How to Find the Best Surrogacy Agency for You

Hatch Overall Best:

Key Specifications

• Cost Estimate: $160,000 – $225,000
• Is insurance accepted? “Yes”
• Does it provide legal protection? Yes

Why We Choosed It

Hatch Egg Donation and Surrogacy, a surrogacy agency with a large number of locations across the country and internationally, is an established organization that places utmost importance on how it treats both gestational carriers and intended fathers.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Offers a guarantee of a live birth
• 99.5% success rate
• Customer satisfaction is high

You can also find out more about Cons

• Prices higher than competitors
• It does not explain why applicants for gestational carriers are denied.

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Hatch Egg Donation and Surrogacy, founded in 1991 was one of the very first surrogacy agencies. Los Angeles-based company Hatch Egg Donation and Surrogacy offers egg donation and other surrogacy services to families in 46 states and 51 countries. The agency has been praised by other agencies, gestational mothers, and intended parents. It also boasts a 99.5% rate of success and a guarantee for live births.

The matching process is said to take around three months. Gestational Carriers for Hatch are between 21 and 42 years old and must have a BMI below 32. The surrogate must not have had more than 3 C-sections, and they must have at least 1 child that they are currently raising.

Applicants for gestational carrier status must also be U.S. residents or citizens. During the application process, prospective gestational carrier applicants are subjected to additional health and psychological tests. The average compensation for carriers begins at $45,000. The compensation includes a number of additional allowances such as lost wages, household allowances to maintain your lifestyle during pregnancy, childcare allowances and personalized gifts.

Hatch’s prices vary depending on what service you require. The fixed fee, unlimited surrogacy begins at $160,000 and includes legal representation, health insurance, life insurance, rematching and unlimited embryo transfers.

Surrogacy for unlimited transfers with gestational carriers starts at $187,000, which includes legal representation, life and health insurance, rematching of gestational carriers, unlimited embryo transfer, and single egg retrieval.

The “baby-guarantee with donor eggs” begins at $225,000. It includes legal representation, life and health insurance, rematching, unlimited transfers of embryos, and egg donor compensation. These two plans go one step beyond the fixed fee plan, as they cover the costs for embryo genetic screening, carriers screening, clinic gestational carriers screening, and clinic eggs donor screening.

IARC Surrogacy: Best Without Insurance

Key Specifications

• Cost Estimate: From $128,220 up to $241 240
• Is insurance accepted? “Yes”
• Does it provide legal protection? Yes

Why We Choosed It

IARC Surrogacy provides a range of financial aid and lower prices for prospective parents than its competitors.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Grants, scholarships and other financing options are available
• Low cost compared to competitors
• Accepting insurance

You can also find out more about Cons

• The website layout is crowded
• Surrogacy fees may be added.
• One location

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IARC Surrogacy, based in Minnesota offers surrogacy services at a lower cost than its competitors. Steven Snyder, a lawyer, founded the agency to help those who may be struggling with conception grow their family.

IARC Surrogacy’s prices are in line with the average cost of surrogacy, which is estimated to range from $128,220 to $241 240. IARC Surrogacy offers discounted or free surrogacy services via the Gay Parents Assistance Program. It also offers financing options, similar to those offered by other surrogacy agencies.

IARC offers a base salary for gestational carrier ranging from $30,000-$45,000 and, in a unique move, allows the gestational carrier to select their base pay. Other benefits and reimbursements may include travel expenses, childcare or housekeeping costs, or medical expenses.

IARC’s requirements for becoming a gestational carrier is similar to those of other agencies. The BMI of prospective gestational carrier candidates should be below 35. Other requirements include at least a healthy pregnancy, no criminal record, financial stability, a good family support system and no more than three C-sections. IARC’s final criterion for gestational carrier is “You have a kind and generous heart in your desire to help another family get the child they would not otherwise be able to have without you!”

Best All-Inclusive Rate: ConceiveAbilities

Key Specifications

• Cost estimate: $164,900
• Is insurance accepted? “Yes”
• Does it provide legal protection? Yes

Why We Choosed It

ConceiveAbilities provides a fixed price which is comparable to competitors, and also eligible for insurance coverage.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• One fixed price offer
• Available in 21 States
• Accepting insurance

You can also find out more about Cons

• Additional expenses may be applicable
• Long-term screening of gestational carriers

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ConceiveAbilities was founded in 2000 as Reproductive Options of Illinois. It was one of the United States’ first agencies to provide egg donors. The agency now serves 21 states and offers international options. ConceiveAbilities’ most distinctive feature is its fixed-price guarantee.

