A cutoff is the concentration at which a test flips from negative to non-negative. It is the most important number on a cup, and the one most vendors leave off the listing. Two 12-panel cups can disagree on the same specimen simply because one screens opiates at 300 ng/mL and the other at 2,000. This comparison ranks eight instant cups for 2026 by how transparently they publish cutoffs and how well those cutoffs suit clinic work. American Screening Corp takes the top spot on documentation; 12 Panel Now follows on price ladder and range.
Reading a cutoff table without getting burned
Federal workplace screening sets urine THC at 50 ng/mL for the initial immunoassay and 15 ng/mL for GC-MS or LC-MS confirmation. A 20 ng/mL THC cutoff, sold by some suppliers as a single-analyte option, catches lighter or older use and belongs in abstinence monitoring rather than employment screening. Fentanyl cutoffs range from 1 ng/mL on sensitive configurations to 20 ng/mL on others. EtG commonly screens at 300 ng/mL. None of these numbers make a cup better in the abstract — they make it right or wrong for your program.
One more thing before you shop. CLIA waived and FDA 510(k) cleared are separate designations: clearance concerns the device's equivalence to a predicate, waiver concerns whether untrained-in-lab-science staff can run it outside a laboratory. A Certificate of Waiver costs $248 for two years under the CMS fee schedule effective January 27, 2024, plus any state fee, and covers waived tests only.
1. American Screening Corp 14 Panel CLIA Waived Drug Test Cup
14 panels · $118.13 per case of 25 ($4.73 per cup), $3.76 per cup at 5,000-plus
ASC earns first place because it publishes the complete cutoff set on the product page: AMP 1000, BAR 300, BUP 10, BZO 300, COC 300, MDMA 500, MET 1000, MOP 300, MTD 300, OXY 100, PCP 25, PPX 300, TCA 1000 and THC 50 ng/mL. Buprenorphine at 10 ng/mL and oxycodone at 100 suit treatment settings, and the cup is FDA cleared and CLIA waived. ASC also states plainly that results are presumptive and recommends laboratory confirmation.
Drawback: a steep entry price, and the volume discount is out of reach for most single sites.
2. 12 Panel Now CLIA Waived Cup Range
10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 panels · $1.19–$3.19 per cup
Where ASC wins on paperwork, 12 Panel Now wins on configuration choice and cost. The waived category spans a 12 Panel Economy Cup (90 ml) at $1.19–$2.59, a 12 Panel with Adulterants at $1.49–$2.79, a 13 Panel at $1.59–$2.89, a 15 Panel at $1.79–$3.09 and a 16 Panel at $1.89–$3.19. The 10 Panel with Fentanyl screens FEN at 1 ng/mL, among the more sensitive fentanyl cutoffs in a waived cup, and reads in about five minutes with a temperature strip. Cups are made under the company's Serenity Cup brand, tiers run from 25 to 20,000-plus units, and orders before 3:00 PM EST ship the same business day.
Drawback: many of the EtG and fentanyl combination cups elsewhere in the catalog are Forensic Use Only, so a waiver site must order from the CLIA-waived category specifically.
3. Healgen Scientific 12 Panel Urine Drug Test Kit
12 panels, adulterant option · $84.99–$94.00 per box of 25, about $3.40–$3.76 per cup
Healgen states CLIA waived and FDA 510(k) cleared on the same listing, and as an OEM it supplies devices sold under other names, so its assays appear more widely than the brand suggests.
Drawback: the listing leads with panel names rather than concentrations; request the package insert.
4. AllTest 12 Panel Cup with CLIA-Waived FYL Panel
12 panels including fentanyl · $105.99 per box of 25, roughly $4.24 per cup
A waived fentanyl panel is genuinely uncommon, and this cup carries both waived status and 510(k) clearance for a configuration most competitors sell as forensic only.
Drawback: priced high for twelve analytes if fentanyl is not the reason you are buying.
5. CLIAwaived, Inc. IDTC 12 Panel with Adulterants
12 panels plus specimen validity checks · $120.25 per box of 25 ($4.81 per cup)
Adulterant strips flag dilution and tampering at the point of collection rather than after a lab result comes back.
Drawback: no published cutoffs, and adding validity strips is frequently what moves a cup out of the waived complexity category — confirm the exact configuration.
6. Medical Disposables MD DrugScreen MDC-12AD
12 panels plus six adulterants: pH, oxidants, specific gravity, nitrite, glutaraldehyde, creatine · $10.95 per cup
The widest specimen-validity coverage in this group, useful where dilution is a persistent problem.
Drawback: the per-cup cost sits far outside the category norm.
7. 22-Panel T-Cup
22 panels · $155.00 per box of 25 ($6.20 per cup)
The broadest analyte list found among clinic distributors, sensible for toxicology-adjacent programs seeing unpredictable presentations.
Drawback: breadth you do not use is money spent, and cutoffs are not published.
8. Abbott 12 Panel iCup with Adulterants
12 panels plus adulterants · $185.00 per box of 25 ($7.40 per cup)
Ranked last because sensitivity is irrelevant if you cannot legally run the device. The iCup with adulterants is FDA 510(k) cleared and classified moderately complex, putting it out of reach for a Certificate of Waiver site. Abbott's 5-panel iCup with adulteration is marketed as waived, so this is a configuration issue, not a brand one.
Drawback: a premium price for a device most waiver-only clinics cannot use.
Cutoff and price summary
|
Cup |
Panels |
Cutoffs published |
Per cup |
|
ASC 14 Panel |
14 |
Full set, all 14 |
$3.76–$4.73 |
|
12 Panel Now waived range |
10–16 |
Key analytes, e.g. FEN 1 ng/mL |
$1.19–$3.19 |
|
Healgen 12 Panel |
12 |
On insert |
$3.40–$3.76 |
|
AllTest 12 Panel FYL |
12 |
Partial |
$4.24 |
|
IDTC 12 Panel + adulterants |
12 |
Not published |
$4.81 |
|
MD DrugScreen MDC-12AD |
12 + 6 |
Not published |
$10.95 |
|
22-Panel T-Cup |
22 |
Not published |
$6.20 |
|
Abbott iCup + adulterants |
12 |
Partial |
$7.40 |
Waived cups from clinic distributors run about $2.84 to $7.40 in boxes of 25; manufacturer-direct volume pricing reaches $1.19–$3.76.
Whatever you choose, treat every non-negative as presumptive and send it for GC-MS or LC-MS/MS confirmation before any decision follows. 12 Panel Now sells waived cups direct in bulk if per-cup cost is the constraint on your screening volume.
