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

This page explains what the test measures and where to buy it for the least money. It does not say what your number means: ranges differ by lab, and reading a result is a clinician's job. The live price for every store we track is on our ferritin marker page, and every plan is ranked on the best blood tests page.

What it measures

Iron moves through the body in two ways: some circulates in the blood, and some is held in reserve, mostly inside ferritin. A ferritin test looks at the reserve. Labcorp's test page draws the line clearly: "While an iron test gives the current amount of iron in your blood, this ferritin test measures your body's overall iron storage" (Labcorp OnDemand).

That is why ferritin is often ordered with other iron tests. MedlinePlus says it "may be ordered as part of a group of iron tests to help check your iron levels" (MedlinePlus). Quest sells it that way by default: its panel "measures your blood's overall iron levels, capacity to transport iron, and ability to store iron reserves" (Quest), meaning serum iron, total iron-binding capacity (TIBC) and ferritin together.

Ferritin does not only move with iron. MedlinePlus lists inflammation, liver disease and several other conditions among the things that can raise it, and notes that "Certain medicines can decrease or increase your ferritin levels" (MedlinePlus). A single ferritin number therefore needs context, which is one reason clinicians often read it next to iron, TIBC, a complete blood count and an inflammation marker such as hs-CRP.

A few practical points:

• It is a standard blood draw at a Quest or Labcorp patient service center, a few minutes long.
• Morning and fasting may be asked for. MedlinePlus says your provider "may ask you to fast (not eat or drink) for 12 hours before your test" (MedlinePlus), and Quest recommends fasting and a morning draw for its iron panel. Labcorp's ferritin-only test lists no fasting; follow the instructions for the test you buy.
• Biotin can interfere with some lab tests. Labcorp asks people taking biotin to wait before the draw, as its page explains.

Why we do not print a range

Ferritin ranges vary by lab, by method and by group. MedlinePlus explains that "because labs often use different testing methods, they often use different reference ranges to describe normal results" (MedlinePlus). The range on your own report is the one that applies, and a clinician is the person to read your result against it.

Where to get it and what it costs

Ferritin is sold on its own by most lab-test stores we track. Quest's own store sells it inside its iron, TIBC and ferritin panel. The table below shows each store's single-test price, cheapest first, with the fee that store adds per order, and the memberships whose panels include ferritin:

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

How to pay the least:

• You want ferritin only: a lab-test store. Add the per-order fee to the test price before you compare, because a low test price with a draw fee can cost more than a slightly higher price with no fee. Our lab test orders price page includes the fees.
• You want ferritin with iron and TIBC: buy the iron panel, or all three tests in one order at one store, so one fee covers them.
• You want a broad yearly panel anyway: most memberships include ferritin; our biomarker coverage table shows it plan by plan. Superpower starts at $199 a year and Function Health at $365 a year.

Our reviews of Quest and Ulta Lab Tests cover ordering, the draw and how results arrive. Lab-test stores do not sell in New York, New Jersey or Rhode Island; our guide to ordering your own blood test explains why.

Already have your results?

If you already have a ferritin result and want help keeping track of it alongside your other markers, 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 sister product, not a lab or a clinician; what a result means for you is still a question for your clinician.