The fastest way to find HIV and STD testing near you is the CDC’s GetTested tool at gettested.cdc.gov. Enter your zip code and it pulls up free or low-cost testing sites in your area, including health departments, community clinics, and Planned Parenthood locations. Most cities have multiple options, and many offer walk-in appointments with no insurance required.
Beyond that single tool, you have more choices than you might expect, ranging from free clinic visits to at-home kits you can order online. Here’s how to pick the right option for your situation.
Free and Low-Cost Testing Sites
If cost is a concern, start with your local health department. County and city health departments across the U.S. offer free or very low-cost STI and HIV testing, often without requiring insurance or identification. Many also provide free condoms and treatment for bacterial infections on the spot.
Planned Parenthood is another widely available option. Testing there costs anywhere from $0 to $250 depending on what you’re screened for, how many tests you need, and your location. If you don’t have insurance, most centers use a sliding-scale fee based on your income, which can bring the cost down significantly or eliminate it entirely.
Title X family planning clinics are a less well-known resource worth checking. Funded by the federal government specifically to serve people with low income or no insurance, there are more than 4,000 of these clinics nationwide. They operate inside health departments, university health centers, community health centers, hospitals, and private nonprofits. All of them provide STI and HIV services alongside other reproductive health care. You can find one near you through the HHS Office of Population Affairs website.
Pharmacies and Retail Clinics
Some Walgreens locations partner with local health departments and community organizations to offer free rapid HIV testing, with results available in 20 minutes or less. These events are especially common around National HIV Testing Day in late June, when hundreds of stores participate. Some locations also offer rapid syphilis and hepatitis C testing. No appointment is needed, and testing happens in a private area of the store or in a mobile unit outside.
CVS MinuteClinic and other retail health clinics in pharmacies can also order STI panels, though these visits typically cost more and may bill through insurance. If you’re looking for a quick, low-barrier option and a participating pharmacy is nearby, it’s worth checking their website for current availability.
At-Home Testing Kits
If you’d rather skip the clinic entirely, at-home options exist for both HIV and other STIs. The OraQuick HIV Self-Test is the only FDA-cleared over-the-counter HIV test you can buy at a pharmacy or online. It uses an oral swab, and you get results at home in about 20 minutes.
Several companies also sell mail-in STI kits that test for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, hepatitis C, and HIV using urine samples or finger-prick blood spots. You collect the sample at home, mail it to a lab, and receive results online within a few days. These kits typically cost $50 to $200 depending on how many infections they screen for. Some are covered by insurance.
The trade-off with at-home testing is accuracy. Rapid antibody tests like OraQuick are less sensitive than lab-based blood draws, particularly during the early weeks after exposure. In studies of men who have sex with men, the oral fluid version of OraQuick detected only 91% of people with established HIV infection and missed 20% of all HIV-positive individuals when acute infections were included. A lab-based blood test is more reliable, especially if your potential exposure was recent.
Which Tests Are Most Accurate
Testing accuracy depends heavily on the type of test and when you take it. No test can detect an infection the day after exposure. Each STI has a “window period” before it becomes detectable.
For HIV, the window periods break down like this:
- Lab-based antigen/antibody test (blood draw from a vein): detects HIV 18 to 45 days after exposure. This is the most accurate standard option.
- Rapid antigen/antibody test (finger stick): detects HIV 18 to 90 days after exposure.
- Antibody-only tests (most rapid tests and self-tests): detects HIV 23 to 90 days after exposure.
- Nucleic acid test (NAT): the earliest detection, at 10 to 33 days after exposure. This test looks for the virus itself rather than your immune response to it.
If you’re testing after a specific exposure and want the earliest possible answer, a lab-based antigen/antibody test drawn from a vein is the best balance of early detection and accessibility. NAT testing is the most sensitive but costs more and isn’t available everywhere. If you use a rapid or at-home test and get a negative result but your exposure was recent, retesting after the full window period has passed gives you a more reliable answer.
For bacterial STIs like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis, most clinics use nucleic acid amplification tests on urine or swab samples. These are highly accurate and return results within a few days. Syphilis testing typically involves a blood test.
How Often to Get Tested
The CDC recommends that all sexually active women under 25 get tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia every year. Women 25 and older with risk factors (new partners, multiple partners, or a partner with an STI) should also test annually.
Sexually active men who have sex with men should be tested for syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea at least once a year. Those with multiple or anonymous partners should test every 3 to 6 months. Everyone between 13 and 64 should be tested for HIV at least once in their lifetime, with more frequent testing for people at higher risk.
Privacy: Confidential vs. Anonymous Testing
Testing sites offer two levels of privacy, and they’re not the same thing. Confidential testing means you give your name, but your results are protected by privacy laws. Your results go into a medical record and positive results for certain infections are reported to the state health department as required by law, but personal identifying information is removed before data reaches federal agencies.
Anonymous testing means you never give your name at all. You receive a code number to retrieve your results, and there’s no way to connect the test back to your identity. Anonymous HIV testing is available in 39 states. If privacy is a priority for you, call ahead and ask whether a site offers anonymous testing specifically.
LGBTQ+-Affirming Providers
If you want a provider experienced in LGBTQ+ health, the GLMA Healthcare Directory lists over 2,700 providers who have specifically opted in as affirming practitioners. The directory includes virtual care options and covers providers across the U.S. and Canada. Community health centers in many cities also run sexual health clinics designed to be welcoming and stigma-free, with staff trained in the specific screening needs of gay, bisexual, and transgender patients. Local LGBTQ+ community centers often maintain their own lists of trusted testing sites as well.