Longevity Clinics in Germany: What They Cost and What You Actually Need

A longevity clinic is a private practice or centre for healthy people without acute complaints. It measures you to spot risks early. From the results it builds a programme: training, nutrition, sleep, sometimes medication and often supplements. The term is not protected. Any practice may call itself a longevity clinic, longevity centre or longevity practice, whoever works there.

Bischof and colleagues described longevity medicine in The Lancet Healthy Longevity in 2021 as prevention built on the biology of ageing: measure ageing processes before a disease appears, then counter them. They added that most physicians are not yet trained for it ^[1]. Longevity medicine is a young discipline without a specialist title, not an established specialty like cardiology.

A typical package contains:

• Extended blood panel: ApoB (a count of the artery-clogging cholesterol particles in your blood), Lp(a) (an inherited cholesterol particle), HbA1c (average blood sugar over about three months), fasting insulin, hs-CRP (a marker of low-grade inflammation), thyroid, sex hormones, vitamins, often 50 to 100 parameters
• Body composition by DEXA, a low-dose X-ray scan: fat mass, muscle mass, bone density
• VO2max by spiroergometry: endurance capacity measured under load with a breathing mask
• Blood pressure, resting ECG, often a carotid ultrasound (as screening in people without symptoms, the IGeL-Monitor rates the last two "tends to be negative" ^{[13, 14]})
• CGM: a glucose sensor on the arm for two weeks
• Epigenetic age test from blood or saliva, which estimates biological age from chemical tags on your DNA
• Pricier packages: whole-body MRI, coronary CT, genetic tests, microbiome
• Afterwards: a doctor's consultation, a written plan, coaching, frequently supplements from the clinic's own range, and for annual memberships follow-up visits and repeat measurements

None of this is exotic. About half of it you can get from your GP or a lab around the corner. The real value of a clinic is not the tests but the synthesis and the plan that follows. That is what you should be paying for, if you pay at all.

Expect roughly 1,500 to 5,000 EUR for a one-off check-up and 5,000 to 20,000 EUR or more per year for a membership. The range is deliberately wide because there is no fixed product. Every provider bundles a different package, and the price depends above all on whether whole-body MRI, genetic tests or a liquid biopsy (a blood test for traces of tumour DNA) are included.

Clinics bill under the German fee schedule for physicians (GOÄ). Each test is a line item, and the doctor can multiply its base fee by a factor. Most clinics roll these into one package price ^[10]. There is no GOÄ code for longevity. Statutory insurance pays for none of these components as prevention; private insurers reimburse individual items depending on the tariff, provided there is a medical justification.

Offer	Typical range, depending on provider	Does statutory insurance pay?
One-off longevity check-up (blood, DEXA, VO2max, consultation)	1,500 to 5,000 EUR	No
Check-up with whole-body MRI, genetics or liquid biopsy	5,000 to 20,000 EUR	No
Annual membership with follow-up visits	5,000 to 20,000 EUR and more	No
One-week residential programme (Switzerland)	about 48,000 to over 117,000 francs [12]	No
Initial consultation at a longevity practice	200 to 500 EUR	No
Extended blood panel on its own	150 to 450 EUR	No, self-pay
Spiroergometry (VO2max)	80 to 250 EUR	Only with a cardiological indication
DEXA scan	50 to 200 EUR	Only with suspected osteoporosis
Epigenetic age test	100 to 500 EUR	No
Whole-body MRI	800 to 2,000 EUR	No, not as routine screening
Check-up 35 at your GP	0 EUR	Yes, every three years from 35

The Check-up 35 is the free baseline: history, blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, urine, every three years from 35 (once between 18 and 35, with blood tests only if you have risk factors), set out in the G-BA health examination directive ^[8]. It covers part of what a longevity clinic sells you in a package.

Prices in Switzerland are higher. In Zurich, check-ups start at around 1,850 francs. A full diagnostic work-up costs about 3,000 francs, and top-tier check-ups reach 14,500 francs. A 12-month programme can cost around 5,000 francs. Week-long luxury programmes run from about 48,000 to over 117,000 francs ^[12]. Basic insurance does not pay for check-ups in healthy people; supplementary insurance sometimes covers a share of preventive services.

Planning repeat measurements? A membership usually costs less than two separate check-ups. If you only want to know once where you stand, single tests are almost always cheaper. More on the split between insurance and self-pay is in the self-pay guide.

