Egg Freezing Cost Spotlight:

• The price of an 'egg freezing package' is not the only thing to consider when budgeting for treatment. The initial investigation (often called a 'fertility MOT'), medication and long-term embryo storage are all charged in addition to the package price.

• Buying your medication from pharmacies and not directly from your clinic can reduce your costs (although your clinic will still charge you a prescription fee).

• Each person is unique and will have a unique treatment journey with varying costs. After your initial investigational tests, make sure you ask your clinic for a fully costed treatment plan, before you begin.

Egg freezing is expensive - in fact, it can be one of the biggest investments any of us will make for our future. In the UK, it's also typically the first time we will have paid for something healthcare related.

While the average cost of freezing your eggs is £6,497 (including medication), a key challenge is that each clinic approaches pricing their treatments differently. Some do packages, for example, while others price everything individually. Pricing is not usually very clear or transparent, with the true cost of a treatment package ends up being much more than the advertised cost. This can make it hard to budget accurately for the total cost of your egg freezing treatment.

Costs are also linked to an individual's unique treatment plan. Some people might need more medication than others, others might need additional scans, or more tests. Many people will require more than one cycle of egg freezing to achieve the recommended amount of viable eggs (at least 15). All of this impacts the total amount you could end up paying.

At Fertility Mapper we aim to arm you with the information you need to make informed decisions - no regrets. That's why, through this guide we make understanding the cost of your treatment as easy as possible - reducing financial stress throughout your treatment and tackling unexpected surprises.

Egg freezing, also known as oocyte cryopreservation, is a fertility preservation technique. It involves the process of extracting a woman's eggs, freezing them at an optimal fertility age (usually under 35), and storing them for potential future use.

The procedure begins with ovarian stimulation using hormone medications to encourage the growth and maturation of multiple eggs. Once the eggs have reached the desired stage of development, they are retrieved through a minimally invasive procedure called transvaginal ultrasound-guided egg retrieval. After retrieval, the eggs are rapidly cooled using a technique called vitrification, which prevents the formation of ice crystals that could damage the eggs.

Egg freezing offers individuals the opportunity to preserve their fertility by using their younger eggs for fertility treatment at a later stage in life. Research has shown that using younger eggs in fertility treatments can lead to higher success rates in achieving a pregnancy. However, it is important to note that the ability to conceive with frozen eggs may vary among individuals, and success is not guaranteed.

While there is no guarantee that the frozen eggs will lead to a successful pregnancy in the future, egg freezing has become an increasingly popular option for women who want to delay having children for various personal or medical reasons.

The treatment involves collecting a person's eggs, freezing them, and using them for fertility treatment later on. Not many people know this, but it’s very similar to the first half of an IVF cycle, where medication is taken to stimulate the ovaries, and the eggs are then collected under sedation. But, instead of immediately fertilising the eggs as is the case in IVF, they are safely frozen in liquid nitrogen tanks. When you are ready to use the eggs, they are thawed, and the surviving ones are injected with sperm to create embryos. One or more of these embryos are then transferred into the womb.

To understand the detail of what’s involved in the different stages of egg freezing, have a read of our helpful Egg Freezing Treatment Guide.

Benefits of egg freezing include the ability to postpone parenthood due to various reasons such as focusing on education or career, medical conditions that could affect fertility, or lack of a suitable partner. It can provide you with a sense of control over your reproductive options, allowing you to pursue family-building goals when the time is right for you.

The younger you are when you freeze your eggs, the more likely you are to collect a large number of high quality eggs, increasing your chances of a successful pregnancy later down the line. When eggs are frozen before the age of 35, they hold a greater chance of resulting in a successful pregnancy. Despite this, the most common age that women freeze their own eggs for treatment is 36, with some women freezing their own eggs into their 40s, when the likelihood of a future pregnancy from using these eggs is very low.

The average 'advertised egg freezing package cost' in the UK is £3,815. However, not every clinic will include all the necessary components required for treatment in their advertised 'egg freezing package' price. Our research found that when you add in all core elements of treatment (such as blood tests and HFEA-mandated viral screening), the average true cost of an egg freezing package in the UK is £4,414 - that's 16% higher than advertised. In addition you will need to pay for pre-treatment investigations, medication and long term egg storage, taking the total average cost of egg freezing to £6,497.

