Score breakdown
Strengths & weaknesses
- All 31 Vanguard Laboratory reports the shop lists resolve on the lab's public portal under client "Hello Stacks" (checked 9 October 2026), once the broken MOTS-c 10 mg link is corrected
- Fill runs generous rather than short - median 107.3% of label across the 31 listed reports, range 92.5-125.0%, none under 90%
- All 19 Freedom Diagnostics reports for the StackOne pen line resolve, and those include an LC-MS identity line
- Vials price well under our index on several compounds - BPC-157 and TB-500 about 42% below the median per mg, NAD+ 64-73% below (index built 25 June 2026)
- Shipping terms are published with a cutoff (2:00 PM PST same-day dispatch) and named carriers
- None of the 34 Vanguard vial records includes an identity test, although the shop's own buyer checklist asks for "Mass spec identity confirmation"
- Lot codes are shared across up to nine different compounds, so they cannot identify a production batch
- The shop sells HGH (somatropin) 10 IU and 24 IU vials; somatropin is an FDA-approved prescription drug with its own distribution restriction in federal law
- GLP code-name vials, bac water, a reconstitution calculator, prefilled pens and 4-weekly refill plans match the practices FDA cited in its 2026 warning letters
- The listed address is a Regus virtual office in Costa Mesa; no officer of the operator, PranaCore Life Inc., is named anywhere we looked
- StackOne pens cost a median 3.05x the per-mg price of the same compound in a Hello Stacks vial
- No customer reports found - two Reddit posts from 10 April 2026, one removed by moderators, are the whole public footprint
What we tested
12 SKUS ORDEREDShipping & payment
MEDIAN ACROSS TEST ORDERSAudit notes
FROM THE BENCHHello Stacks scores 66/100 on public data. Its lab paper trail checks out better than most: all 31 reports the shop lists resolve at Vanguard Laboratory, and the median vial held 107.3% of its label. The score is held down by what those reports leave out (identity), by lot codes that name no batch, and by a catalog that includes HGH and GLP refill subscriptions. No vialaudit order has been placed.
How we scored it
We weight four subscores, as set out in our methodology, then apply editorial deductions.
| Subscore | Score | Main reason |
|---|---|---|
| COA quality | 7.4 | 31 of 31 listed reports resolve; no identity test on any vial report; lot codes are not batch identifiers |
| Pricing | 7.8 | Eight vial SKUs 34-73% under our index median per mg; oxytocin and pens far above it |
| Shipping | 7.0 | Vendor-stated terms only; no buyer reports and no order of ours |
| Support | 5.5 | Virtual-office address, no named officer, cancellation only before shipment, no community record |
The weighted subscores come to 7.1. We take 0.5 off for regulatory exposure: HGH on sale, and GLP-coded pens on 4-weekly refill plans at the sister store. That gives 6.6.
All 34 lab records
Vanguard's public portal returns 34 records for the client "Hello Stacks". The shop's COA page lists 31 of them. We opened every record and its PDF on 9 October 2026; all 34 resolve.
| Compound (lab title) | Label | Measured | % of label | Purity | Report | Reported | On shop list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-Amino-1MQ | 10 mg | 11.55 mg | 115.5% | >99.80% | V260407-4 001 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| GHK-Cu | 50 mg | 55.84 mg | 111.7% | >99.80% | V260407-4 002 | 2026-04-20 | yes |
| BPC-157/TB-500 (sold as 5+5 mg) | 10 mg | 5.46 mg + 5.53 mg | 109.9% | >99.80% | V260407-4 003 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| MOTS-c | 10 mg | 11.01 mg | 110.1% | 99.07% | V260407-4 004 | 2026-04-16 | yes (shop link dead) |
