For women exploring fertility treatment as a path to motherhood, there are generally three core options — each differing in cost, intensity, and success rate.
Regardless of the route chosen, every journey begins with selecting a sperm donor, a crucial decision we’ll explore in detail later, along with the advantages and limitations of each treatment approach.
Before diving into donor selection and treatment specifics, it’s important to understand one key medical consideration: the risk of multiple gestation pregnancies — twins, triplets, or more.
Multiple pregnancies carry greater health risks for both mother and babies, including higher rates of preterm birth, low birth weight, infant mortality, and cerebral palsy. Because of this, we will continually highlight strategies to reduce the risk of multiple pregnancies throughout this guide.
Before starting treatment — whether donor insemination or IVF — a basic fertility evaluation is highly recommended.
This usually includes:
Blood tests to assess hormone levels
Ultrasound or physical exam to evaluate the uterus and fallopian tubes
Optional genetic testing to identify hereditary risks that could influence treatment choices
A full diagnostic overview can help you and your provider tailor the most effective, personalized plan.
The first major step in any treatment journey is selecting donor sperm — an essential process whether you’re pursuing at-home insemination, IUI, or IVF.
The sperm provider is referred to as a donor, though compensation is common. Donors generally fall into two categories:
Directed (known) donors — someone you know personally
Bank (anonymous or open-identity) donors — selected through a sperm bank
Two key questions typically guide this decision:
Do you prefer sperm from someone you know or from a sperm bank?
If using a bank, should your child have the option to learn the donor’s identity later?
A directed donor is someone already in your life — such as a friend or acquaintance — who agrees to provide sperm.
Personal Connection: You know the donor personally, offering greater insight into their background and character.
Custom Testing: You can arrange for specific medical or genetic screening for peace of mind.
Transparency: There’s less risk of discovering numerous half-siblings, as can happen with bank donors.
Flexible Family Dynamics: The donor can have a defined role — or none — depending on your comfort level.
Accessibility: Additional samples can usually be obtained easily if future children are desired.
Cost Efficiency: While there may be added legal and testing expenses, directed donations can cost less overall.
Fresh Samples: Fresh sperm can be used (unlike frozen samples from banks), improving success rates, especially for IUI.
Legal Risks: Potential disputes about parental rights can arise. Proper legal contracts and clinic documentation are essential.
Emotional Complexities: Future disagreements over boundaries or involvement may occur.
Administrative Steps: Counseling, quarantine periods, and disease testing can delay the process.
Extra Costs: You’ll likely cover the donor’s medical, psychological, and legal fees — sometimes equaling or exceeding sperm bank costs.
Alternatively, sperm can be purchased from a licensed sperm bank, which offers professional screening, legal protection, and wide donor variety.
Banks recruit donors — often from nearby universities — and conduct medical, genetic, and psychological screening.
Approved donors relinquish parental rights and provide sperm samples, which are frozen and made available via online donor profiles.
Information access: Tiered donor profile access can cost around $250 per 3 months.
Sperm vials: Range from $1,000–$1,500 per vial.
Additional costs: Washed sperm or open-identity donors may cost more.
Quantity: IUI usually requires 3–5 vials (due to ~10–20% success per cycle), and IVF may need one or two per round.
Unused sperm can often be stored or sold back (usually at ~50% of the purchase price).
Wide donor selection and immediate availability
All testing, screening, and legal waivers handled by the bank
Banks are generally single-mother friendly
Limited donor information (few adult photos, vague bios)
Quality and transparency vary between banks
Frozen sperm has slightly lower success rates than fresh sperm
Isolated cases of donor misrepresentation have occurred
When purchasing banked sperm, you’ll typically choose between:
The donor’s identity becomes available when your child turns 18.
About 58% of donor-conceived adults from single-parent families later request this information.
Most donors and offspring report positive or neutral experiences following contact.
The donor’s identity remains confidential.
However, genetic testing (e.g., 23andMe, AncestryDNA) increasingly makes true anonymity unrealistic.
Unplanned discoveries can lead to emotionally complex outcomes.
Studies examining the pandemic’s effects revealed that single mothers faced unique challenges compared to multi-adult households.
