Do kidney stones hurt?

Can hurt like labor: Yes, but not always. The pain can be excruciating, unremitting, described by some as worst than labor pain. The larger then stone the more pain generally speaking. If the stone moves more likely to cause pain. Some have very large stones in their kidneys which is only noted incidentally on an unrelated imaging study, yet they have no symptoms at all.

Yes: Kidney stones typically cause pain when they cause obstruction. This is when the stone sits somewhere in the ureter and cause the kidney to dilate. Stones that sits within the kidney and not causing the kidney to dilate may cause renal colic as well. Instead of causing the whole kidney to obstruct, it causes a small part of the kidney to obstruct (infundibulum–caliceal level) and can cause pain.