| MOTS-c | 20 mg | 21.81 mg | 109.0% | 99.13% | V260407-4 005 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| MOTS-c | 40 mg | 42.94 mg | 107.3% | 99.20% | V260407-4 006 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| KPV | 10 mg | 11.50 mg | 115.0% | >99.80% | V260407-4 007 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| GLOW | 70 mg | 51.65 mg + 11.50 mg + 11.68 mg | 106.9% | >99.80% | V260407-4 008 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| Tesamorelin | 20 mg | 20.11 mg | 100.5% | 98.51% | V260407-4 009 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| GLP-1R | 20 mg | 18.93 mg | 94.7% | >99.80% | V260407-4 010 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| GLP-1R | 40 mg | 38.63 mg | 96.6% | >99.80% | V260407-4 011 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| GLP-1T | 10 mg | 9.93 mg | 99.3% | >99.80% | V260407-4 012 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| GLP-1T | 30 mg | 27.91 mg | 93.0% | >99.80% | V260407-4 013 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| GLP-1T | 60 mg | 56.70 mg | 94.5% | >99.80% | V260407-4 014 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| DSIP | 10 mg | 9.34 mg | 93.4% | 99.22% | V260407-4 015 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| LL-37 | 5 mg | 4.92 mg | 98.4% | 99.48% | V260407-4 016 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| Oxytocin | 2 mg | 1.85 mg | 92.5% | 98.78% | V260407-4 017 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| HGH Frag 176-191 | 10 mg | 11.58 mg | 115.8% | 99.50% | V260407-4 018 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| Humanin | 10 mg | 10.53 mg | 105.3% | 97.20% | V260407-4 019 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| GLP-R | 10 mg | 10.64 mg | 106.4% | >99.80% | V260407-4 020 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| TB-500 | 10 mg | 11.63 mg | 116.3% | >99.80% | V260407-4 021 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| GLP-T | 30 mg | 29.64 mg | 98.8% | >99.80% | V260407-4 022 | 2026-04-16 | no |
| BPC-157 | 10 mg | 11.68 mg | 116.8% | >99.80% | V260407-4 023 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| NAD+ | 1000 mg | 1200 mg | 120.0% | total >99.80%; NAD+ 99.14% | V260407-4 024 | 2026-04-16 | yes |
| HGH | 24 IU | 26.88 IU | 112.0% | >99.80% | V260407-4 025 | 2026-04-16 | no |
| Thymosin Alpha 1 | 10 mg | 10.49 mg | 104.9% | 99.10% | V260618-8 001 | 2026-07-01 | yes |
| Semax | 10 mg | 11.29 mg | 112.9% | 99.44% | V260618-8 002 | 2026-07-01 | yes |
| AOD-9604 | 10 mg | 10.18 mg | 101.8% | 98.46% | V260618-8 003 | 2026-07-01 | yes |
| KLOW | 80 mg | 65.60 mg + 12.37 mg + 10.15 mg + 11.90 mg | 125.0% | >99.50% | V260618-8 004 | 2026-07-01 | yes |
| PT-141 | 10 mg | 10.74 mg | 107.4% | 99.35% | V260618-8 005 | 2026-07-01 | yes |
| CJC-1295/Ipamorelin | 10 mg | 5.55 mg + 5.41 mg | 109.6% | >99.50% | V260618-8 006 | 2026-07-01 | yes |
| Glutathione | 1500 mg | 1573 mg | 104.9% | >99.80% | V260618-8 007 | 2026-07-01 | yes |
| NAD+ | 500 mg | 616 mg | 123.2% | total >99.80%; NAD+ 98.55% | V260618-8 008 | 2026-07-01 | yes |
| Bacteriostatic water | 30 mL | BA 0.86%, pH 5.36 | n/a | n/a | V260618-8 010 | 2026-07-01 | no |
Across the 31 listed reports the median fill is 107.3%, the range 92.5% (oxytocin) to 125.0% (KLOW), with 0 under 90% and 11 over 110%. Blends overfill on one component: in KLOW 80 mg, GHK-Cu measured 65.60 mg. Purity values printed as >99.80% or >99.50% are reporting limits, not measured numbers.
The three records the shop does not list are HGH 24 IU (V260407-4 025), a second test of a GLP-coded 30 mg lot (V260407-4 022), and the shop's 30 mL bacteriostatic water (V260618-8 010).
The "missing" MOTS-c report is a broken link. The COA page's Verify link for MOTS-c 10 mg points at a record ID that returns "no published record". The same report, V260407-4 004, sits on the portal under a different record ID (linked in the table). PeptideBenchmark and our own first pass counted it as not resolving. With the right ID, 31 of 31 resolve.
What the vial reports do not test
Identity. None of the 34 Vanguard records carries an identity test; the portal marks identity "not on file" on every one. HPLC purity can look clean on the wrong molecule. That matters here because the shop's own Peptide Sciences alternatives page tells buyers to look for "Mass spec identity confirmation included".
