Lawn Care
Best soil test kit
Fourteen nutrients or thirteen. The figure that actually decides it is the one only one of them publishes: how long you wait.
Affiliate disclosure: we earn a commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which product we rank first — here is how we're funded.
We have not tested these units. Every spec on this page comes from the manufacturer's own documentation and is linked to it. Every computed figure is arithmetic you can redo. Prices are checked daily — last verified January 1, 1970. Here is exactly how we pick.
Quick picks
Ranked on the published specs and the arithmetic below. Tap any row to jump to the full write-up. We have not tested these units -- here is exactly how we pick.
| # | Product | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No photo MySoil Soil Test Kit Thirteen plant-available nutrients plus pH, with the only published turnaround time of any kit here -- six to eight days. | Best turnaround | 8.9 | |
| 2 | No photo Soil Savvy Soil Test Kit Fourteen nutrients plus pH, a named laboratory, and both a synthetic and an organic fertilizer recommendation on the same report. | Most nutrients reported | 8.6 |
#ad Buy links are affiliate links. Prices come from a live daily check; where we have no verified price we say "check price" rather than print a stale one.
Fertilizer advice without a soil test is guesswork with a spreader attached. A mail-in lab kit costs you a week and tells you which of a dozen nutrients your lawn is actually short of — and, just as usefully, which ones it is not.
The short answer
What comes back
| Spec | MySoil | Soil Savvy |
|---|---|---|
| Nutrients reported | 13 plus pH | 14 plus pH |
| Nitrogen detail | Nitrate and ammonium | Total N, nitrate and ammonium |
| Also reported | P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Mn, B, Cu, Zn, Na | P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Mn, B, Cu, Zn, Al |
| Turnaround | 6-8 days | Not published |
| Laboratory named | Not published | UNIBEST |
| Method | Jar with resin capsule | Jar with a patented synthetic plant root |
| Return postage | Prepaid | Prepaid mailer |
| Recommendations | Custom fertilizer recommendations | One synthetic and one organic, with rates |
| Samples per kit | Not specified | Not specified |
Transcribed from the MySoil Test Kit product page and Soil Savvy's How It Works page.
Turnaround is the spec that decides this
A soil test is only useful if the answer arrives while you can still act on it. Cool-season seeding windows run mid-August to mid-October in the fall and mid-March to mid-May in spring — that is the deadline the report has to beat.
1. MySoil — the one you can plan around
Thirteen plant-available nutrients and pH, back in six to eight days, with prepaid return postage in the box. The resin capsule sitting in the sample jar is doing something specific: it measures what a root could actually take up, rather than the total quantity of a nutrient locked in the soil.
Splitting nitrogen into nitrate and ammonium is the detail worth having. They behave differently — nitrate leaches, ammonium holds — and a lawn short of one is not short of the other.
Against it: no published lab accreditation, no statement of how many samples one kit covers, and one fewer nutrient than the alternative.
#ad Check the MySoil Soil Test Kit price on Amazon — how we're funded.
2. Soil Savvy — the widest panel, and a named lab
Fourteen nutrients plus pH, analyzed by UNIBEST, with both a synthetic and an organic recommendation on the same report. Naming the laboratory is unusual in consumer soil testing and worth something.
The extra nutrient over MySoil is aluminum. That matters on an acid soil, where aluminum becomes plant-available below roughly pH 5.5 and stunts roots. On a lawn already near neutral it is a line on a report you will never act on.
The omission is turnaround. Soil Savvy's own how-it-works page does not publish one, which makes it the wrong kit to buy against a closing seeding window.
#ad Check the Soil Savvy Soil Test Kit price on Amazon — how we're funded.
What to do with the result
- Read the pH first. Nutrients you already have can be unavailable simply because the pH is wrong — our soil testing guide covers what the number means.
- Then read the phosphorus. If it is adequate, a starter fertilizer is the wrong bag — see fertilizer for new grass for when it is the right one.
- Match the bag to the deficit. Fertilizer numbers explained turns the report into an NPK you can buy, and best lawn fertilizers compares the bags.
What we cannot tell you
We have not sent samples to either laboratory. Neither maker publishes an accreditation, an analytical method beyond the resin description, a detection limit, or how many samples a single kit covers. We are comparing what is printed on two product pages, not two sets of results.
The picks in full
Specs are the manufacturer's own and linked to the page they came from. Prices come from a live daily check; where we have no verified price we say so rather than print a stale one.
