Certificate of Analysis (COA) & You
What is a COA (Certificate of Analysis)?
A COA is a verified lab report that documents the test results from a batch of flower, concentrate, or infused product. These tests can be performed on intermediate materials (like trim or crude oil) or finished goods (ready-for-sale pre-rolls, vapes, edibles, etc.).
How COAs Are Delivered
When a product is submitted, the lab logs it into their LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System).
Once testing is complete, the lab sends the COA as a PDF to the licensed client via email.
Some labs host these COAs in a client portal or provide a link/QR code for easy sharing.
Why COAs Matter
For Growers: Track quality across batches, monitor genetic consistency, and identify weak phenos or environmental issues.
For Marketing: Need the strain info to create graphics and creatives.
For Budtenders: Use them as a tool for education and upselling — especially when highlighting terp content.
For Operations: Higher testing products often command higher wholesale prices. Low-testing or failed batches may get diverted to infused pre-rolls or concentrates.
For Compliance: Required for product transfers, final sale, or inclusion in wholesale manifests and e-commerce listings.
Types of Tests
There are two common levels of testing:
Full Panel: Includes potency (THC/CBD), terpene profile, heavy metals, pesticides, microbials, residual solvents, and moisture content.
QC Panel (Quality Check): Usually potency only — used for internal checks, retests, or quick compliance validation.
Batch Testing Guidelines
In New Mexico, test results can be applied to 15 lb increments of flower per batch. Other states have different limits or requirements, but the idea is the same — each test is batch-specific and must be traceable.
The Operational Pain Point
COAs are sent as PDFs — hard to track at scale. Managing them across batches, product lines, and SKUs means downloading, renaming, organizing, and sometimes manually copying over key test data like THC% or terpenes into menus and sales sheets. For wholesalers, this can get out of hand fast.
Common Features of COA Hosting Services
Cloud storage of test results
Integration with labs (auto-pulling data directly)
API or embed options for menus and e-commerce
Customer-facing QR codes on packaging
Advanced search by strain, batch, date, etc.
Alerting for expiring or failed COAs
What is COA Hosting?
COA hosting is the digital storage and sharing of Certificates of Analysis — test results for flower, edibles, concentrates, and other products — typically in PDF form, but often broken down into structured data like potency, contaminants, terpenes, etc. These platforms:
Store and organize COAs in a cloud-accessible format
Allow producers, labs, retailers, and even consumers to view or download the COA
Often include embedded sharing links (QR codes, website widgets)
COA Hosting Services
Pricing Reality in This Space
Unlike SaaS platforms where you subscribe purely for COA hosting, in this industry COA delivery is predominantly a component of lab testing services:
Labs pay for a LIMS like Confident or TagLeaf.
Producers access COAs at no extra cost as part of their lab service package — the portal access is bundled with testing fees.
Quote‑based pricing means you engage with sales reps for volume, portals, integrations, and API access pricing.
For most producers building automation, it means you leverage the lab’s COA portal (Confident, TagLeaf, Kaycha) and then use your internal systems (Sheets/automation) to pull and store the raw PDFs, then parse via AI.