Not a single study shows that a longevity clinic programme makes people live longer. The programmes are too new, too varied and too small to measure that. Anyone who promises otherwise is selling.

Even the idea of the big check-up has a problem. A 2019 Cochrane review pooled 17 randomised trials with around 250,000 participants. General health checks for adults reduced neither all-cause mortality nor mortality from cardiovascular disease or cancer ^[2]. The trials are older and the checks in them simpler than a modern longevity package. But they are the best evidence we have on screening healthy people. And the result is sobering.

What is well supported, by contrast, are the markers a good longevity clinic measures and the habits it wants to change:

• VO2max: in 122,007 patients who had a treadmill test at a US clinic, low fitness was associated with higher mortality than smoking or diabetes. The study found no upper limit beyond which more fitness stopped helping ^[3].
• Grip strength: in the PURE study of around 140,000 people from 17 countries, every 5 kg less grip strength was associated with 16 percent higher all-cause mortality ^[4].
• ApoB and LDL: the ESC/EAS guideline classes LDL cholesterol as causal for atherosclerosis and names ApoB as the better measure of the number of harmful particles ^[5].
• Lp(a): the EAS recommends measuring it once in life because it is genetically fixed and raises cardiovascular risk independently of LDL ^[6].
• Blood pressure, smoking, cholesterol, exercise, weight: the 2021 ESC prevention guideline estimates your 10-year risk from age, sex, smoking, blood pressure and cholesterol, and sets targets for exercise, diet and weight ^[7].

That is the point to remember. The clinic has no proof for its programme, but the markers inside it do. So a fair pitch from a longevity clinic is not "we extend your life". It is "we get you to the proven things faster and more consistently". Whether that is worth several thousand euros to you depends on whether you would manage it without a clinic.

You can assemble the core of a longevity check-up yourself for around 180 to 450 EUR. This is the calculation:

Component	Where	Cost
Blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, urine, history	Check-up 35 at your GP [8]	0 EUR
ApoB, Lp(a), hs-CRP, HbA1c, fasting insulin, ferritin, vitamin D	GP as a self-pay add-on or a lab as a self-payer	100 to 200 EUR
VO2max by spiroergometry	Sports medicine practice	80 to 250 EUR
VO2max estimate beforehand	VO2max calculator	0 EUR
Grip strength	Grip strength calculator with a dynamometer (30 to 40 EUR once)	0 to 40 EUR
Insulin resistance	HOMA-IR calculator from fasting insulin and glucose	0 EUR
Biological age, estimate	Longevity test and face age test	0 EUR
DEXA, optional	Radiology or sports medicine	50 to 200 EUR

Total: around 180 to 450 EUR for blood, check-up and VO2max. A dynamometer adds up to 40 EUR once, DEXA 50 to 200 EUR. A typical clinic package costs 1,500 to 5,000 EUR. You land at about a tenth, in the frugal version even below that.

What this version lacks is the synthesis. Your GP can put the values in context. Come with a concrete question: What is my cardiovascular risk? What follows from my ApoB? My Lp(a) is high, what now? The ApoB and Lp(a) guide helps you phrase the question. If that is not enough, book a single initial consultation at a longevity practice for 200 to 500 EUR and bring your values. That is still far below a package price.

One clinic test this list skips is the epigenetic age test. It costs 100 to 500 EUR extra. Whether you need it is a separate question. The guide to epigenetic tests and the guide to biological age tests go into it. Short version: nice to know, but it rarely changes what you should do.

Because the term is not protected, you have to check for yourself. These points separate serious longevity medicine from an expensive supplement shop with a blood draw:

1. Medical leadership with a specialist title. Internal medicine, general practice, cardiology, endocrinology or sports medicine are the fitting backgrounds. Sports medicine and nutritional medicine are official add-on qualifications (Zusatzbezeichnungen) from the medical chambers, with an exam ^[11]. Preventive medicine is only a training course, not an official qualification. A Heilpraktiker (non-physician alternative practitioner) cannot be a longevity doctor, however the website sounds.

2. The markers with evidence are at the centre. ApoB, Lp(a), HbA1c, blood pressure, VO2max, strength, body composition. Anyone who instead advertises microbiome panels, heavy-metal screens and 200 parameters measures a lot and knows little.