MySoil Soil Test Kit
MySoil · Mail-in lab test · Our score 8.9/10
#ad No verified live price right now, so we show none rather than a stale one. How we're funded.
Thirteen plant-available nutrients plus pH, with the only published turnaround time of any kit here -- six to eight days.
Published specs
| Nutrients reported | 13 plus pH |
|---|---|
| Nitrogen forms | Nitrate and ammonium, reported separately |
| Also reported | P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Mn, B, Cu, Zn, Na |
| Turnaround | 6-8 days |
| Return postage | Prepaid |
| In the box | Sample jar with resin capsule, scoop |
| Recommendations | Custom fertilizer recommendations included |
| Samples per kit | Not specified |
Source: MySoil Test Kit, mysoiltesting.com
MySoil publishes 6-8 days; Soil Savvy's own how-it-works page publishes no turnaround at all, and the figure quoted for it elsewhere is 7-10 days. Taking the published windows at face value, MySoil's worst case (8 days) matches Soil Savvy's best case, and its best case is 4 days ahead of the alternative's worst. For a fall seeding window that closes in mid-October, days matter.
What the numbers favor
- Splits nitrogen into nitrate and ammonium rather than reporting one number
- 6-8 day turnaround published outright
- Prepaid return postage in the box
- Resin-capsule method measures what the plant can actually take up, not total soil content
- Custom fertilizer recommendations come with the report
What they don't
- Does not publish how many samples one kit covers
- No published lab accreditation
- Thirteen nutrients to Soil Savvy's fourteen -- aluminum is the one missing
- A mail-in test is a snapshot; it cannot show you how the soil changes through the season
you need an answer this afternoon. Every mail-in kit costs you a week before you can act on it.
How it scores
Scores are our editorial weighting of the published specs above, not a test result. They are deliberately kept out of this page's structured data.
Soil Savvy Soil Test Kit
Soil Savvy · Mail-in lab test · Our score 8.6/10
#ad No verified live price right now, so we show none rather than a stale one. How we're funded.
Fourteen nutrients plus pH, a named laboratory, and both a synthetic and an organic fertilizer recommendation on the same report.
Published specs
| Nutrients reported | 14 plus pH |
|---|---|
| Nitrogen forms | Total N, nitrate and ammonium |
| Also reported | P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Mn, B, Cu, Zn, Al |
| Laboratory | UNIBEST |
| Method | Sample jar with a patented synthetic plant root |
| Return postage | Prepaid mailer included |
| Recommendations | One synthetic and one organic, with application rates |
| Turnaround | Not published on the maker's how-it-works page |
Source: How It Works, mysoilsavvy.com
Soil Savvy adds aluminum, which MySoil does not report, and reports total nitrogen alongside the nitrate and ammonium split. Aluminum is worth having on an acid soil, where it becomes plant-available below about pH 5.5 and stunts roots. On a near-neutral lawn it tells you nothing you will act on -- which is why the extra nutrient does not decide this category on its own.
What the numbers favor
- Fourteen nutrients plus pH, the widest panel here
- Names its laboratory (UNIBEST), which most consumer kits do not
- Gives an organic recommendation as well as a synthetic one
- Reports total N alongside the nitrate/ammonium split
- Prepaid return mailer, sample jar and scoop in the box
What they don't
- Publishes no turnaround time on its own how-it-works page
- Does not state how many samples one kit covers
- No published lab accreditation or analytical method beyond the resin description
- The extra nutrient over MySoil is aluminum, which most lawns will never act on
you are working against a seeding deadline and need a published turnaround to plan around.
How it scores
Scores are our editorial weighting of the published specs above, not a test result. They are deliberately kept out of this page's structured data.
Where to buy the tools on this page
Every link below is an Amazon affiliate link. We show no price we have not verified today, so where there is no live figure the link says "check price" and takes you to the listing to read it there.
Best turnaround
MySoil Soil Test Kit
MySoil · Mail-in lab test
Most nutrients reported
Soil Savvy Soil Test Kit
Soil Savvy · Mail-in lab test
#ad As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. How we're funded.
Common questions
What is the best soil test kit?
Are mail-in soil tests better than a hardware store kit?
How long does a soil test take?
What does a soil test actually tell you?
How many samples do you need?
Sources
Read next
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- Best fertilizer for new grass
Starter versus lawn food on published analyses, with the nitrogen and phosphate arithmetic per 1,000 sq ft.
- Doing your own lawn care: what to do, and when
Four jobs, the right order, the right season. The sequence matters more than the equipment.