NAD+ purity. The shop quotes >99.8% for NAD+. That is the lab's "Total" line, which counts nicotinamide, a breakdown product of NAD+. The NAD+-specific figures are 99.14% (1000 mg) and 98.55% (500 mg). Vanguard's portal shows the nicotinamide line (0.86% and 1.45%) under "Purity", which reads like a display error on the portal side.
Endotoxin. Four reports read above 5 EU/mg: thymosin alpha 1 at 18.50, TB-500 at 11.8, Frag 176-191 at 8.86, and LL-37 reported as "under 50.00". All are marked "Pass". The printed basis is "5 EU/kg (350 EU total for a 70 kg adult)", a limit per kilogram of body weight that the lab appears to apply to the whole vial: 18.50 EU/mg across 10 mg is 185 EU, under 350. A result in EU/mg only becomes pass or fail against a chosen specification, and different specifications give different lines. We do not call these failures. We note that a human-dose criterion sits on paperwork for a product sold "for in-vitro research only".
Lot codes are not batch numbers
A batch number should name one production run of one substance. Hello Stacks' codes do not.
| Lot code | Compounds carrying it |
|---|---|
VR0304260110 | 5-Amino-1MQ, AOD-9604, DSIP, Frag 176-191, Humanin, KPV, MOTS-c 10 mg, oxytocin 2 mg, Semax (9) |
VR108082500001-10 | BPC-157/TB-500, CJC-1295/Ipamorelin, PT-141, thymosin alpha 1, TB-500, two GLP-coded 10 mg vials (7) |
Pen lot 26078 (Freedom) | 10 pen products |
Pen lot 26142 (Freedom) | 9 pen products |
Nine peptides, from KPV to Semax, cannot come out of one synthesis run. The trailing digits match the fill size almost every time (…10 for 10 mg, …0105 for 5 mg, …0124 for 24 IU, …01500 for 500 mg). The middle digits may encode a date, though we cannot tell whether "030426" means 3 April or 4 March 2026. The pen lots fit a year-plus-day format (2026, day 78 and day 142); that is our reading, not the vendor's. Vanguard gave each sample its own lab ID, so the shared code is a client-supplied label.
One lot was tested twice on the same day: a GLP-coded 30 mg under VR108082500001-30 measured 93.0% of label in report 013 and 98.8% in report 022. The shop lists only 013.
The StackOne pens and the Ac-SDKP result
StackOne sells prefilled liquid pens and refill cartridges. Freedom Diagnostics holds 19 reports for the client "Stack One Labs"; all 19 resolved on 9 October 2026, including three that PeptideBenchmark reported as missing. Six are not shown on StackOne's lab-tests page. One of them is a GLP-coded pen report that the StackOne page calls "in progress"; Freedom has listed it since 21 June 2026.
Freedom's reports include an LC-MS identity line, which Vanguard's do not. On two blend pens sold as "GHK-Cu + BPC-157 + TB-500" that line names something else:
- GLOW pen, Stac2607060420: identity "GHK-Cu/Ac-SDKP/BPC-157"
- KLOW pen, Stac2607060417: net content "Ac-SDKP and KPV – 20.52 mg"
Ac-SDKP is a four-residue peptide cut from the start of thymosin beta-4 (Kumar et al., 2016). TB-500 usually denotes either the full 43-residue thymosin beta-4 or a different fragment (residues 17-23). The lab identified the third component as Ac-SDKP. That could mean the pen holds Ac-SDKP, or that Freedom's method reports the fragment it detected. We cannot tell which without asking Freedom or retesting, and the vial reports have no identity test to compare against.
Pens cost more than the same compound in a vial from the same operator:
| Pen | Pen price | Pen $/mg | Hello Stacks vial $/mg | Pen premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BPC-157 20 mg | $299 | 14.95 | 4.90 | 3.1x |
| GHK-Cu 50 mg | $299 | 5.98 | 0.69 | 8.7x |
| MOTS-c 20 mg | $349 | 17.45 | 3.45 | 5.1x |
| NAD+ 500 mg | $299 | 0.60 | 0.12 | 5.1x |
| Selank 25 mg | $349 | 13.96 | 4.50 | 3.1x |
| Semax 25 mg | $349 | 13.96 | 4.90 | 2.8x |
| KLOW 80 mg | $399 | 4.99 | 1.74 | 2.9x |
| GLOW 70 mg | $349 | 4.99 | 1.84 | 2.7x |
| BPC-157 + TB-500 20 mg | $349 | 17.45 | 7.90 | 2.2x |
Median premium: 3.05x (range 2.2-8.7x), prices from both stores' catalogs on 9 October 2026. GLP-coded pens are left out of this table.
