Getting a sperm donor typically means choosing between two paths: ordering from a sperm bank or arranging a donation from someone you know. Most people go through a sperm bank, which handles screening, storage, and shipping. A known donor offers more personal connection but requires legal contracts and independent medical testing. Either way, the process involves selecting a donor, handling the legal and medical groundwork, and deciding how the sperm will be used to conceive.
Sperm Bank vs. Known Donor
A sperm bank is the most straightforward route. These are FDA-regulated facilities that recruit, screen, and store donor sperm in frozen vials. You browse an online catalog, pick a donor, purchase vials, and have them shipped to your fertility clinic or midwife. The bank handles all the medical and genetic testing, so you’re working with sperm that’s already been vetted.
A known donor is someone in your life, such as a friend or acquaintance, who agrees to provide sperm. This path gives you a relationship with the donor and full knowledge of who they are, but it comes with legal complexity. Without a proper contract, a known donor could later claim parental rights, or you could be left without the legal protections a bank automatically provides. If you go this route, both parties need independent attorneys and a formal sperm donation agreement before any conception attempt.
How to Choose a Sperm Bank
Several large sperm banks operate in the United States, and most allow you to browse their donor databases online for free. Basic search access typically costs nothing, while detailed profiles and photos require a paid subscription or one-time access fee. When comparing banks, look at the size of their donor pool, what information they include in profiles, their pricing structure, and whether they offer identity-disclosure donors (meaning the donor agrees to be contactable once the child turns 18).
Some banks also differ in how many families can use the same donor. If limiting the number of half-siblings matters to you, ask about family limits before purchasing.
What Donor Profiles Include
Sperm bank profiles are surprisingly detailed. At the free level, you can usually filter by physical traits like height, weight, hair color, eye color, blood type, and ethnicity. You’ll also see the donor’s education level, career, and whether they have any confirmed pregnancies or births from previous donations. Genetic carrier screening results and CMV status (a common virus that matters during pregnancy) are typically available at no extra cost.
Paid tiers unlock much more. Extended profiles often contain personal and family medical histories going back to grandparents, personal essays, handwritten messages to recipient families, and details about hobbies and life goals. Many banks include baby and childhood photos, audio interviews where the donor answers questions about themselves, and even personality assessments. Some offer adult photos for an additional fee, usually around $99, though not every donor opts in.
Staff impressions are another useful feature. A bank employee who met the donor in person will describe their build, demeanor, and personality in plain language, giving you a sense of the person beyond their paperwork.
Screening and Safety Standards
The FDA requires all sperm donors to be tested for HIV (types 1 and 2), hepatitis B, hepatitis C, syphilis, West Nile virus, chlamydia, and gonorrhea. These aren’t optional. Every regulated bank must perform them before releasing sperm for use.
On top of infectious disease testing, banks now run expanded genetic carrier screening. Donors who joined programs 10 to 15 years ago may have only been checked for a handful of well-known conditions like cystic fibrosis. Today’s donors are typically screened across hundreds of genes linked to recessive and X-linked genetic diseases. Many programs also perform a chromosome analysis to catch structural differences that could affect fertility or pregnancy outcomes.
If you’re using a known donor, none of this testing happens automatically. You’ll need to arrange it through a fertility clinic, and the donor will need to complete the same battery of screenings a bank would require.
What It Costs
Sperm vials are a significant expense, and prices have risen sharply. A 2025 analysis in the journal Fertility and Sterility found the median cost of a single vial prepared for IUI (intrauterine insemination) is $1,625, with prices ranging from about $1,170 to $2,195. IVF-prepared vials average around $1,337. At one bank tracked over time, prices jumped 40% to 80% between 2023 and 2025.
You’ll likely need more than one vial. Most people purchase two or three upfront for their first cycle, plus extras to store for future attempts or siblings. On top of the sperm itself, factor in shipping fees, storage fees if you’re banking vials at your clinic, and the cost of the insemination or IVF procedure. Identity-disclosure donors tend to cost more than anonymous donors.
Shipping and Storage
Sperm ships frozen in portable liquid nitrogen vapor tanks, delivered directly to your fertility clinic or doctor’s office. These tanks maintain the correct temperature for seven days from the date of shipping, so timing your order around your cycle is important. Most banks let you schedule delivery for a specific date, and your clinic will store the vial in their own cryogenic tank until you’re ready.
If you’re buying multiple vials, you can either store them at the bank (for a fee) or have them all shipped to your clinic for long-term storage. Storing at the bank gives you flexibility if you switch clinics later. Storing at the clinic avoids repeat shipping costs.
How Donor Sperm Is Used to Conceive
The two main options are IUI and IVF. IUI is simpler and less expensive: the sperm is placed directly into your uterus through a thin catheter, timed to ovulation. It’s an outpatient procedure that takes a few minutes. IVF is more involved, requiring hormone injections to stimulate egg production, egg retrieval, fertilization in a lab, and embryo transfer.
IVF has higher success rates per cycle, but IUI is significantly cheaper per attempt. Research shows that even though you may need several IUI cycles (and several vials of sperm) to achieve a pregnancy, IUI remains more cost-effective than IVF at all maternal ages. IVF only becomes the better financial choice in scenarios where IUI success rates drop to near zero, which is uncommon for most recipients. Your fertility specialist can help you weigh these options based on your age and reproductive health.
Legal Protections for Known Donors
If you’re using someone you know, a legal contract isn’t optional. A sperm donation agreement should clearly establish that the donor has no parental rights or obligations, that you (and your partner, if applicable) are the legal parents of any resulting child, and how issues like future contact, anonymity preferences, and any donor compensation will be handled.
Fertility attorneys strongly advise against using template contracts found online. A generic form may not comply with your state’s specific laws, which vary widely. In some states, using a licensed physician for the insemination is what legally distinguishes a “donor” from a “father.” In others, the contract itself is what matters. Getting this wrong can jeopardize your parental rights or expose the donor to child support obligations neither of you intended. Each party should have their own attorney review the agreement independently.
Steps to Get Started
- Meet with a fertility specialist. Even if you don’t need fertility treatment, a reproductive endocrinologist can assess your options, run baseline tests, and advise on IUI vs. IVF based on your situation.
- Consider genetic counseling. A counselor can review your own carrier screening results alongside a donor’s to flag any overlapping genetic risks before you commit.
- Browse donor databases. Create free accounts at a few banks, compare their donor pools, and narrow your preferences before paying for extended profiles.
- Purchase and ship vials. Once you’ve chosen a donor, order your vials and coordinate delivery with your clinic around your treatment timeline.
- If using a known donor, get legal counsel first. Have the contract signed and the donor’s medical screening completed before any conception attempt.
The emotional side of this process deserves attention too. Choosing a donor can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re scrolling through hundreds of profiles trying to make a decision that feels enormous. Many people find it helpful to work with a therapist who specializes in fertility and family building, not because anything is wrong, but because having a space to sort through your feelings makes the practical steps easier to navigate.