It’s important to also factor in the potential future cost for using your frozen eggs. If you do need to use your eggs in the future, you’ll need to pay for a Frozen Egg Thaw Transfer (FETT) procedure. The average true cost for this is £3,440 (ranging from £2,200 to £6,000), and you may require multiple transfers before a successful transfer occurs.

Therefore the total cost for one cycle of egg freezing, including medication and one frozen embryo transfer is £9,937 (ranging from £8,697 to £12,497).

It’s important to remember that these are just averages - the actual amount you pay will vary from clinic to clinic and person to person. Some people will only need one cycle of egg freezing to collect the recommended 15 eggs, while other people will need more. We’ll explore these nuances in more detail below to give you a good idea of how to think about your budgeting and where to seek financial support.

The short answer is yes, and you should take this into account when finding the right clinic for you. We're here to simplify the complex process of comparing egg freezing costs at different clinics, ensuring you have the information you need to make informed decisions.

Egg freezing involves several stages: pre-treatment, treatment, and post-treatment. Each stage incurs costs, and clinics often offer package deals that cover some of these expenses. For instance, a pre-treatment package is often known as a 'Fertility MOT,' while the treatment package is called an 'egg freezing package.'

Each clinic advertises different amounts for these packages, and importantly there is no standard package, they choose what is included in their packages - so one clinic's package may be very different from another. All this means is what can look like a cheaper package online, may end up being the most expensive option once the full treatment costs are included - paying less for a package does not necessarily mean that you will be paying less in total.

Confused? We’re not surprised!

To help make your decision easier we have collected all the package costs - and importantly the cost of individual items that might not be included in the package - and broken these down for every clinic in the UK. You can compare costs, clinic by clinic, on our fertility clinics pages.

There are three stages to egg freezing, with each phase having a cost - we’ll go into more detail on this below. Before we do, it's important to note that once you complete one phase of treatment with a clinic you are not committed to pay for or continue with the next phase. For example, you might find a clinic to do your pre-treatment phase, and decide you don't want to continue with the treatment phase, or you want to move to another clinic for the treatment phase. However, currently a lot of clinics will only use the test and scan results from pre-treatment tests they have carried out at their clinic, so you might need to pay for these again if you switch clinics between phases.

You can find more information on the stages of egg freezing treatment in our essentials guide.

Once you've picked your clinic, you'll be asked to come in for your initial consultation, or what is sometimes known as a fertility MOT. The doctor will take a medical history and then suggest carrying out tests and scans. After these have been completed, you'll have a follow-up consultation. In some cases, more scans will be required.

Some clinics fix the cost of the investigation phase, charging you one price for the whole experience - these are often called fertility MOTs. Other clinics will change you individually for each scan, blood test, consultation - you name it. The more of them you have, the more you pay.

Here are some typical costs for the egg freezing investigation stage:

Source: Fertility Mapper's Fertility Clinic True Cost Data

Most clinics have created egg freezing treatment packages, which cover many of the costs required for treatment, including the doctor's time, nurse consultations, monitoring tests, surgical instruments, and facilities. However, what's included in a treatment package varies from clinic-to-clinic. For example, some clinics include anaesthetic and scans, while others don't. Because of this It’s important to do your research - in the end the cheapest advertised package price may not be the cheapest option.

Your clinic should always provide you with a fully costed treatment plan after you have completed your investigation stage. Check it to see what is included and will be charged extra, this way you know exactly how much you will need to pay and avoid any surprise costs.

Source: Fertility Mapper's Fertility Clinic True Cost Data

Most clinics do not include medication costs in their advertised 'egg freezing packages'. Medication is expensive, and it can vary a lot from individual-to-individual, and from supplier-to-supplier. The average cost for medication is £1,600 and ranges from £1,000 to £2,500 - having a huge impact on what you finally pay.

A key reason clinics do not include medication costs in their packages is because  the amount and type of medication a person will need can vary significantly depending on their individual biological needs. The clinics cannot know what type, and how much medication you will individually need before the investigation stage, and so this is very often not included in package pricing.

