Editorial policy

Our readers have already decided to get tested. Our job is to help them choose a test, a provider and a route quickly, with information they can trust. These are the rules we write by.

Sources

• Every medical, legal or price fact has a source. We cite primary sources: CDC, HIV.gov, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the FDA, HHS, the IRS, and providers' own pages for prices and features.
• No invented numbers. If we can't source a statistic, we don't use it. If we can't source a claim, we cut it.
• Sources are listed on every page, and we link to the specific page that supports a claim, not to a home page.

Independence

• Some providers pay us commissions. That doesn't affect which providers we include, how we rank them or what we write. See our affiliate disclosure.
• Providers can't pay for placement, coverage or wording, and they don't review our content before it's published.
• The default ranking follows fixed rules based on price, described in our methodology.

How we write

• Calm and plain. Short sentences and everyday words. We explain medical terms when we use them.
• No fear, no judgment. We don't use scare tactics, and we don't moralize about anyone's sex life.
• Honest about trade-offs. We list free public clinics alongside paid options, and we say when a clinic visit is a better first step than an online test.
• No "anonymous" claims. Private testing is not anonymous. Positive results for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV are reported to public health in every state, as CDC's guidelines state, and hepatitis B and C are nationally notifiable. We say so plainly and explain what reporting does and doesn't mean.
• No prices in articles. Prices change often. Articles link to our tables, where every price shows the date it was verified.

Medical review

Medical pages are written from CDC and other primary guidance. We are appointing a licensed clinician to review them. Until then, those pages say "Medical review pending." See medical review.

Updates

Every page shows when it was last updated. We revise pages when the guidance or facts behind them change, such as a new CDC recommendation or a provider changing what a test includes. Prices are checked daily, as described in our methodology.

Corrections

If we get something wrong, we fix it and log significant corrections publicly. See corrections to report an error.

Contact

Contact details are being finalized and will be published here before launch.