Genetic Genie vs. Promethease: In-Depth Comparison

Genes Mentioned

• COMT
• MTHFR

Genetic Genie and Promethease are two of the most popular third-party tools you can use to interpret your raw DNA data, once you’ve obtained that through 23andMe, AncestryDNA, or similar. These add-on services offer far more in-depth insight into an individual’s health predispositions, but their approach, accessibility, and content differ significantly.

What they offer

In the simplest terms, Genetic Genie is the go-to service for anyone interested in methylation and detoxification pathway analysis.

In contrast, Promethease provides much broader report content by matching your genetic data with insights from the SNPedia database.

Genetic Genie vs. Promethease

Feature	Genetic Genie	Promethease
Primary Focus	Methylation and detoxification pathways (MTHFR, COMT, VDR, etc.)	Broad health-related risks, traits, and carrier status for rare and common concerns
Report Types	Methylation Profile, Detox Profile, and a broader GenVue Discovery tool	More DIY-style with no specific reports; allows you to identify carrier status for various conditions, health traits, and common and rare disease risks
Notable Genes	MTHFR, COMT, MTR, MTRR, VDR, MAO, ACAT1	Considers thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), relying on a vast database of research
Cost	Free (donation encouraged)	$12 per report
Ease of Use	Easy upload, user-friendly interface, well laid out reports	Function over form, poor user interface, can be confusing to use and interpret
Methylation Report	Dedicated report with color coding for risk and clear explanations. No advice or guidance though	No dedicated report. DIY analysis of SNPs related to methylation
Data Sources	ClinVar (clinically relevant variant analysis based on data from NCBI)	SNPedia (aggregates both strong and weak sources of data and research across a broad range of SNPs)
Privacy and Security	Does not store DNA or reports; all data encrypted	Deletes data after 45 days, unless you create an account; all data encrypted
Ideal User	Individuals with some knowledge who want to focus on methylation and detoxification for health and wellness	More experienced individuals and researchers

Methylation Analysis

If you’re looking for a third-party service to analyze your methylation potential, Genetic Genie is a solid bet. The GG report focuses on the best researched variants in MTHFR and COMT, and other related genes.

To make things simple, GG uses color coding for homo- or heterozygous risk variants. It’s also more accessible for the average person because it typically includes an explanation of the potential impact of these variants on health.

In contrast, Promethease requires a lot more work to uncover insights into methylation. This service doesn’t offer a dedicated methylation report. Instead, you have to search for methylation-related SNPs within the full report.

If you know what you’re looking for and are well-versed in genetics, Promethease can be a good choice. If you have limited time or expertise, Genetic Genie is the better choice.

Ease of Use

Again, Genetic Genie is a much better packaged service, with easy-to-read reports that an amateur genetics nerd can understand. Promethease can be very rewarding too, but it requires more underlying knowledge of how genetics work and what to look for.

Genetic Genie also makes it easy to upload your data, and the interface is more user-friendly overall. That said, it doesn’t provide any actual advice or genetic counselling. You’ll still need to interpret the reports yourself to figure out any changes you might want to make to your diet, lifestyle, or supplement regimen.

Promethease still has the look and feel of a company that really could benefit from a solid front-end designer with UX experience. I appreciate its insights, but the user experience is not beginner-friendly and can be quite confusing, from upload to interpretation. Think function over form.

Also, because Promethease offers such broad reporting, it can be tricky to discern which findings are likely to be clinically important, as opposed to those coming from speculation from smaller studies or research papers.

Can you trust the insights?

Both Genetic Genie and Promethease claim their tools can be used diagnostically.

I’d take this with a grain of salt.

Sure, Genetic Genie uses ClinVar and other clinically vetted genetics databases, but the service still relies on the accuracy of your raw data and theirs, as well as its completeness.

As for Promethease, while the insights can be broader, they require careful interpretation. Some findings may be based only on weak or preliminary research, but it’s tricky to tell without digging into the citations. Promethease aggregates high-quality, peer-reviewed research and content contributed by users. This can have the effect of watering down some insights or highlighting others that shouldn’t be as prominent.

Cost

The good news is that you don’t have to spend a lot to use both services!

In fact, Genetic Genie is currently free, though the non-profit organization behind GG encourages a donation to support the service.

Promethease reports used to be free until a few years ago. Now they cost $12, and you’ll want to save your repot because it gets deleted after 45 days.

Annoyingly, Promethease claims you can generate a previous report again for free, but this didn’t work when I tried it earlier this year. I tracked down a contact email but never got a response to my request for help on regenerating the report.

So, user beware, after you upload your data, interpret your report ASAP. And download what you can, when you can. You may also want to create a user account, though this means Promethease may store your raw data indefinitely, so check the terms and conditions.

Security

Whenever you share your genetic data, you’ll want reasonable assurances that the data won’t be shared or sold.

Genetic Genie does not store any DNA samples or data. Your uploaded data is deleted immediately after a report is generated, or within 24 hours, as are the reports themselves. It also encrypts all transmissions.

Promethease deletes your data and reports after 45 days. Mine certainly wasn’t accessible after 45 days. There now seems to be an option to create an account, allowing you to keep your data in their system for repeated access to reports.

Which Tool is Better (for Methylation Analysis)?

Overall, I still favor Promethease as the more comprehensive analysis tool. It requires more time and effort, and it isn’t free, but it gives much more insight across a broad range of health-related concerns.

If you are mostly focused on methylation, detoxification, and nutritional tweaks, Genetic Genie is the clear winner between the two. The reports are built for these purposes, so do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. They can be especially useful if you’re concerned about how your body handles drugs or toxins.

Your other option, naturally, is Gene Food.

One of the main motivations behind Gene Food was assessing methylation pathways. So, if this is your primary concern, Gene Food is your best bet for easy to understand, actionable insights into methylation, detoxification, sterol absorption, and so forth. It also provides guidance on dietary modifications based on your genetic profile, which goes far beyond anything offered by Genetic Genie or Promethease.