While you can buy your medication from your clinic, not many people are aware that once you have a fully costed treatment plan and your doctor has provided you with a  medication list, you can actually shop around. You can buy your medication from other trusted places, like high street pharmacies, which can reduce the cost significantly (you can even buy fertility medication at cost price from Asda!). It's worth noting though that your clinic will charge you a prescription fee in order to do this, as illustrated below:

Source: Fertility Mapper's Fertility Clinic True Cost Data

For many fertility treatments, the majority of the costs you incur will happen during the investigation and treatment stages. However, when it comes to egg freezing there will be some considerable additional costs to factor in after you have had your treatment. At some clinics this can be more than what you spend for the initial egg freezing procedure. We’ve broken down the main post-treatment costs below.

Not every clinic will include storage in their egg freezing packages, and if they do, it will be for a limited time only, typically 1-3 years. Given most people save their eggs for many years before using them, the storage cost can really add up over time.

Data from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Association (HFEA) dashboard shows that the average age of people freezing their eggs in 2021 was 35, while the average age for people thawing their eggs to use was 40. This shows that people freeze their eggs for five years on average, which can add an overall cost of between £750 to £2,700 (the annual cost of egg storage ranges from £150 to £540 per year!).

If you want to use your frozen eggs to have a child later down the line, you’ll need to pay for at least one egg thaw transfer cycle. The price for each transfer ranges from £2,118 to £6,00 - so can dramatically increase the overall cost of egg freezing and is not always considered when people budget for freezing their eggs.

The table below breaks down the typical costs for egg storage, egg thaw transfer cycles and counselling:

Source: Fertility Mapper's Fertility Clinic True Cost Data

The reality is that most people will need more than one frozen embryo transfer in order to have a child, which will also significantly increase the cost. There is still not enough data on the success rates for egg thaw transfer cycles, so the HFEA says to look at IVF pregnancy success rates for frozen embryo transfers. In 2021 the IVF frozen embryo transfer pregnancy rate was 36%, which means around two thirds of people require more than one transfer in order to become pregnant.

Putting all these stages together you can see the total and the breakdown for the average cost of one egg freezing cycle in the UK:

But remember, this does not include any additional storage between the treatment cycle and a frozen egg thaw transfer, which comes to £360 per year.

Due to the relatively small number of egg freezing cycles that happen each year in the UK (just 4,215 in 2021), and an even smaller number of people returning to use their eggs, there isn't a lot of reliable data on how successfully frozen eggs lead to a live birth. The HFEA recommends looking at IVF frozen embryo transfer data instead.

In 2021, the average IVF pregnancy rate using frozen embryo transfers was 36% per embryo transferred and the average preliminary IVF birth rate was 27% per embryo transferred.

Another study conducted between 2016 and 2022 at Guy’s hospital IVF unit in London looked at egg freezing specifically, and found that out of the 16% of the 167 women in the study who returned to use their eggs, 48% got pregnant and 35% had a live birth.

Data from the HFEA shows that while a woman’s age at thaw has relatively little impact on a woman’s chances of success, the age at freeze does. If eggs are frozen below the age of 35, the chances of success will be higher than the natural conception rate as the woman gets older. The data also showed that people who had more than 15 eggs collected during treatment had the highest chances of a successful pregnancy.

The older you are when you freeze your eggs, the fewer eggs you are likely to collect during one egg freezing cycle. A woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have - they age, just like us. The older you are when you undergo egg freezing treatment, the older your eggs will be and less likely to be healthy and viable after extraction. This is why women aged over 35 are likely to need more than one cycle of egg freezing treatment to collect the desired 15 frozen eggs.

As you can see from the table below, your age significantly impacts the number of eggs you are likely to retrieve from each cycle. The older you are, the more likely you are to have to pay for multiple cycles of treatment to get the desired amount of eggs.

Source: Fertility Mapper's Fertility Clinic True Cost Data

For many thinking about private medical care, the first place that comes to mind will be London's Harley Street. However, there are over 100 private clinics in the UK, and where you decide to do your IVF treatment will impact the amount you pay. If you choose a clinic that is far away from where you live, you should also factor the price of travel into your budget, as this can quickly accumulate to become a significant extra cost.

