Helix vs Tempus (2026)
Both run their own laboratories and sell to health systems, with AI in different places. Helix sequences with its Exome+ assay, sells clinical genetic tests orderable inside Epic, and runs population genomics programs for about 20 health systems. It sells research access to GenoSphere, more than 550,000 exomes linked to years of record and claims history. Its AI tools are for research: an assistant that builds cohorts through conversation, a connector for aggregate queries, and research workspaces on Databricks with access to individual records. Tempus is indexed for its software for clinicians. Next reads record text to find patients who have not received guideline directed care, starting with biomarker testing in oncology. Tempus One in EHR is a generative AI assistant inside the record, and nP Notetaker drafts notes from encounter audio. Choose Helix for population genomics and research data; choose Tempus for oncology software in the clinical workflow.
- You plan to sequence a population once and return to the results over years.
- Your researchers want a linked genomic and clinical dataset, with an assistant to build cohorts.
- You want the AI kept to research, with variant outputs scoped away from clinical diagnosis.
- Your oncology program wants patients missing guideline care surfaced to physicians.
- Your physicians want a generative assistant inside the record.
- You want business associate terms published and set out by service.
This comparison is published by AI Health Index, an independent research platform that compares healthcare AI vendors objectively. Helix and Tempus are each graded against the same capability taxonomy, from each vendor's own public materials and the regulatory record, under the AI Health Index verification standard. No vendor pays for placement, and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Plain facts
| Fact | Helix | Tempus |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Diagnostics & Genomics | Clinical Decision Support |
| Founded | 2015 | Not recorded |
| Headquarters | San Mateo, California | Chicago, Illinois |
| Website | helix.com | tempus.com |
Side by Side
Select any grade to read the note behind it.
Product updates
The latest logged changes from each vendor, newest first, each linked to its source.
Helix
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Product / capability
Helix launched Helix Research Workspaces, a Trusted Research Environment inside Helix Explorer built on the Databricks Data + AI platform, giving approved partners governed compute, storage and analysis tools over more than 550,000 GenoSphere clinicogenomic records (Exome+ data linked to 13+ years of EHR history plus claims).
Source
Tempus
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Regulatory / FDA
Tempus said its xR RNA sequencing assay, which detects gene rearrangements and specific splice variants in solid tumor tissue, received certification as a Class C in vitro diagnostic under the EU's IVDR.
Source -
Clinical evidence
Tempus reported an analysis of 60,459 advanced lung cancer cases from 56,969 patients, done with Pfizer, in which an AI panel reading routine H&E slides flagged 12 biomarkers with sensitivity above 80 percent for all of them and above 90 percent for several.
Source -
Regulatory / FDA
Tempus received FDA 510(k) clearance for Tempus ECG-MR, software that reads a standard resting 12 lead ECG and flags signs of moderate or severe mitral regurgitation.
Source
Each vendor in one paragraph
Written to be quoted whole. Each paragraph opens the AI Health Index profile of the vendor: what the product is, who buys it and what it does.
Genomics company in San Mateo, California, sequencing with its proprietary Exome+ assay in a CLIA certified, CAP accredited laboratory. Helix sells clinical genetic tests (hereditary cancer, cardiovascular, pharmacogenomics, carrier screening, rare disease exome) orderable inside Epic, runs population genomics programs for about 20 health systems including Cone Health, Sanford Health, WellSpan, St. Luke's, HealthPartners, Nebraska Medicine and Memorial Hermann, and sells research access to GenoSphere, a dataset of more than 550,000 exomes linked to an average of 13 years of OMOP-harmonized EHR history and claims.
Source: AI Health Index, September 2026
Tempus is a precision medicine company listed on NASDAQ as TEM and based in Chicago, whose core business is molecular laboratory testing. Next reads unstructured record data to find patients who have not received guideline directed care, starting with biomarker testing in oncology, and surfaces them to physicians and precision medicine teams; a prospective study of 662 lung cancer patients in six community health systems, presented at ASCO 2026, reported higher biomarker testing rates.
Source: AI Health Index, September 2026
Questions buyers ask
How do Helix and Tempus work with the EHR?
The providers page says clinicians can order Helix tests inside their EHR and that Helix integrates with Epic so results appear where they practice, with embedded clinical decision support and pharmacogenomic results returned in minutes from stored sequence. On the research side, GenoSphere's clinical data is harmonized to the OMOP common data model and refreshed quarterly, so analyses carry across to other datasets built the same way.
Tempus One in EHR (David) runs inside the electronic health record, with Northwestern Medicine as the deployment Tempus has announced, and Next reads unstructured record data and delivers alerts into clinical workflow. The Next page says workflows are integrated directly into clinical systems and names no record system, standard or marketplace listing. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 30, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How are Helix and Tempus priced and sold?
In Helix's case, clinical tests are billed to Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurance, with a cash-pay price offered on request, a financial assistance program and monthly payment plans; family variant testing is free within 90 days of a relative's report. Health plans can buy Helix Genomic Advantage, described as one sequence at one cost with reusable results.
Next, Hub and Tempus One are sold to health systems and practices under enterprise agreements, and the Software Terms of Use set out how each service is licensed without a figure. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 30, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How do Helix and Tempus handle patient data?
With Helix, the GenoSphere connector returns only de-identified aggregate statistics, suppresses small counts automatically and works only through provisioned partner accounts, which blocks the usual attack of narrowing a cohort to one person.
Retention periods are not stated, and nothing says whether identifiable data from Next or Tempus One reaches a model provider. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 30, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Which settings and specialties do Helix and Tempus cover?
Helix sells clinical genetic tests (hereditary cancer, cardiovascular, pharmacogenomics, carrier screening, rare disease exome) validated in its laboratory, population screening programs run by about 20 health systems, and research data and tools for life sciences, where the AI sits. The AI tools are scoped to research feasibility and explicitly not to clinical diagnosis or patient management.
Next is sold for oncology care gaps, starting with guideline directed biomarker testing, and Tempus also offers cardiology care gap and care pathway solutions; the prospective study behind Next covers early stage lung cancer in six US community health systems. Tempus One in EHR and nP Notetaker are sold to clinicians more broadly. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 30, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers.
Both records were reviewed on this site in September 2026. Neither publishes a price or a security attestation of its own. In September 2026 Helix opened research workspaces that give outside researchers access to individual records, across more than 550,000 linked records. Helix names no de identification method for that dataset, and its privacy notice says de identified data may be used for any lawful purpose. Helix publishes no composition figures or results by ancestry. It does not describe who confirms a screening finding before it reaches a participant. Tempus's Software Terms of Use say the software is intended solely for research use, not for informing patient care, while Next is marketed to find the next step in a patient's care. The same terms provide AI outputs as is and require the customer to review every output. Tempus publishes no missed patient rate for Next. Its terms let it keep and use a de identified copy of nP Notetaker data for any lawful purpose.
Ask Tempus which governs a clinical deployment of Next, the research use terms or the care marketing, and ask Helix what can leave a research workspace.