23andMe alternative
A 23andMe alternative that never holds your genome
Most people searching for a 23andMe alternative want one of two things: something more trustworthy to hold their DNA, or something useful to do with the file they already downloaded. Aimosti answers the second — and removes the need for the first.
Be clear about what this is
Aimosti is not a like-for-like replacement that sequences you again and mails a kit. We're the honest opposite: you keep the raw-data file you already own, and we re-analyse it against current clinical and research databases. If you specifically need a fresh sample taken — say, a whole-genome sequence you don't yet have — that's a different product. But if you own a 23andMe, AncestryDNA or MyHeritage file, re-analysis gives you a current, attributed reading without handing your genome to another company to store and, one bankruptcy later, sell.
Why "who holds your DNA" is the deciding question
The 23andMe bankruptcy made the risk concrete: when a company's business model is to hold your genome, that database becomes an asset a court can sell. As a condition of the 23andMe sale, attorneys general had to negotiate that any future sale carry the privacy terms forward — a protection that exists precisely because holding genomes at scale is the hazard. Aimosti removes the hazard at the root: there is no genome vault here to be auctioned.
| A typical consumer DNA service | Aimosti | |
|---|---|---|
| Business model | Sells a test and stores your genome | Re-analyses a file you already own |
| New sample needed | Yes — a fresh kit and saliva sample | No — you upload the file you exported |
| Where your data is stored | Often the United States | The EU (Finland), GDPR Article 9 |
| How long they keep your genome | Retained long-term by default | Raw upload deleted after analysis by default |
| If the company goes bankrupt | The database can be sold as an asset | Nothing to sell — no genome is held |
| Findings | Interpretation varies; sources often unstated | Every finding attributed to its source |
| What it claims to be | Often framed as health results | Information to confirm with a clinician — not a diagnosis |
"A typical consumer DNA service" is a category description, not a claim about any one company; practices differ between providers.
What you actually get
- A current reading of your existing file — ClinVar, ACMG and CPIC move monthly; a chip read years ago hasn't been re-checked against them until now.
- Honesty about the limits — we show no-calls, and we mark uncertain results (like CYP2D6 copy-number metabolizer status) indeterminate rather than guess.
- A report you keep, plus optional yearly re-analysis as the science moves.
The longer version of why we're built this way is on why Aimosti exists; the practical file-by-file walkthroughs are for 23andMe, AncestryDNA and MyHeritage.
Why not the €23 option?
Promethease and Genetic Genie read the same public databases we do. The difference is time. They hand you a report frozen on the day you run it, built from the few thousand positions a genotyping chip happens to type. We read your whole genome where you have it, attribute every finding to the guideline it came from, and re-read your file as those guidelines change. You buy the careful version once, and it stays current. You keep it either way.
Named services are described from their public product pages; features change and we don't speak for them. Cheaper isn't the problem. What "frozen the day you ran it" costs you three years later is.