For an idea of how location can impact 'true average cost' in the UK, take a look at our table below:

Source: Fertility Mapper's Fertility Clinic True Cost Data

If you choose a clinic that is far away from where you live, you should also factor the price of travel into your budget, as this can quickly accumulate to become a significant extra cost as you may need to travel to the clinic several times for tests and scans during your treatment.

Egg freezing abroad can be a much cheaper option for people looking to freeze their eggs, even once travel and accommodation costs are factored in. The cost of egg freezing (and other fertility treatments) abroad can be a lot lower than in the UK, and this does not necessarily mean that the standard of care is lower. In fact, many countries have performed many more cycles of egg freezing treatment over a large number of years - and the top clinics specialising in this procedure may be within your budget abroad when the UK top clinics would not be.

However, while the costs may be a lot lower it is important to do thorough research and consider the potential drawbacks. For example: there may be a language barrier, you may not be able to travel with someone to support you throughout the two week process, other countries have different rules around LGBTQIA+ families accessing care, age limits and egg storage timelines can all be different to the rules in the UK.

Ultimately, it’s a personal experience with a multitude of factors affecting the outcome. Everyone’s path will look different and so everyone’s bill at the end will look different.

It’s difficult to know how many viable eggs you will produce from one cycle of egg freezing. Some people can collect the desired 15 eggs from the first cycle, while others will need many more cycles of treatment - with changes in medication for each new cycle to help stimulate the ovaries and encourage greater egg production.

Age and other personal factors will all impact the number of egg freezing cycles, storage timelines and egg thaw transfer cycles you’ll ultimately have to pay for. We’ve broken down the costs for three separate scenarios below:

If you are not able to freeze your eggs through the NHS (as is the case for most people), there are a range of financing options available for you. You can save and self-fund upfront, pay-as-you-go or sign up for a multi-cycle package. There are loans and financing products available through clinics or third party providers so you don’t have to save up beforehand and can start treatment while paying back the loan later. If you are lucky, employee benefits and private healthcare plans can fund some or all of your treatment costs. “Freeze and Share” programs offered by clinics will offer free egg freezing for those who are eligible and willing to donate half their eggs.

We explore these options in detail below to help you find the solution that most suits your needs:

The NHS will provide egg freezing treatment for people undergoing lifesaving treatments for conditions such as cancer, where chemotherapy and other treatments can cause harm to eggs. The NHS will also sometimes provide fertility preservation treatments for people undergoing life changing gender reassignment procedures, where egg freezing and uterine tissue freezing is offered to patients. Many NHS areas also fund fairly extensive storage plans.

Petitions have also been created in order for people who have Endometriosis to access fertility preservation. This is because 30-50% of people with Endometriosis have infertility. In addition, life changing laparoscopy surgery offered to Endometriosis patients can, in some cases, harm the ovarian tissue and cause infertility issues in itself - so egg freezing can be recommended prior to this.

Saving up the funds and paying for a package upfront, or paying as you have each treatment, can be the cheapest financing option as you will not have to worry about paying back accumulating interest. However, many people do not have the disposable income, especially at a young age, to be able to pay upfront. As we’ve seen, you may not know how many cycles of treatment you’ll need to produce the desired amount of eggs - so will not know before treatment how many cycles you will need to self-fund in order to save accordingly.

Many clinics offer “multicycle packages” for egg freezing, where you can sign up to a two or three cycle fixed cost package for a discounted price. The packages require pre-payment but provide significant savings against the normal cost of multiple treatments over the same period of time. This can be a good option for people who think their age or underlying conditions may increase the chance of them needing multiple cycles of egg freezing, and can afford to pay upfront.

You can take out a general loan, where a provider will offer you credit in exchange for paying back interest on top of the loan amount over time. In addition, there are specific fertility financing loans available both through clinics and separate providers. These options can be useful for people who do not have savings and who want to start treatment as soon as possible, enabling you to spread the cost over time.

Remember that you may end up paying more overall through interest, and with any financial product there is always a risk you will not be able to pay back the loan and the provider may take collateral damage. As with any loan, your provider will check your credit score before approving and providing access to these products.

Most UK private healthcare plans don't cover the cost of egg freezing. However, this is changing in response to growing demand, so it is worth checking with your insurance provider if they will fund some or all of the egg freezing process. In addition, some insurance companies cover parts of the process of initial testing, for instance.