HGH on the shelf
On 9 October 2026 Hello Stacks listed HGH 10 IU ($69) and HGH 24 IU ($99) vials as in stock, filed under "Growth Hormone Secretagogues". Vanguard holds a Hello Stacks report for HGH 24 IU, V260407-4 025, measuring 26.88 IU; the shop does not list it. HGH (somatropin) is an FDA-approved prescription drug (Genotropin label, DailyMed), and federal law separately restricts its distribution outside a prescription (21 U.S.C. § 333(e)). We are not making a legal finding about Hello Stacks. We are recording what it sells.
Regulatory exposure
No FDA warning letter or Lilly complaint we have read names Hello Stacks, PranaCore or StackOne. The catalog still matches what those documents cited, as summarised in our August 2026 letters article:
| What FDA or Lilly cited in 2026 | What Hello Stacks or StackOne shows (9 Oct 2026) |
|---|---|
| GLP code names, including "GLP-1 S" in the Peptide Partners letter | "GLP-1 R", "GLP-1 T" and "GLP-1 S" listings |
| Bacteriostatic water sold beside the peptides | "Reconstitution Solution – for Laboratory Use" |
| Dosing or reconstitution calculators | An FAQ pointing to "our reconstitution calculator" |
| Pages aimed at former Peptide Sciences buyers (Lone Star complaint) | A Peptide Sciences alternatives page, published 6 August 2026 |
| SS-31, PT-141 and tesamorelin, named in all five August letters | All three sold |
Two practices go beyond that list: liquid prefilled pens, and refill plans on which a GLP-coded cartridge "ships every 4 weeks". Hello Stacks also runs Subscribe & Save on 4, 8 or 12-week cycles.
Who runs Hello Stacks
The terms name PranaCore Life Inc. as the operator. The footer address, 3330 Harbor Blvd, 2nd Floor, Costa Mesa, is a Regus centre that sells virtual-office plans. A staging copy of the site lists "PranaCore Life Inc. DBA HelloStacks, 1621 Central Ave, Cheyenne WY", an address on Wyoming's registered-agent roster. We could not confirm the state of incorporation, and we found no named officer.
The domain dates from 19 February 2020, but the earliest WordPress page is from 24 December 2025 and the first lab reports from 16 April 2026. What the domain hosted before is unknown to us. stackonelabs.com was registered on 9 January 2026, sits on the same hosting setup, makes ACH payable to PranaCore, and sells 69 of Hello Stacks' 70 products plus 66 refill-plan SKUs. Cards bill as "Tagadapay".
Vanguard Laboratory: what the accreditation covers
Vanguard is Olympic Analytical, LLC dba Vanguard Laboratory, Olympia, Washington. Its ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, A2LA certificate 6377.01, is real and runs to 30 September 2027. The scope dated 22 December 2025 covers AOAC food microbiology, a preservatives method, trace elements by ICP-MS and residual solvents. It does not list peptide HPLC purity, assay, identity or LAL endotoxin. Every Hello Stacks report cites "A2LA Certificate #6377.01.01", and every report says the lab "cannot confirm the authenticity of the sample".
The verification portal, verifiedbyvanguard.com, was registered on 27 January 2026 and lists 285 client brands. One is Mile High Compounds, which received an FDA warning letter dated 31 March 2026. Disclosed Labs and PeptidePrices flagged the scope before us. For how Vanguard compares with Janoshik and Kovera, see our testing labs comparison. This also corrects what we wrote on Summit Biotech.
