You can check your A1C at home using an over-the-counter fingerstick test kit available at most major pharmacies. These kits cost between $44 and $100, deliver results in about five minutes, and measure your average blood sugar over the previous two to three months. The process is simple enough to do at your kitchen table, though there are a few details worth knowing to get an accurate reading.
What Home A1C Kits Are Available
Several FDA-cleared home A1C test kits are sold without a prescription at retail pharmacies and online. The main options include the A1CNow Self Check (also sold as TRUE+ A1C Now Self Check), the CVS Health A1C At Home Test Kit, the ReliOn FastA1c Test (sold at Walmart), and the Walgreens At Home A1C Test Kit. All of these are instant-result kits that use a small fingerstick blood sample and a portable analyzer device.
There are also mail-in A1C test kits, where you collect a blood spot on a card and send it to a lab. These take several days to return results but may use a different testing method that some people find more reassuring. For most people, though, the instant kits are the more practical choice.
Home A1C kits are not covered by insurance, since insurers typically require a professional lab draw for the result to count in your medical record. You can, however, use HSA or FSA funds for most of these kits.
How to Do the Test Step by Step
The entire process takes less than 10 minutes from start to finish. Before you begin, make sure the kit has been stored at room temperature (64 to 77°F) and kept out of direct sunlight. If you’ve been refrigerating the kit, pull out the analyzer, a shaker pouch, and a test cartridge at least one hour before testing so they reach room temperature. Testing with cold supplies can throw off results.
Here’s the general process, though you should follow the specific instructions in your kit:
- Prepare the shaker pouch. This contains a solution that will mix with your blood sample. Activate it according to your kit’s directions.
- Collect your blood sample. Use the included lancet to prick your fingertip and produce a small drop of blood. Apply the blood to the test cartridge or collection device.
- Insert the sample into the analyzer. You need to do this within two minutes of collecting the blood. Once the cartridge is in, do not move or pick up the analyzer until the test is complete.
- Read and record your result. Your A1C percentage will appear on the screen within about five minutes. Write it down immediately. Most devices do not save the reading after 15 minutes, so if you walk away, you may lose it.
What Your Number Means
A1C is expressed as a percentage that reflects your average blood sugar over roughly the last three months. The thresholds are straightforward:
- Below 5.7%: Normal range
- 5.7% to 6.4%: Prediabetes range
- 6.5% or higher: Diabetes range
If you already have diabetes, your target is typically below 7%, though your personal goal may differ. A reading of 7% corresponds to an estimated average blood sugar of about 154 mg/dL over the previous months. Each percentage point above that adds roughly 29 mg/dL to the average.
How Accurate Are Home Kits?
Home A1C kits are reasonably accurate, but they consistently show small differences compared to lab results. In clinical comparisons, the A1CNow device had a strong correlation with laboratory testing (r = 0.884 in one study of 99 paired samples), but the home results averaged slightly lower: 7.38% versus 7.53% from the lab. That 0.15-point gap is typical. Some devices read a bit high, others a bit low, but the differences are generally small enough to give you a useful picture of your glucose control.
Where these kits fall short is at the margins. In one study, the sensitivity for detecting an elevated A1C was 81.8%, meaning about 1 in 5 people with a truly high result might get a reading that looks acceptable. The specificity was better at 93.2%. This makes home kits useful for tracking trends between lab visits, but not ideal as your only source of A1C data for making treatment decisions.
When Home Results Can Be Wrong
Certain medical conditions can make any A1C test, including lab tests, give misleading numbers. The most important is having a hemoglobin variant, such as sickle cell trait. If you carry sickle cell trait (hemoglobin S), some testing methods produce falsely high or low readings, which could lead to over- or under-treatment of diabetes. Elevated levels of fetal hemoglobin can also interfere with results.
Other factors that shorten or lengthen the lifespan of your red blood cells will skew results too. Heavy bleeding, recent blood transfusions, iron deficiency anemia, and kidney disease can all distort an A1C reading regardless of the testing method. If any of these apply to you, a home kit result is less reliable than it would be otherwise.
How Often to Test
A1C reflects the average glucose attached to red blood cells over their roughly 90- to 120-day lifespan. Testing more often than every three months is pointless, because the old red blood cells carrying your previous glucose average haven’t been fully replaced yet. Any changes you’ve made to diet, exercise, or medication won’t show their full effect until that turnover is complete.
If your levels are stable and you’re consistently meeting your targets, testing every six months is reasonable. If you’ve recently changed your treatment plan or are working to bring your numbers down, every three months gives you timely feedback. Many people use home kits to check in between their regular lab draws, which typically happen at scheduled office visits two to four times per year.
Getting the Most From Home Testing
A few practical tips make a real difference in the quality of your results. First, always check the expiration date on the kit. Expired reagents produce unreliable readings. Second, test at the same time of day if you’re comparing results over time, since hydration and other minor variables can shift readings slightly. Third, make sure your hands are clean and warm before the fingerstick. Cold fingers produce smaller blood drops, and an insufficient sample is the most common reason for a failed test.
Keep a simple log of your home A1C results alongside the date and any relevant context, like a recent medication change or illness. This gives you and your care team a useful trend line rather than isolated data points. And remember that while home kits are a convenient monitoring tool, they don’t replace periodic lab testing. A lab draw processed by an NGSP-certified method remains the standard for confirming your A1C and making clinical decisions about treatment.