Employers are also increasingly providing egg freezing as an employee benefit. Goldman Sachs launched their “Pathway to Parenthood” scheme back in 2019 and were the first in the UK to offer £15,500 to their employees to cover egg freezing. Since then, many big companies such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, LinkedIN, Netflix, Spotify and Apple have started to provide specific egg freezing benefits ranging from £16,000 to £60,000

An increasing number of smaller employers have also started supplementing their health insurance schemes with fertility benefits companies, who cover egg freezing. These can range in comprehensiveness: some cover the costs (at least partially) of treatment, whilst others only offer fertility testing and support.

In reality, unless you belong to a company that specifically offers egg freezing as a benefit, you will likely have to pay for some or all egg freezing treatment costs - especially if you require multiple cycles of egg freezing.

More clinics are offering “freeze and share” programmes which can be a great option for people who cannot afford to freeze their eggs and would like to donate some of their eggs to families who cannot conceive without donor eggs. You will likely have to pay for the initial Fertility MOT, but if you qualify, the rest of your egg freezing procedures will be free if you agree to donate half of the eggs collected to the clinic.

Not everyone qualifies for these programmes, you need to be under 35 and a non-smoker for example. You also need to have a high enough ovarian reserve and have your family medical history checked.

Donation is also not something that should be taken lightly. It is illegal to donate your eggs anonymously in the UK, so the emotional and legal factors should be considered before signing up to one of these programmes.

As you will be donating half your eggs, you will likely have to undergo multiple cycles of treatment in order to get at least 15 viable eggs for yourself. This can be a physical and emotionally demanding process. If you want to learn more about this process, read Sienna’s Egg Freeze and Share Story here.

With so much to think about and so many clinics to choose from, making a decision that's right for you and your budget can feel overwhelming. In addition to cost, it's important to think about the following factors when making your decision - we've summarised things below make it a little simpler for you:

Once you start treatment, you'll need regular scans and blood tests at the clinic you choose - it's not uncommon to go in each day or every other day - so making sure that you opt for somewhere that is convenient for you to travel to is important. 

Egg freezing is a demanding process. It can take a toll on your body, emotions and relationships, as well as your finances - so finding a clinic that you feel completely comfortable with is important.

This is where people's clinic reviews, the driving force of Fertility Mapper, come in. When it comes to choosing the right clinic, nothing compares to hearing from others who have walked the same path. That's why we've created a platform that harnesses the collective wisdom of our community. It's like having hundreds of trusted friends who have been exactly where you are, ready to offer their advice and insights.

Clinic reviews reveal insights about not only potential hidden costs, but the overall experience people had at a clinic. All of our reviews are independent and anonymous, so you can get trusted insights from our community into the level of care and respect shown by the clinic, how well the staff communicated during treatment, how seamless and frictionless experiences were, and how transparent the clinic was about costs.

While different people may feel differently about a clinic depending on the doctors they saw, procedures they had and their treatment outcome, being able to read about lived experiences can fill in the gaps in information regarding overall quality of care when deciding which clinic to choose.

Once you start treatment, you'll need regular scans and blood tests at the clinic you choose - it's not uncommon to go in each day or every other day - so making sure that you opt for somewhere that is convenient for you to travel to is important.

Fertility Mapper is here to help you make the most informed decision possible, with no regrets.

We have broken down the cost of egg freezing per clinic on our clinic pages, so you can compare clinics in your area in order to find one that best meets your treatment needs and budget. Reading other people's lived experiences via our clinic reviews is one of the most comprehensive ways of cutting through the pricing jargon of clinics and learning what the true cost of treatment is at each clinic. By looking at the 'cost transparency' section of the reviews for each clinic, you can gauge whether or not they are upfront with their pricing - those with a lower score are more likely to charge additional, unexpected fees throughout the course of your treatment. Armed with this knowledge, you can factor in these potential additional costs when deciding which clinic to choose.

Hopefully this guide has given you a comprehensive breakdown of the finance options that are available to you and the elements that can impact the final cost of egg freezing. Our resources are here to help you understand every step of your egg freezing path; for more information on the true cost of fertility, take a look at our report.