Real off-the-shelf lab testing gives Labdoor a credible evidence base, but earning most of its money on affiliate sales of the very products it ranks (plus a paid manufacturer-certification arm) keeps it short of a truly disinterested grader.
What it's really for An independent supplement-testing lab; it buys and chemically tests products, earning through affiliate links and a store.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its lab-tested supplement rankings, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
Consumers (via affiliate purchases) and supplement manufacturers (via paid testing/certification) are the two payers. Labdoor explicitly states it does "not accept contributions or donations of any kind from manufacturers to rank products," so paying does not, by its disclosure, buy a higher grade; however, its primary income is affiliate commissions on sales of the products it ranks, and its paid certification program markets on-site visibility and sales lift to brands, which critics say creates an incentive tension even if rank itself is not for sale.
Source →- Operating since
- 2012 (14 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- Primarily affiliate commissions: by its own and Wikipedia's accounts, since November 2013 Labdoor earns most revenue from affiliate links (e.g., Amazon) on the products it tests and ranks, reportedly keeping roughly 10% of each sale. It also runs a separate paid enterprise arm (launched October 2017) selling custom lab testing and a renewable "Quality Certification" subscription to supplement manufacturers. Earlier it raised about $11M in venture funding.
- What they do
- Labdoor anonymously buys dietary supplements off retail shelves, sends samples to an FDA-registered lab for chemical analysis (active-ingredient content and contaminants such as heavy metals), and publishes A+-to-F quality grades and category rankings built from five sub-scores (Label Accuracy, Product Purity, Nutritional Value, Ingredient Safety, Projected Efficacy).
- What to watch for
- The consumer rankings sit alongside two revenue streams tied to the brands being ranked: affiliate commissions on sales of ranked products, and a paid manufacturer certification/testing program that, by Labdoor's own enterprise materials, gives paying brands a dedicated page and "Upcoming/In Progress/Certified" status displayed within the rankings. Labdoor states manufacturers cannot pay to rank, and the final scoring algorithm is proprietary and "subject to change at any time," so a reader cannot fully reproduce a grade or cleanly separate the editorial rankings from the paid-certification business by looking at a product page alone.
- Composite score
- 3.30 / 5.00 → grade B
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- Labdoor states it is funded by website (affiliate) revenue and paid testing services and that 'We do not accept contributions or donations of any kind from manufacturers to rank products on our site,' arguing this 'business model aligns our interests with consumers.' Source: Labdoor — About us (primary) →
- Per Wikipedia, citing Labdoor, 'Since November 2013, Labdoor's primary income is affiliate marketing for retailers, such as Amazon, of products they have tested and certified,' and Labdoor separately sells testing services to manufacturers and a certification program that drives sales and retailer referrals. Source: Labdoor — Wikipedia →
- Labdoor's enterprise Quality Certification page describes a 12-month renewable subscription under which a brand's products are displayed in their 'categories/rankings' with 'Upcoming,' 'In Progress,' and 'Certified' status for 'maximum exposure' on labdoor.com. Source: Labdoor — Quality Certification Program (primary) →