ConceiveAbilities charges intended parents $164,900 in surrogacy fees. The All In Program offers parents “one fixed price that is packed with value and safety” as part of its All In Program . The All-In Program covers intended parents against unexpected costs during the surrogacy process. The agency will also help parents navigate insurance benefits in order to cover the costs. The one-time cost is higher than the average on this list. However, when considering the unexpected costs that may arise (such as multiple embryo transfers and additional medical costs), it could be the most financially viable option.

There are some additional costs that may apply. For example, your gestational carriers compensation could be higher than the base rate, for instance, if you’re having twins. Also, IVF clinic fees might be involved. The IVF cost includes “your surrogate’s medical screening and workup as well as preparation for embryo transfer and monitoring of the pregnancy until it is ‘established’ or when you hear a fetal’s heartbeat.”

ConceiveAbilities compensates gestational carriers starting at $48,000. You will be charged the difference if your carrier’s base price is more than $48,000. The intended parents will be informed of the total base compensation for the gestational carrier before agreeing to a match.

The agency takes pride in its screening process and promises a 97% rate of success at the first meeting. The 10-point process, aptly named Matching Matters is conducted by licensed nurses. It involves:

• Steps for vetting, consultation and enrollment
• Health check, clearance letter, and recommendation from the OB
• Both the partner and the gestational carrier should be checked for their background.
• Both the partner and the pregnant woman will receive a financial check
• Home check
• Review of past labor and delivery history
• A licensed mental health professional can conduct a psychological screening of a gestational carrier.
• Insurance Review
• Review of Benefits

Growing Generations

Key Specifications

• Cost Estimate: 153,000 to 305,000
• Is insurance accepted? “Yes”
• Does it provide legal protection? Yes

Why We Choosed It

Growing Generations focuses on the intended parents, providing them with information and resources via its easy-to-use website. It also offers personalized support during the surrogacy process.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Website that is easy to use and pleasing on the eye
• Blogs for parents-to-be
• Accepting insurance

You can also find out more about Cons

• Each package has a wide range of prices
• Mixed Customer Reviews
• Prices higher than competitors

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Growing Generations, a program that serves the LGBTQIA+ Community, was founded in 1996. Since 1996, Growing Generations has been involved in over 2,000 births. The agency has also expanded into three locations: Los Angeles, Wheeling, West Virginia, and New York City.

This agency’s website outlines the three rules for employee service. These include “have kind, warm and genuine interactions; be interested and anticipate and fulfill unspoken and spoken wishes.” The values include “I am a community advocate and I give back” as well as “I am accountable for the integrity and professionalism of our work.” This page of the website shows that the agency has a clear policy regarding how it treats gestational parents and intended parents.

Growing Generations also offers resources to intended parents on its website. The blog format offers multiple articles about the surrogacy process, from breastfeeding to children’s books.

Growing Generations offers a wide range of surrogacy prices. Growing Generations offers financing options, even though its prices are higher than the average for surrogacy agencies. The agency offers 3 packages:

• Concierge begins at $174.605 for a Singleton Pregnancy. It includes a customized gestational match, as well as any additional matches that may be needed, expense management, case management and insurance facilitation, unlimited embryo transfers and a $5,000 credit for failed screening costs of the gestational carriers.
• VIP conciergestarts from $224,605; it includes all the features of Concierge, plus an expedited matching, additional administrative assistance, collaboration with a specialist in maternal-fetal medicine, access to evening and weekend hours, and three days for staff to travel between doctors’ appointments.
• Executive VIP concierge starts from $274,605 for all the benefits of Concierge or VIP conciergery plus three additional days of staff travel and extra oversight of surrogacy journey.

Same Love Surrogacy is the best option for LGBTQIA+ parents

Key Specifications

• Cost Estimate: $163,000 – $229,000
• Is insurance accepted? No
• What legal protections are there? Legal protection?

Why We Choosed It

Same Love Surrogacy offers a great alternative for LGBTQIA+ families due to its mission to focus on cultural and social factors that are important to the LGBTQIA+ community.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• The Founders of Founders are LGBTQIA+
• Offers a wellness programme for gestational mothers during pregnancy
• Compensation for gestational carriers that is above average

You can also find out more about Cons

• Three locations only
• Insurance does not accept
• The website has very little information on screening or matching

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In the late 1990s, three LGBTQIA+ fathers, along with a carrier who had been a gestational mother four times, founded same love surrogacy in Los Angeles. They wanted to create a surrogacy agency that understood and respected the needs and challenges of LGBTQIA+ intended fathers, including the societal barriers they faced during the process.

The agency currently offers services in California, Oregon and New York. The agency has a policy of transparency between intended parents and gestational carriers to ensure that the gestational parent is aware and comfortable with the intended parents’ homosexual orientation. Same Love Surrogacy states that “Our application forms for potential egg donors and surrogates make it clear to the applicants that intended parents will likely be LGBT people.” We would never try to match you up with a gestational donor or egg carrier who is unaware of your sexual orientation.

