CircleDNA also lacks the ability to provide relative matches, a feature many users consider essential for ancestry-focused DNA tests.

In comparison to more advanced services like SelfDecode powered by OmicsEdge, CircleDNA falls short in predictive accuracy, personalization, and actionable recommendations. While it may appeal to those seeking a basic health and ancestry overview, it lacks the depth, scientific rigor, and integration of modern multi-omics platforms.