Quest vs Labcorp: Prices, Locations, Turnaround, and Which Lab to Choose

	Quest Diagnostics	Labcorp
What it is	The largest US clinical laboratory network, headquartered in New Jersey	The second-largest, headquartered in North Carolina
Draw sites	About 2,000 patient service centers, plus draw sites inside many Walmart stores	About 2,000 patient service centers, plus draw sites inside many Walgreens stores
Appointments	Walk-ins accepted at most sites; appointments recommended and bookable online	Walk-ins accepted at most sites; appointments bookable online
Self-ordering site	Quest Health (questhealth.com)	Labcorp OnDemand (ondemand.labcorp.com)
Routine turnaround	1–3 business days for most tests	1–3 business days for most tests
Results portal	MyQuest	Labcorp Patient
Accreditation	CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited	CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited
Self-ordered draws in NY / NJ	Not offered	Not offered
Through TestWell	Choose Quest at checkout; same price	Choose Labcorp at checkout; same price

Both companies process hundreds of millions of tests a year for hospitals, clinics and physician offices; the vial your doctor draws in the office almost always ends up at one of the two. The quality standards are the same federal ones (CLIA), both hold College of American Pathologists accreditation, and both participate in the same proficiency-testing programs. For the routine chemistry, blood counts, lipids, thyroid and hormone tests most people order, there is no meaningful accuracy difference.

This is the difference that decides most choices. Each network operates roughly 2,000 patient service centers, but they are not evenly distributed — one lab tends to dominate a given metro area because of hospital and insurer contracts, so the nearest Quest may be ten minutes away and the nearest Labcorp forty, or the reverse. Quest also draws inside many Walmart stores and Labcorp inside many Walgreens stores, which extends both networks into suburbs and smaller towns.

Hours are similar: most centers open early (often 6:30 or 7 AM, useful for fasting draws), close mid-afternoon, and a subset open Saturday mornings. Both let you book an appointment online and both take walk-ins at most locations, though a walk-in on a Monday morning can mean a long wait. Before you order, look up the nearest center for each lab; TestWell's lab locations pages list what is available by state, and the two finders linked under Sources search by ZIP code.

Both labs sell tests directly to consumers through their own websites — Quest Health (formerly QuestDirect) and Labcorp OnDemand. You pick tests from a menu, pay by card, an independent physician network authorizes the order, and you visit one of that lab's own centers for the draw. Neither accepts insurance for these self-ordered tests, and each site only issues requisitions for its own lab, so choosing the site chooses the lab.

TestWell sits in front of both. You choose Quest or Labcorp at checkout, the physician review and requisition are handled the same way, and the draw happens at that lab's patient service center. The practical differences: one catalog and one price for either lab, panels priced as bundles rather than test by test, one lab processing fee of $6.00 per order instead of per-test fees, and results collected in one portal even if you switch labs between orders. New York and New Jersey orders route automatically to BioReference, because state rules keep Quest and Labcorp from accepting self-ordered draws there.

Your own doctor can, of course, order at either lab; the requisition will name one, and you can ask for the other if it is more convenient.

On their own consumer sites, prices for the same test differ more than most people expect, and neither lab is consistently cheaper. Across the 52 tests that Quest Health and Labcorp OnDemand both sell and TestWell also offers, checked September 12, 2026: Quest Health is cheaper on 30, Labcorp OnDemand on 11, and 11 are priced the same. The median list price is $75.00 at Quest Health and $79.00 at Labcorp OnDemand; through TestWell the median for the same tests is $42.99 all-in at either lab.

Test	Quest Health	Labcorp OnDemand	Cheaper direct	TestWell (either lab, all-in)
CBC with Differential	$29.00	$29.00	Same	$27.99
Comprehensive Metabolic Panel	$49.00	$49.00	Same	$28.99
Hemoglobin A1c	$39.00	$39.00	Same	$27.99
Lipid Panel	$59.00	$59.00	Same	$30.99
Testosterone, Total	$69.00	$69.00	Same	$39.99
TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone)	$49.00	$49.00	Same	$32.99
Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy	$75.00	$99.00	Quest	$47.99

The full side-by-side for every test, with each lab's own test codes and links to their listings, is on the Quest vs Labcorp price table, which is also available as a CSV. Individual list pages: Quest Health prices and Labcorp OnDemand prices. If you are using insurance through a doctor's order, none of these consumer prices apply — your cost is set by your plan's contracted rate and deductible, and it is worth asking which lab is in-network before the draw.

For routine tests — blood counts, metabolic panels, lipids, thyroid, vitamin D, A1c, most hormones — both labs return results within 1–3 business days of the draw, often the next morning. Specialty and send-out tests take longer at both: allergy panels, heavy metals, some autoimmune antibodies and methylmalonic acid can run 5–12 business days because they are performed at a central specialty laboratory (Quest's Nichols Institute or Labcorp's specialty divisions). Turnaround is set by the test more than by the lab; TestWell lists the expected window on each test page.

Quest posts results to its MyQuest app and website; Labcorp to the Labcorp Patient portal. Both are free and both keep a history, but only for that lab. If you order through TestWell, results from either lab arrive in one TestWell portal with plain-language interpretation alongside the raw report, so switching labs between orders does not scatter your history.

One genuine difference: reference ranges are not identical. Each lab sets its own ranges from its own analyzers, calibrations and reference populations, so the "normal" window for TSH, testosterone, vitamin D or a liver enzyme can differ by a few percent between the two. Results are clinically equivalent, but a value near a cut-off can be flagged at one lab and not the other. If you are tracking a marker over months — hormones on therapy, thyroid on levothyroxine, ferritin during iron replacement — stay with one lab so that every result is measured on the same system. TestWell's biomarker pages show typical ranges and explain what the differences mean.

New York and New Jersey do not allow the self-ordered draw model that Quest Health, Labcorp OnDemand and other direct-to-consumer services use, so neither lab will accept a consumer-ordered requisition at its centers in those states. TestWell orders from New York and New Jersey route automatically to BioReference Laboratories, a national lab licensed for this model there; a few tests carry a BioReference-specific price, shown at checkout. Everywhere else TestWell serves, both Quest and Labcorp are available and you choose between them.

• Closest center wins. For routine tests the results are interchangeable, so distance, hours and wait times should decide.
• Tracking a value over time? Use the same lab every time so reference ranges and calibration stay constant.
• Your doctor already uses one? Match it, so new results sit next to old ones in the same system and the same ranges.
• Using insurance? Check which lab is in-network for your plan before the draw; this matters far more than list price.
• Paying yourself and ordering direct? Compare the specific tests you want — Quest Health is cheaper more often, but not on every test — or order through TestWell, where the price is the same at either lab and you can still pick the closer center.
• In New York or New Jersey? Neither lab takes self-ordered draws; the order routes to BioReference.

Whichever you pick, the test itself — the same CPT code, run to the same federal standards — is what your doctor would order. The choice is about convenience and cost, not quality.