62% of single mothers reported having no childcare assistance (vs 40% in multi-adult homes).
They were 10% more likely to report declines in work productivity.
They found it harder to balance parenting, personal time, and professional responsibilities.
These findings emphasize the importance of having a reliable and adaptable support system, especially during times of crisis.
After securing donor sperm, there are two main conception routes:
Donor Insemination
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
Let’s first look at insemination.
Also known as intra-vaginal insemination, this involves placing sperm near the cervix using a syringe or similar device.
While inexpensive and convenient, it offers lower success rates than clinical procedures and may create legal complications when using a known donor.
IUI involves placing washed sperm directly into the uterus during ovulation — a clinical procedure with higher success rates.
Each cycle can cost $500–$4,000, depending on medication use.
For single women, IUI success rates are typically higher than for couples treated for infertility.
Average success: ~35% after five cycles for women under 35.
Success declines with age, especially after 35.
Because individual cycles often fail, multiple consecutive IUIs are common.
Best for women with regular cycles.
Lowest success rates but minimal risk of multiple births.
Oral medications that modestly boost success to ~10–15%.
Low cost but slightly higher risk of twins.
Usually requires cycle monitoring by your doctor.
Injectable hormones that further increase success rates but carry a 30% risk of multiple pregnancy.
Typically reserved for specific cases due to cost and higher complication risk.
IVF is a more intensive and costly procedure that involves retrieving eggs, fertilizing them with sperm in a lab, and transferring embryos into the uterus.
Desire for the fastest route to pregnancy
Previous IUI failures (after 3–5 cycles)
Blocked fallopian tubes or other fertility issues
Prior egg freezing
Planning for multiple future pregnancies
Success varies with age:
Under 40: >50% success after 3 cycles
Over 40: Lower rates
Using donor eggs: Success rates rise dramatically (up to 70% after 3 cycles)
Ovarian Stimulation: Hormone injections encourage multiple egg development (8–20 eggs).
Egg Retrieval: Eggs are collected under anesthesia using ultrasound guidance.
Fertilization: Eggs are combined with sperm (or injected via ICSI).
Embryo Culture: Embryos grow for 3–7 days to the blastocyst stage.
Optional Genetic Screening (PGT-A): Helps identify chromosomally normal embryos.
Embryo Transfer: A single embryo is placed in the uterus.
Freezing Embryos: Unused embryos can be stored for future use.
At each stage, the number of viable eggs and embryos narrows — hence the goal of starting with many.
If a woman’s eggs are low in number or quality, donor eggs can be used to dramatically increase success rates. IVF with donor eggs often results in live birth rates exceeding 60–70% per cycle, even for women over 40.
Typical IVF costs:
$15,000–$25,000 per cycle in the U.S. (including medication)
Lower in other regions (e.g., ~$5,000 in Asia, government-covered in some European countries)
Insurance coverage for single women is limited.
Many policies define “infertility” as failure to conceive after 6–12 months of unprotected intercourse — criteria that exclude single mothers by choice.
Some employers and countries, however, now offer inclusive fertility coverage regardless of relationship status.
When deciding between IUI and IVF, consider:
| Factor | IUI | IVF |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $500–$4,000 | ~$20,000 per cycle |
| Invasiveness | Minimal | Surgical egg retrieval |
| Time to Pregnancy | Slower | Faster |
| Success per Cycle | Lower | Higher |
| Multiple Birth Risk | Higher with medication | Lower (single-embryo transfer) |
| Efficiency of Sperm Use | Lower | Higher (can freeze embryos) |
In general:
Women under 35 often start with IUI.
Women over 35 or those planning multiple children may benefit from IVF.
IVF also allows embryo banking, providing the option to have future children with the same donor, even years later.
Our job is to listen, to connect the dots between your needs, and to determine how we can best help you have your baby. If you’re asking how much does it cost for a surrogate, we’ll walk you through every step of the process to ensure there are no surprises.
To make an appointment with one of our counselors or physicians, please call (212) 661-7673 or email info@surrogacy4all.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
Surrogacy4All is a unique international surrogacy service targeted at providing state of the art IVF and surrogacy services to Intended Parents irrespective of age, sex or color, at the lowest possible cost in the world.
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