3. No supplements as the business model. Recommendations are fine when a deficiency was measured. An in-house shop with a monthly subscription already priced into the programme is a conflict of interest.

4. No unproven therapies as the core offer. NAD+ infusions, stem cells, ozone, blood washing, vitamin drips without a deficiency: none of these has evidence that it slows ageing. A provider may offer such things. If they are the centre of the programme, leave. The IGeL-Monitor of the German Medical Service rates self-pay services independently ^[9]. None of these therapies has a rating there that shows a benefit for ageing. Some standard package items score poorly too: a carotid ultrasound or a resting ECG in people without symptoms is rated "tends to be negative" ^{[13, 14]}.

5. Transparent prices before the appointment. In writing, itemised by GOÄ code ^[10]. If they only want to talk money once you are in the room, ask yourself why.

6. Results with reference ranges and consequences. A good report tells you that your Lp(a) is high. It also tells you what that means for you and what follows from it. A test that changes nothing just buys you worry.

7. The report goes to your GP. A clinic that keeps your data to itself wants to lock you in, not treat you.

A good counter-check: ask what the provider does not offer and why. An honest answer sounds like "we do not do whole-body MRI at your risk level because the false positives do more harm than good". A dishonest one sounds like "everything is possible".

We deliberately keep no directory and recommend no clinic. Roughly what exists in the big cities, so you know what to look for:

Berlin has the densest scene in Germany: several specialised longevity centres with package prices, plus private practices for internal medicine and sports medicine that offer longevity check-ups without the label. The range runs from a single check-up under 2,000 EUR to annual memberships in the high four figures. Whether there is a longevity doctor in Berlin is answered in the FAQ on the Berlin page.

Munich has many sports medicine and cardiology private practices that offer spiroergometry, DEXA and extended blood panels individually, plus a few private clinics with prevention programmes. The route via single tests is particularly easy here. More on the Munich page.

Hamburg sits between Berlin and Munich: a few practices with a longevity focus, many private practices with check-up packages, good coverage in sports medicine. Details on the Hamburg page.

Frankfurt has a long tradition of executive check-ups in private clinics because of the banks. They often run under the old name but contain similar components to a longevity package and cost about the same. See the Frankfurt page.

Cologne and the Rhineland have dense coverage of sports medicine practices and radiology centres offering DEXA and spiroergometry as self-pay services, plus the first specialised longevity practices in Cologne and Düsseldorf. More on the Cologne page.

Zurich is the Swiss centre, alongside the Lake Geneva region. Several longevity clinics sell check-ups from around 1,850 francs, and a 12-month programme costs around 5,000 francs. At the top end, week-long luxury programmes cost five to six figures ^[12]. See the Zurich page.

Vienna and the Austrian Alps: longevity practices in Vienna, plus residential health retreats in the Alpine regions. Longevity packages are self-pay there too, as in Germany. The public baseline is broader than in Germany: everyone living in Austria can have a Vorsorgeuntersuchung (preventive check-up) once a year from age 18 ^[15].

If you live in a city that is not listed here: the combination of a GP, a sports medicine practice and a lab covers the core in any city above 100,000 inhabitants.

A longevity clinic is worth it if you are sure you will not do the proven things without structure, and if the money does not hurt. For everyone else, the do-it-yourself version is the better bet.

It can be worth it if:

• you have a concrete risk (family history of heart disease, high Lp(a), prediabetes) and want structured follow-up with repeat measurements
• you know you only see things through with an appointment and accountability
• you want everything from one source and the price does not matter to you
• you already have the Check-up 35 and the do-it-yourself markers and now want the medical synthesis

It is not worth it if:

• you expect the programme to extend your life. That is not proven ^[2]
• the core offer consists of infusions, stem cells or supplements
• you have never done the free Check-up 35. Start there
• you only want to know once where you stand. Single tests are enough for that

The difference from anti-ageing matters here. Anti-ageing historically targeted appearance and symptoms: skin, hormones, wellbeing. Longevity medicine targets measurable risk factors for disease and death ^[1]. A good longevity clinic talks about ApoB and VO2max. An anti-ageing practice talks about wrinkles and energy. Both may call themselves longevity today, so only a look at the programme helps.

And if you do choose a clinic: take the values home, share them with your GP, and keep measuring the cheap markers yourself. The clinic is a tool, not the plan.