Practical guides · Treatment and donors

A known donor or a sperm bank: what are the real differences?

A sperm bank gives you a tested donor and, at a clinic, clear rules on who the father is. But your child may learn little about him. With a known donor, your child can know who he is. But you must arrange his tests, and outside a clinic he may be the legal father. The table sums up the differences, and each row is explained below.

Checked November 2026For any country

This guide is published on the website of a man who offers to help a woman have a child: see the two options. The guide gives the facts as they are, whether or not they suit his offer. How these guides are written.

The differences at a glance

The main differences are in tests, the law and contact.

	Sperm bankThrough a clinic	Known donorA man you know or meet
Health tests	Done by the bank, then repeated before use	Done by a clinic if he gives sperm there; otherwise you arrange them
The child can know him	Never, or from a set age, by country	Yes, from the start
Legal father	In many countries, the law says he is not	Outside a clinic, often he can be
Contact after the birth	None	What you agree; a court may decide later
Cost	You pay for each vial of sperm	No sperm to buy; tests and travel
Time to start	Days, unless the clinic has a waiting list	Weeks or months for tests
Other families	Limited in some countries	No limit, unless at a clinic

Health tests

A bank tests every donor, then keeps his sperm frozen until he tests negative again. This waiting time (called quarantine) catches an infection too new to show at the first test.

Sperm bank: in the United States, sperm from an unknown donor is held until he is tested again at least 6 months later. European rules hold it at least 180 days, or less with an extra blood test called NAT. The UK allows 3 months with NAT.
Known donor at a clinic: in the UK, he has the same tests as any donor. In the United States, the law does not require quarantine for him. But the doctors’ society ASRM advises freezing his sperm, waiting 35 days and testing him again.
Known donor outside a clinic: nobody does this for you. Ask for recent, dated lab reports, check them with the lab, and repeat them some weeks later. Do your own tests too.

The full list is in tests to ask a donor for.

Can the child know the donor?

It depends on the kind of donor, and on the country. There are three kinds.

Anonymous: the child never learns his name from the clinic. Spain, India and Vietnam use only anonymous donors.
Identity-release: the child can ask for his name at a set age. The age is 18 in the UK, Finland and Portugal, 16 in Germany and the Netherlands, and 15 in Norway. In France, donors since September 2022 must agree that the adult child can get their identity.
Known: you and the child know him from the start.

Anonymous does not mean secret for ever. In March 2026, the HFEA said that because of DNA testing websites, anonymity “can no longer be assured”.

Who is the legal father?

At a clinic, many countries say by law that the donor is not the father. Outside a clinic, the answer often changes.

At a clinic: the donor is not the legal father in the UK, Spain, France and Vietnam, among others. In Germany, this covers a donor from a registered bank.
Outside a clinic: in the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, a donor at home can be the legal father. In Germany, a court can declare a private donor the father.
Some places protect a home donor too: British Columbia in Canada, New Zealand (as reported), and US states that follow the 2017 Uniform Parentage Act.

Find the rule where you live in donor sperm, country by country.

Contact after the birth

A bank donor has no contact with you or the child. Where the law allows it, the child can look for him later.

With a known donor, contact is what you agree together. But an agreement may not decide it in the end. In South Africa, a known donor can ask a court for parental rights. In Australia, in a private arrangement, the High Court reportedly found in 2019 that a known donor who acted as a parent was a legal parent. If he is the legal father, he may also have to pay support. See the father’s name and child support.

What each one costs

With a bank, you pay for the sperm and the clinic. With a known donor, there is no sperm to buy, but there are tests.

UK: one NHS clinic’s list (from 1 November 2025) gives £1,040 for one insemination with bought sperm. One vial from a bank is about £1,000 to £2,600, with shipping, plus a £210 fee.
United States: one large bank lists US$897 to US$2,397 a vial (November 2026). A clinic lists insemination at about US$1,200 to US$2,350 a cycle, before the sperm.
New Zealand: a large clinic group adds NZ$1,940 a cycle for a donor, whether from the clinic or your own (from 15 July 2026).

A known donor at a clinic still costs money. In Denmark, a public hospital may ask that his tests go through an approved bank, at your cost. Outside a clinic, you pay for tests and often travel. With either donor, ask the clinic how many cycles it advises, and count the cost of each.

How long before you can start

Bank sperm is already tested and ready, so the wait depends on the clinic. A large Danish bank says it delivers to clinics in 1 to 5 working days, or longer with customs. But some clinics have waiting lists: 17.7 months on average in France in 2025.

A known donor at a clinic must first be tested, and his sperm often held. That can take 35 days, 3 months or 6 months, depending on the rules. Outside a clinic, you can start once his tests are done, where the law allows it.

How many other families he can help

Some countries limit how many families one bank donor can help, but the limits stop at the border.

Limits: 10 families in the UK, 6 children born in Spain, and 12 pregnancies among women living in Denmark. In Vietnam, one donor helps only one woman or couple.
Across borders: banks send sperm abroad, so one donor can have far more children in total. One large bank sets its own limit of 75 families worldwide. In July 2026, the European fertility society ESHRE proposed a limit of 50 families per donor in the EU, and 15 or fewer in time.
Why it matters: in 2025, a bank donor who carried a rare gene that causes cancer was reported to have at least 197 children.