How other raters score Hello Stacks
| Site | Score | Affiliate with Hello Stacks | Where it differs from the lab data |
|---|---|---|---|
| PeptideBenchmark | "Strong" case; evidence score 6.4 | Yes, since 1 Oct 2026: "may earn 20%" plus a 20% code | Counted MOTS-c 004 and three Freedom codes as missing; all resolve now |
| Disclosed Labs | C, 70/100 | None disclosed | Files pens and refills as vials; wrong lot on NAD+ 500 mg |
| Peptide Source Review | 7.3/10 | "Shop Hello Stacks" button; paid status unconfirmed | Flags the nine-compound lot |
| Stacked | 74/100 | Yes, labelled "Affiliate link" | Scores FDA risk 85 with "no FDA issues" |
| Peptide Grades | 4.0/5 transparency | Not stated | Dates the business to 2020 from the domain |
The scores spread from C/70 to "Strong" because the raters weight different things: Disclosed Labs penalises missing safety panels, PeptideBenchmark counts resolving documents. None of them checked identity across the vial and pen reports, quantified the endotoxin readings, or decoded the lots.
Why there is no affiliate link here
On 28 September 2026 Hello Stacks emailed us an offer of 40% of every order a referred customer places, repeat orders included. Its public affiliate terms publish no rate ("disclosed upon acceptance") and say Hello Stacks "may withhold unpaid commissions where content creates legal or regulatory exposure for Hello Stacks". A paid reviewer under that clause has a reason to soften the HGH and GLP sections above. We declined. PeptideBenchmark has disclosed a 20% relationship since 1 October 2026. The other eight vendors that pitched us in the same five weeks, and what each offered, are in the affiliate offers we declined.
Verdict
Buy from Hello Stacks only if you need a vial whose fill and HPLC purity you can check yourself on a lab portal today, and you accept that no vial report confirms identity. Skip the pens: they cost a median 3.05x the vial price and their identity results raise the Ac-SDKP question. Skip it if a vendor's catalog choices count in your decision: HGH and GLP refill plans put this operator closer to the FDA's 2026 targets than its paperwork suggests. If identity on every report is what you need, Ion Peptide's 120 Kovera reports carry it.
What we read
34 Vanguard records and PDFs, 19 Freedom Diagnostics records and PDFs, the Hello Stacks and StackOne catalogs (70 and 140 SKUs), both stores' terms, shipping, refund and lab pages, RDAP domain records, the A2LA directory and scope, Wyoming's registered-agent roster, Regus listings, five review sites, and two Reddit posts from 10 April 2026, one removed by moderators. Everything was retrieved on 9 October 2026.
What we did not read
California's business registry blocked our lookup, so PranaCore's state and officers are unconfirmed. Archived copies of hellostacks.com before 2026 did not load. We did not contact Hello Stacks, Vanguard or Freedom. We have not seen the reference standard Vanguard used for the GLP-coded assays.
Sources
All retrieved 9 October 2026 unless noted.
- Hello Stacks: home, COA page, terms, shipping, refunds, affiliate terms, product catalog, Peptide Sciences alternatives page
- Staging copy with the Cheyenne address: davidd1037.sg-host.com/about/
- StackOne: home, lab tests, terms, product catalog
- Vanguard: brand search, brand list, Mile High Compounds records, vanguardlaboratory.com
- A2LA: directory entry, scope of accreditation
- Freedom Diagnostics: COA lookup, Stack One Labs company search, GLOW pen report, KLOW pen report
- Domains: RDAP via rdap.org for hellostacks.com, stackonelabs.com and verifiedbyvanguard.com
- Addresses: Regus Costa Mesa Harbor Blvd, Wyoming registered-agent roster
- Law and regulators: 21 U.S.C. § 333, Genotropin label (DailyMed), FDA letter to Mile High Compounds, 31 March 2026
- Science: Kumar et al., Am J Physiol Renal Physiol, 2016
- Review sites: PeptideBenchmark (28 Sep 2026, updated 1 Oct), Disclosed Labs, Disclosed Labs on Vanguard, PeptidePrices on Vanguard, Peptide Source Review, Stacked, Peptide Grades
- Reddit: r/Retatrutide post, 10 April 2026 (removed), r/Biohackers crosspost
- Pricing index: our vendor pricing index, built 25 June 2026
Sources
6 REFERENCES- Hello Stacks COA page — vendor
- Vanguard Laboratory public portal, brand search 'Hello Stacks' (34 records) — third-party-lab
- A2LA directory entry, Olympic Analytical LLC dba Vanguard Laboratory (cert 6377.01) — A2LA
- Freedom Diagnostics COA lookup — third-party-lab
- 21 U.S.C. 333(e), prohibited distribution of human growth hormone — Cornell LII
- vialaudit - FDA and Lilly peptide letters, August 2026 — vialaudit