What Is a CMP Blood Test? What It Measures and What It Costs

This page explains what the panel measures and where to buy it. It does not explain what your numbers mean: reference ranges differ from lab to lab, and reading a result is a clinician's job. For every service ranked, see the best blood tests page; to see which plans include each CMP marker, use our biomarker comparison.

What it measures

MedlinePlus says a CMP "provides important information about your metabolism (how your body uses food and energy) and the balance of certain chemicals in your body" (MedlinePlus). Its other names include "chem 14, chemistry panel, chemistry screen, metabolic panel" (MedlinePlus), so a lab report with any of those headings is usually the same test.

The 14 substances fall into five groups:

Extra lines on the report

Many labs print a few calculated values under the 14 measured ones. Labcorp's CMP page lists globulin, a BUN/creatinine ratio and eGFR, which it describes as "A calculation (factored from your serum creatinine level, age, and gender)" (Labcorp OnDemand). These come from the measured numbers, not from a separate measurement, which is why our coverage tables count them as calculated. That matters when a membership advertises a large marker count: a single CMP can add three or four lines without adding a test.

CMP versus BMP

A basic metabolic panel (BMP) is the shorter version. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute describes the BMP as "a group of tests that measures different naturally occurring chemicals in the blood" (NHLBI). MedlinePlus adds that "A BMP includes 8 of the 14 tests that are part of a CMP" (MedlinePlus); the BMP leaves out total protein, albumin, bilirubin and the three liver enzymes.

A CMP does not count blood cells. For that you need a CBC, and the two are commonly ordered together.

Where to get it and what it costs

Every store below sells a CMP on its own, with a physician order included, and sends you to a Quest or Labcorp patient center for the draw. The table lists each store's price, cheapest first, the fee it adds per order, and the memberships and panels that include a CMP:

List prices from each store's own page. Memberships and panels that include it: Function Health, Superpower, Empirical Health, Mito Health, Lifeforce, Marek Health, Labs by Hims, Maximus, Everlywell, Quest, Labcorp OnDemand, Ulta Lab Tests.

Three things decide what you actually pay:

• The per-order fee can cost more than the panel. On list price, Mito Health and Marek Diagnostics are the lowest, but both add a lab draw fee. Put every test you want in one order so you pay that fee once.
• Sales come and go. Labcorp OnDemand was running a sale on select tests when we checked; the table shows regular prices so stores stay comparable.
• Your state decides whether you can buy at all. Lab-test stores do not sell in New York, New Jersey or Rhode Island; our guide to ordering your own blood test explains the rules.

If you want a CMP inside a broad yearly panel, most broad memberships include one. Function Health costs $365 a year and measures 99 markers; Superpower costs $199. One-time panels such as Ulta's Baseline panels include it too. Our lab order price page ranks one-time panels by cost per measured marker, and our guide to blood test cost without insurance prices a CMP next to six other common tests.

Already have your results?

LifeFrom, a sister app from the team behind this site, can keep your results in one place and explain them in plain language (LifeFrom). It is our own product, so weigh that when you read this. For what a specific number means for you, ask the clinician who ordered the test or your own doctor.