IVF Cost Breakdown

Last reviewed 2026-10-27

An IVF invoice has about a dozen lines, and the advertised price usually covers five or six of them. This page lists every line in the order it is incurred, says which are normally inside a package and which arrive separately, and gives you the wording to use when you ask a clinic to quote against it. Medication is the largest and most frequently excluded item — in the UK, typically £1,500 and ranging from £1,000 to £2,500.

The invoice, in order

Stage	Line item	Usually in the package?	What to ask
Before	Initial consultation	Sometimes, sometimes credited against treatment	Is it refunded if we proceed?
	Pre-treatment tests, bloods, scans, screening	Often not	Can my GP or a local clinic do these, and will you accept them?
Stimulation	Stimulation medication	Usually not — the largest omission	Your own written estimate for my likely protocol, not a typical figure
	Monitoring scans and bloods during stimulation	Usually in	How many are included, and what does an extra one cost?
	Trigger injection	Often separate	Included or not?
Collection	Egg collection, theatre and sedation	In	Is the anaesthetist separate?
	Sperm preparation	In	—
Laboratory	Conventional insemination or ICSI	ICSI often an add-on	Is ICSI included, and is it recommended for us — why?
	Blastocyst culture to day 5	Usually in, sometimes priced	Included to day 5 or only to day 3?
	PGT-A genetic testing, if used	Separate, priced per embryo or in bands	How many embryos does the quoted price cover, and what does each extra cost?
	Embryo biopsy for testing	Sometimes billed apart from the test itself	Both included?
After	Vitrification (freezing)	Sometimes in	How many embryos does it cover?
	First year of storage	Often in, then annual	What is the annual fee after year one?
	Frozen embryo transfer	Often a separate invoice — it happens in a later cycle	What does one FET cost, including the medication for it?
	Pregnancy test and early scan	Varies	Included?
Optional	Add-ons: embryo glue, assisted hatching, scratch, immune testing	Extra	What is the evidence rating for this, and what happens if I decline?

Print that table, or paste the “What to ask” column into an email, and send it to every clinic you are considering. A clinic that answers all sixteen lines in writing has given you something you can actually compare. One that replies with a package price has told you it would rather you did not compare.

The three lines that cause most of the surprise

Medication

The largest excluded item and the most variable, because dose depends on your own response. UK estimates put stimulation drugs at around £1,500, with a range of £1,000 to £2,500; in the United States the figure runs from a few thousand dollars to over ten thousand. Never accept a typical figure here — ask the clinic what your likely protocol costs, and ask whether you can source the drugs elsewhere.

The frozen embryo transfer

Where embryos are tested or frozen, the transfer happens in a later cycle. A quote for “a cycle” frequently stops at freezing — so the step that actually produces a pregnancy is a separate invoice, arriving weeks later, after you have already committed. If you are travelling, it is also a second trip.

Storage, which never ends by itself

The first year is often bundled and then an annual fee begins. It continues until you actively decide otherwise, and the consent paperwork you sign at the start governs what happens if you stop paying. Read that clause before you sign rather than when you receive the reminder.

How to turn a breakdown into a comparison

Total the lines for one complete attempt: everything above through one frozen transfer.
Add medication at the clinic's own written figure.
Add travel if relevant — two trips, not one.
Ask for the repeat price, then total two complete attempts.
Only now compare clinics. The order changes surprisingly often at step four.

Send us an invoice or a quote

We will map it against the table above and tell you which of the sixteen lines are missing. If an introduction we make leads to treatment, we may be paid a referral fee.

Check my invoice

What is included in IVF cost?

Typically monitoring, egg collection, sperm preparation, insemination or ICSI, culture and sometimes freezing. Commonly excluded: stimulation medication, pre-treatment tests, genetic testing, annual storage after the first year and the frozen embryo transfer.

How much do IVF drugs cost?

UK estimates put stimulation medication at around £1,500, ranging from £1,000 to £2,500. In the United States it ranges from a few thousand dollars to over ten thousand. Dose depends on your own response, so ask the clinic for an estimate for your likely protocol.

Is the embryo transfer included in IVF cost?

A fresh transfer usually is. A frozen transfer often is not, because it happens in a later cycle — and where embryos are genetically tested or frozen, the transfer is always a later cycle.

What are IVF add-ons and are they worth paying for?

Extras such as embryo glue, assisted hatching, endometrial scratch and immune testing, sold on top of the standard cycle. The HFEA publishes a ratings scale assessing the evidence for them; ask which rating applies and what happens if you decline.

Sources

TreatCompare, IVF Cost UK — stimulation drugs £1,500 typical, range £1,000–2,500; average true cost £6,210 per cycle against £3,850 average advertised — link
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority — treatment add-ons ratings scale — link

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