IVF Companion
IVF, explained properly.
An independent, plain-English guide to IVF — for both of you.
Most people leave their first appointment with a word they half-recognise and a bill they do not understand. We explain what IVF actually means, what it generally costs in the UK, and what questions are worth asking — in ordinary language, with no clinic selling you anything.
This is information, not medical advice.
Your clinic and your doctor make the decisions with you. Nothing here can tell you which treatment to have, which clinic to use, whether an add-on is right for you, or what your own chances are. What it can do is make sure you understand what is being said to you, and walk in with better questions.
Where to start
Take them in any order. Most people arrive here because of the money, and that is a perfectly sensible place to begin.
What IVF actually costs
Advertised prices leave things out. Build a realistic picture of the whole bill, line by line, and get a list of price questions to take to your clinic.
OpenAdd-ons, explained honestly
The extras you'll be offered, what each one actually is, roughly what it costs, and what the evidence generally shows.
OpenPlain English dictionary
Every word you'll hear and nobody explains. Blastocyst, down-regulation, AMH, live birth rate. Two or three ordinary sentences each.
OpenNHS funding: where you stand
Why funding depends so heavily on your postcode, what the common criteria mean, and exactly what to ask your GP and your local ICB.
OpenQuestions to take with you
Printable question sets for the first consultation, the treatment plan, the quote, and the appointment after a cycle that didn't work.
OpenFor partners
For the person who isn't having the injections. What happens, what your results mean, what's genuinely hard about it, and how to be useful.
Open
Who made this, and why
We went through IVF in the UK. We were reasonably well informed people and we still spent the first three months not understanding what anyone was talking about, and the next six finding out about costs after we’d agreed to them.
Around 72% of IVF in the UK is paid for privately, at roughly £7,000 a cycle. That is a lot of money to spend on decisions made while frightened, using information from clinic websites that are, in the end, trying to sell you something.
So we wrote down what we wish someone had told us. It is free, it is independent, we are not owned by or paid for by any clinic, and we do not rank or recommend clinics.
Two things worth knowing now
The tools never ask for anything about you
There are no accounts and no logins. Nothing you type into the cost tool or any other tool is saved or sent anywhere — it all happens in your browser and disappears when you close the tab. We don’t want your medical details. The only things you can choose to send us are a message or an email address for the monthly email, and nothing else. The privacy note, in plain English.
If you need a person, not a website
Your clinic, your GP and NHS 111 are there for anything medical. In an emergency, call 999. There is also proper counselling support available, and it is normal to need it. Where to get real support.
Once a month, one thing explained properly
No news, no offers, no clinic marketing. Just the next thing that’s confusing, written down clearly.
We ask for an email address and nothing else — no name, no treatment stage, nothing about your health. We will never share or sell it, and unsubscribing is one click at the bottom of every email.