The Nebula reports you paid for stopped. Your genome file did not.

What Nebula gave you, and what it costs to get the rest

Nebula's customer terms are specific about the files: "You may download your VCF file through the portal. If you wish to obtain your CRAM or FASTQ file, you will need to submit a request to Nebula customer service", and if the request is approved "a data transfer fee will apply". So most Nebula customers hold the VCF and nothing else. That is fine. The VCF is the file for the $39 full report, and it is usually under a gigabyte.

Two things to know about it. It is variant-only: it lists the positions where you differ from the reference and says nothing about the rest, so when a disease variant is absent the file cannot tell "you are clear" from "this position was never read". We report that honestly, as absent rather than examined and clear. And it is, in every Nebula file we have seen, on GRCh38; the file check reads the build from the header either way.

The CRAM, if you paid the fee for it, is the aligned reads in compressed form. It answers what the VCF cannot: whether each gene in the panel was actually covered, and what CYP2D6 and the other structurally awkward pharmacogenes look like. That is the $49 Deep Read panel. A CRAM can only be decoded against the exact reference assembly it was written with, so the file check names the assembly yours needs and says whether we hold it, before any money changes hands. You do not upload the whole file; the browser sends only the slices the panel reads.

Which depth you bought decides the tier

Since the rebrand, the same genome is sold at three depths: DNA Complete's shop lists Essential at 1x, Pro at 30x and Elite at 100x, and its terms add that it "makes no guarantee that any individual genome will achieve the specified average coverage". The provider name no longer tells anyone what the file can support, so we go by the file.

• 30x or 100x: the full report from the VCF, and Deep Read from the CRAM.
• 1x: a low-pass genome, which is a different product rather than a broken one. Its genotypes are worked out statistically against a reference panel, which suits ancestry, traits, pharmacogenomics and polygenic scores and does not suit the rare-variant clinical and carrier panels. It is the $19 report rather than the $39 one, and we would rather read it at the right price than turn you away: tell us what you have and we set it up.

Where Nebula stands today

History, dated and checkable, not a warning. Nebula Genomics was founded in 2018 and was one of the first companies to sell a 30x consumer genome for a few hundred dollars. On 11 August 2021 ProPhase Labs, a publicly traded US company, announced it had acquired Nebula for approximately $14.6 million. In 2025 the earlier product line was retired and the brand now sells as DNA Complete, "powered by Nebula Genomics, a division of ProPhase Labs" in its own words, with nebula.org serving the DNA Complete site. Existing files are unaffected by any of this; a VCF is a text file and does not expire. It is the interpretation you were paying for that changed, and that is the part this service replaces.

DNA Complete's terms say it "may store your sample and/or the extracted DNA after your sample has been processed", with destruction available on request to its support address. As with every provider on these pages, the copies of your files that you hold are the ones you control.

How to get your file out of the portal

1. Sign in to your Nebula or DNA Complete account and open the data download area.
2. Download the VCF. It is the small file and the one the full report needs. If your account predates the rebrand and the download is no longer offered, ask their support for it.
3. If you want the Deep Read panel, request the CRAM and its index (.crai) from customer service; Nebula's terms say a data-transfer fee applies.
4. Upload them here as delivered. Do not rename, unpack or convert them.

Nebula's and DNA Complete's products and terms are described from their public pages on 3 September 2026 and may change. We do not speak for either.

Your file does not leave the EU

Processing and storage are in Finland, under GDPR Article 9 special-category protection, and nothing crosses an EU border. The VCF you upload is deleted after analysis by default; the reads are deleted the moment the Deep Read run finishes, whether it succeeded or failed. With your consent, and only if you want re-analysis later, we keep a small normalised variant file that you can delete from your dashboard at any time. Security & your data.

Common questions

I only have the VCF from Nebula. Is that enough?

Yes. The VCF gives the full report: clinical findings, carrier status, the wider ClinVar screen across 1,363 more carrier genes, the pharmacogenes a VCF can carry, traits, ancestry and the polygenic scores. The CRAM adds the Deep Read panel and the coverage record, and Nebula's terms say it is released on request for a data-transfer fee, so it is a separate decision.

Is a Nebula file a BAM or a CRAM?

Nebula's own terms name the alignment file a CRAM. A CRAM stores reads as differences from one exact reference assembly and can only be decoded with that same assembly; the file check reads which one yours needs and says whether we hold it, before you pay.

My DNA Complete kit was the 1x Essential. Does that work?

It works, at the chip tier. A 1x genome is a low-pass genome: the genotypes are worked out statistically against a reference panel rather than read directly, which is how the product is meant to work and is what makes it good for ancestry, traits, pharmacogenomics and polygenic scores. It cannot carry the clinical-findings and carrier panels, which turn on rare variants. Tell us what you have and we set it up at the chip price rather than turn you away.

Which reference build is my Nebula file on?

The Nebula files we have seen are on GRCh38, and the file check reads the build from the header regardless. A GRCh37 file is lifted to GRCh38 before analysis, which takes longer.

Do you keep my genome?

The uploaded file is processed and stored in Finland and deleted after analysis by default. Reads for the Deep Read panel are deleted the moment the run finishes. Nothing leaves the EU, and there is no Aimosti genome vault to be sold on.

Sequenced elsewhere? Dante Labs files · Sequencing.com files · Nucleus files · What your reads add, whoever sequenced you