A known donor outside a clinic has no limit. The UK limit, for example, does not cover private arrangements. Ask him how many children he has, and how many women he will help.

How children and families do

Research finds that children of single mothers who used donor sperm do as well as other children. The studies are small, and most come from the UK.

Single mothers: a 2016 Cambridge study compared 51 single-mother and 52 two-parent families. It found that solo motherhood “does not result in psychological problems for children”. A 2021 study of older children found that family relationships matter more than family type.
Telling the child: a study that followed families to age 14 found better results when children were told before age 7. The HFEA advises talking to children about their origins in early childhood.
Co-parents: a 2025 study of 23 co-parent families found parents and children doing well.

Most of this research is about clinic donors. With a known donor, the child can know the real person, not only a name. We found no large study comparing children of known and bank donors.

If a known donor suits you

This website is one man’s offer. He helps a woman have a child in one of two ways: as a father who stays in touch from far away, or by artificial insemination, after which he steps away. See the two options.

Checked November 2026. A guide only, not legal or medical advice. Laws, prices and clinic rules change: check them where you live before you start.

Sources

Quarantine and tests: 21 CFR 1271.60, 1271.85, 1271.90 (eCFR); European Union Directive 2006/17/EC, Annex III (legislation.gov.uk); HFEA screening timeline, October 2024; ASRM and SART, “Guidance regarding gamete and embryo donation”, Fertility and Sterility 122(5), 2024, checked October 2026.
United Kingdom: HFEA, “Using donated eggs, sperm or embryos in treatment”, “Sperm donation and the law for donors” and “Home insemination with donor sperm” (hfea.gov.uk); HFEA, written evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee, 18 March 2026 (hfea.gov.uk), checked November 2026.
Anonymous and identity-release donors: Spain, Ley 14/2006, arts 5.5, 5.7, 8.3 (BOE); Finland, Laki hedelmöityshoidoista 1237/2006 (finlex.fi); Portugal, Lei 32/2006, arts 15, 21 (pgdlisboa.pt); Germany, Samenspenderregistergesetz, § 10, and BGB, § 1600d (gesetze-im-internet.de); Netherlands, College donorgegevens kunstmatige bevruchting (donorgegevens.nl); Norway, Bioteknologiloven, § 2-7 (lovdata.no); France, Service-Public, “Procréation médicalement assistée (PMA)” (service-public.gouv.fr), checked November 2026.
India: ART (Regulation) Act 2021, ss.21, 27 (Gazette of India, via PRS); Vietnam: Decree 207/2025/ND-CP, art. 3, and Law on Marriage and Family 2014, art. 93, checked October 2026.
Legal father outside a clinic: Denmark, Børneloven, §§ 27 c, 28 (retsinformation.dk); Sweden, Föräldrabalken, ch. 1, § 5 (riksdagen.se); Finland, Vanhemmuuslaki 775/2022, § 4 (finlex.fi); France, Code civil, art. 342-9; British Columbia, Family Law Act, ss. 20, 24 (bclaws.gov.bc.ca); New Zealand, Status of Children Act 1969, s. 22, as reported (legislation.govt.nz); Vermont, 15C V.S.A. § 702 (Uniform Parentage Act 2017), checked November 2026.
Contact: South Africa, Children’s Act 38 of 2005, s. 23 (gov.za); Australia, Masson v Parsons [2019] HCA 21, as summarised by Coleman Greig (colemangreig.com.au), checked November 2026.
Costs: University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, Centre for Reproductive Medicine, price list effective 1 November 2025 (uhcw.nhs.uk); California Cryobank, pricing page (cryobank.com); Illume Fertility, IUI costs, undated (illumefertility.com); Fertility Associates, treatment costs from 15 July 2026 (fertilityassociates.co.nz); Denmark, Bekendtgørelse nr. 1452 af 1. december 2025, §§ 16, 17, 19 (retsinformation.dk), checked November 2026.
Delivery and limits: European Sperm Bank, Frequently Asked Questions (europeanspermbank.com); Agence de la biomédecine, press release, 13 April 2026 (agence-biomedecine.fr), checked November 2026.
ESHRE position paper, “International limits on the number of offspring per gamete donor”, Human Reproduction 41(8), published 8 July 2026 (academic.oup.com), which reports the 2025 case of at least 197 children (from Deutsche Welle), checked November 2026.
S. Golombok and others, “Single mothers by choice: Mother-child relationships and children’s psychological adjustment”, Journal of Family Psychology 30(4), 2016; S. Golombok and others, “Single mothers by choice: Parenting and child adjustment in middle childhood”, Journal of Family Psychology 35(2), 2021 (europepmc.org), checked November 2026.
E. Ilioi and others, “The role of age of disclosure of biological origins in the psychological wellbeing of adolescents conceived by reproductive donation”, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 58(3), 2017 (europepmc.org); HFEA, “Talk to your child about their origins” (hfea.gov.uk), checked November 2026.
S. Foley, V. Jadva, S. Golombok, “Elective co-parenting with someone already known versus someone met online”, Reproductive BioMedicine Online 50(5), 2025 (openaccess.city.ac.uk), checked November 2026.