The estimated out-of-pocket expenses for parents who are planning to have twins or a single pregnancy start at $163,000 and go up to $229,000, respectively. These costs include agency fees, legal costs, compensation for egg donors, compensation for gestational carriers, medical clinic costs, health insurance and delivery costs. Same Love Surrogacy offers financing, but does not accept insurance for carrier costs.

Same Love offers compensation and reimbursement for gestational carriers ranging from $58,000 up to $73,000. The expenses that gestational carrier can be reimbursed for include travel costs to medical appointments, co-pays and maternity clothes, therapy appointments, lost wages, legal fees, and cost of carrying. Same Love Surrogacy offers pregnancy wellness programs for its gestational mothers, which include nutritional counseling, birth coaching, and acupuncture. Also, Same Love gestational carrier can attend support group with other Same Love gestational carrier.

The website of Same Love Surrogacy provides little information on the screening and matching processes used by the agency. The online application form takes between 30 and 45 minutes to fill out. The agency says the matching process could take three weeks. The agency’s FAQ page lists the following criteria for gestational carriers:

• You have delivered a child.
• Age 21-40
• BMI of 32 or less
• No serious complications during your pregnancy or delivery
• You must be able to provide OB records and delivery records for your previous pregnancies
• Attend appointments with a valid vehicle and driver’s licence
• A good support system of family members and friends that will offer emotional and physical support throughout the process.
• Support and consent from your partner: If you’re in a relationship, your partner should be supportive of the gestational carrier program and willing to submit to a medical screening (blood tests) and/or background checks if asked.
• Smoking cigarettes or abusing alcohol is not acceptable.
• You must be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident

Circle Surrogacy: Best Success Rate for Implantation

Key Specifications

• Cost Estimate: From $157,750 up to $184,750
• Is insurance accepted? “Yes”
• Does it provide legal protection? Yes

Why We Choosed It

Circle Surrogacy has a 99.3% success rate in surrogacy.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Low prices compared to competitors
• Programs for gay and transparent parents, international parents and cancer survivors
• Accepting insurance

You can also find out more about Cons

• Lower gestational carrier reimbursement than competitors
• Only available in four states and Washington DC
• Process is longer than competitors

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John Weltman, a gay man from Boston, founded Circle Surrogacy and Egg Donation after he and a partner became the first American couple to adopt a child through surrogacy. The Boston-based agency is one of the oldest in the United States, with six offices and one in London. The company prides itself in creating a “Circle Family”, rather than seeing surrogacy as just a business transaction.

Circle has one of highest success rates for implantation at 99.3%. Hatch, our choice as the best overall agency, is only a few points above at 99.5%. Circle’s reviews are a reflection of its success rate, with intended parents and gestational carrier’s praising Circle’s personalized care and overall organization.

Parents pay approximately $157,750 per surrogacy service and $184.750 for the surrogacy with egg donation. Circle Surrogacy presents the costs of surrogacy in a pie chart that shows categories where each dollar is spent. This includes agency fees, legal costs, gestational carriers compensation and insurance costs.

Circle Surrogacy offers a base compensation for gestational carriers ranging from $30,000 to $40,00,000. The monthly payment for personal care of the gestational carriers, child care costs and lost wages are also covered by prospective parents.

The standard screening includes information on past pregnancies and medical records. It also includes a criminal background check, financial background check, and personality assessment. The personality test consists of over 300 questions that measure psychological well-being. A social worker interviews each potential gestational carrier to determine “her motivation, family and interpersonal relations, who is part of her network, what she expects from the experience and her views regarding termination and selective reduction.”

Final Verdict

Surrogacy agencies are designed to meet the needs and wants of each prospective parent. Circle Surrogacy is known for its high success rate in implantation, while IARC Surrogacy provides financial aid that can help make surrogacy more affordable. Hatch is the top surrogacy agency in each category. It has the highest implantation rate, as well as a large number of locations and a guarantee for a live birth.

Compare the best surrogacy agencies

How to Choose a Surrogacy Agency

What is a Surrogacy Agency?

Surrogacy agencies are available to prospective parents who can’t biologically start their family. LGBTQIA+ and single parents are also eligible, as well those who struggle with infertility.

Surrogacy agencies offer many fertility services including surrogacy and donor egg, donor sperm or fertility screening. Surrogacy agencies often screen prospective gestational parents and prospective parents, and then match them using a standard process. Some agencies offer medical clinics that provide artificial insemination, egg or sperm donation and other services. Surrogacy agencies help intended parents, gestational carriers, and legalities with surrogacy. They also provide administrative support and case management.