What Is the Finnrick Grading System? How Independent Peptide Testing Works.

The Finnrick grading system is an independent, third-party scoring framework for research peptides that rates products on purity, dosage accuracy, and batch documentation, then publishes the results openly. It exists because the research-peptide market sits outside mandatory pharmaceutical quality control, so independent verification is the main check a buyer has. This article explains what Finnrick is, how its grades are calculated, and the analytical science underneath. All material referenced is for in vitro research use only.

What is Finnrick?

Finnrick (Finnrick Analytics) is an independent third-party testing and rating service for research peptides, based in the United States. Rather than running its own laboratory, Finnrick collects or purchases peptide samples and commissions analysis from outside commercial labs it states have no ties to the vendors being rated. It then publishes the results as a public, searchable database of vendor and product ratings. As of mid-2026 the service reports having tested several thousand samples across hundreds of vendors and roughly fifteen of the most popular peptides. Its stated mission is to improve safety by testing samples for purity and dosage and publishing everything openly, and it also offers free testing of peptides mailed in by the public within the United States (Finnrick, 2026).

How does the Finnrick grading system work?

Finnrick uses a two-layer system that is documented on its testing methodology page. The first layer is a per-sample score from 0 to 10, built from three components. Purity contributes up to 4 points on a sliding scale, with results near 99.9 percent earning close to full marks and scores below 98 percent earning far fewer. Quantity accuracy versus the label or batch claim contributes up to 4 points, with results within roughly plus or minus 5 percent scoring highest and accuracy beyond plus or minus 20 percent scoring lowest. Batch-information quality contributes up to 2 points, awarded mostly when batch IDs and claims are printed on the container itself rather than disclosed only online (Finnrick, 2026).

What do the Finnrick letter grades mean?

The second layer converts repeated sample scores into a letter grade for a specific product or vendor pairing, but only once multiple tests exist. A product must meet thresholds on average score, minimum single score, and a minimum test count to earn a grade.

Grade	Meaning	Reported thresholds
A	Great	Average score 7 or higher, minimum 6, at least 2 tests
B	Good	Average 6 or higher, minimum 5
C	Okay	Average 5 or higher, minimum 4
D	Poor	Average 4 or higher, minimum 3
E	Bad	Average 0 or higher
X / F	Unrated / fraud	X = too few tests; F reserved for documented widespread fraud

Ratings based on fewer than roughly six tests are flagged as tentative, reflecting lower confidence. A higher grade signals that across multiple independent tests, a product consistently returned high purity, accurate dosing versus its claim, and solid batch documentation (Finnrick, 2026).

What analytical method does Finnrick rely on?

Finnrick states that its primary analytical method is high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), used to assess identity, purity, and potency. HPLC separates the components of a sample as they pass through a column, producing a chromatogram in which each compound appears as a peak. Purity is then read from the relative peak areas. Per the United States Pharmacopeia general chapter on chromatography (USP <621>), the percent content of a component is calculated by area normalization, meaning the target peak's area expressed as a percentage of the total area of all peaks, excluding solvent and reagent peaks and peaks below the reporting threshold. This is the compendial basis for how a percent-purity figure is derived from a chromatogram (USP-NF, USP <621>).

Why does HPLC purity alone not confirm identity?

An important technical point: HPLC purity tells you what fraction of the material is a single dominant peak, but it does not by itself prove that peak is the intended peptide. Confirming identity requires mass spectrometry, typically liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), which compares the observed molecular mass against the theoretical mass of the expected peptide. Electrospray ionization, the soft ionization method that made routine peptide mass analysis possible, was recognized with a share of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. A complete quality picture therefore pairs an HPLC purity number with an MS identity check, which is why the strongest certificates of analysis report both rather than a lone purity percentage (Banerjee & Mazumdar, 2012).

Why does independent peptide testing matter?

Research-chemical peptides are not manufactured or released under the mandatory pharmaceutical quality controls that govern approved drugs, so there is no required release testing standing between a batch and a buyer. That gap is exactly what independent verification fills. HPLC purity testing flags impurities and truncated or oxidized sequences, dosage testing flags underfilled or overfilled vials, and LC-MS identity testing flags outright mislabeling. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's guidance on highly purified synthetic peptide products treats peptide-related impurities above 0.5 percent as warranting identification, underscoring how seriously impurity profiles are taken in regulated settings, and why third-party data is valuable in unregulated ones (FDA, 2021).

How should researchers verify a third-party grade?

A grade is most useful when it is backed by documentation a researcher can inspect. The strongest signals are a publicly documented scoring rubric, lot-specific data rather than brand-level claims, and a certificate of analysis that names the method, the column, and the acceptance thresholds. Finnrick publishes its rubric and grade thresholds, which makes a grade citable, and the best practice is to read that grade alongside the actual lot-specific certificate of analysis for the vial in hand. A letter grade summarizes a batch at a point in time, while the COA shows the underlying HPLC purity, the LC-MS identity confirmation, and the test date. Treating the grade as one independent signal and the lot COA as the primary record gives a researcher the fullest picture of what is in a given vial.

Where can researchers see NLL's testing?

Next Level Labs publishes independent third-party purity data for each lot in the Lab Reports library, and product pages such as the Wolverine Stack and CJC-1295 + Ipamorelin link to their batch certificates. To understand the documents behind a grade, see our guide on how to read a peptide COA, and the FAQ for research-use questions.

For in vitro research use only. Not for human consumption. Not evaluated by the FDA. Not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any condition. Finnrick is an independent third party not affiliated with Next Level Labs. This article is for educational purposes.