Your guide to costs for femtech (Clearblue fertility monitor, Clearblue advanced digital ovulation test, Inito, Mira, Proov, and Tempdrop) to monitor regular cycles.
Does your bathroom look like a laboratory? Do you have frozen pee samples hidden in your chest freezer? Dozens of fertility apps on your phone? No? Is that just me? Well, let me put my excessive femtech testing to good use in helping you with cost breakdowns.
I'll try to answer your burning questions about how much it might cost you to play with some of the most well-established cycle charting gadgets and hormonal testing gizmos when in regular cycles. I've been a BCC cycle educator since the dark ages of 2011 and have sustained an enduring interest in cycle-related femtech. I love keeping tabs on the latest research and own an embarrassingly large array of tools for keeping tabs on my body. My husband once told me I look like the Borg Queen coming to bed with all my charting wearables on. Resistance, I said, is futile.
So read on as I estimate costs for cycle tracking with Clearblue, Inito, Mira, Proov, and Tempdrop.
Some Quick Caveats and Explanations
These costs haven't been calculated with trying to conceive in mind. None of the homone testing monitors/apps included in this post will prompt you to test appropriately for the purpose of avoiding pregnancy, nor have they been FDA approved for avoiding pregnancy. So if you're not trying to conceive, you'll need different directions than what the manufacturer provides. Monitor methods like BCC have instructions for some of these products. (Currently BCC does not support the use of Mira or Inito.)
For women in regular cycles you can typically expect to use likely between 6-16 hormonal tests per cycle, depending on your cycle presentation, tools chosen, and instructor's recommendations. For this costing, I've assumed a woman with regular cycles of about 30 days, with ovulation roughly CD14-16, so these costings conveniently give an idea of what that might looks like each month, or by year, if you are blessed with such cycles.
In a later post, we'll try a comparison of costs for postpartum charting!
#1: Clearblue
Clearblue fertility monitor (e3G/LH) new on amazon $120 Test sticks $44.50 for a box of 30 tests, so $1.48ea Testing begins CD6 first cycle (given this hypothetical woman's cycle parameters testing will begin on CD8 or CD9 in subsequent cycles,) and ends at detection of first peak, so typically 7 or 8 tests per cycle. At this pricing, it works out to roughly $10-12 in test sticks per cycle. Overall cost over 24 cycles: ~$360-$408, or $15-17 per cycle. Clearblue fertility monitor (e3G/LH) + Proov Confirm PdG tests Clearblue costs as above Proov tests $42.49 for 20 tests on amazon so $2.12 each. Usually you will need just one or two tests per cycle to confirm ovulation, so $2.12-4.24 per cycle, so to cover 24 cycles you should have maybe 3 boxes or so at roughly $63.75 total. Overall cost over 24 cycles: ~$423.75-$471.75, or $17.65-$19.65 per cycle.
Clearblue fertility monitor (e3G/LH) + Tempdrop Clearblue costs as above. Tempdrop on current sale prices on amazon right now is $169 (but you can also purchase it direct from the Tempdrop website and get an extra 12% off with my code FIGLEAFFERTILITY, which brings the cost further down to $149). Overall cost over 24 cycles: ~$509-577, or between $21.20-$24.04 per cycle.
#2: Inito
Inito starter kit (includes 15 FSH/e3G/LH/PdG tests) new on amazon $150 Replacement Inito test sticks $49 for 15 tests, $3.26ea, only available for purchase in-app
Inito's website says you'll use 12-15 tests per 30 day cycle, but that's optimized for TTC, so it may be possible to get away with less testing over the luteal phase if just cycle tracking. For the purpose of this comparison, I'll estimate 7-12 tests. Overall cost over 24 cycles: ~$648.78-$1039.98 or $27.03-$43.33 per cycle.
#3: Mira
Mira Plus (quantitative e3g/LH) starter kit (includes 10 Plus wands) new on amazon $246 Replacement Mira Plus wands are $58.50 for 20 tests, so ~$2.93 each. I'm assuming 7-10 tests per cycle, depending on instructions, which means you’ll need to purchase an additional 158-230 test wands, which is roughly 7-11 extra boxes worth. Overall cost over 24 cycles: ~$708.94-$919.90, or $29.54-$38.33 per cycle.
Mira Plus (quantitative e3g/LH) plus Proov Confirm PdG tests.
Mira Plus costs as above.
Proov tests $42.49 for 20 tests on amazon so $2.12 each. Usually you will need just one or two tests per cycle to confirm ovulation, so $2.12-4.24 per cycle, so to cover 24 cycles you should have maybe 3 boxes or so at roughly $63.75 total.
Overall cost over 24 cycles: ~$759.82-$1020.96 or $31.66-$42.54 per cycle.
Mira Plus (quantitative e3g/LH) plus Tempdrop
Mira Plus costs as above.
Tempdrop on current sale prices on amazon right now is $169 (but you can also purchase it direct from the Tempdrop website and get an extra 12% off with my code FIGLEAFFERTILITY, which brings the cost further down to $149).
Overall cost over 24 cycles: ~$857.94-$1088.90 or $35.74-$45.37 per cycle.
Mira Max (quantitative e3g/LH/PdG) starter kit (includes 30 Max wands) new on amazon $299
Replacement Mira Max wands are $79.20 for 20 tests so ~$3.96 each.
I'm assuming 7-10 tests per cycle, depending on instructions, which means you'll need to purchase an additional 172-210 tests.
Overall cost over 24 cycles: ~$980.12-$1130.60 or $40.83-$47.10 per cycle.
#4: The take-away
TL;DR?
$ cost over 24 cycles/2 years | $ Cost per cycle/month | |
Clearblue monitor | 360-408 | 15-17 |
CB monitor + Proov PdG | 424-472 | 18-20 |
CB monitor + Tempdrop | 509-577 | 21-24 |
Inito | 649-1040 | 27-43 |
Mira Plus | 709-920 | 30-38 |
Mira Plus + Proov PdG | 760-1021 | 32-43 |
Mira Plus + Tempdrop | 858-1089 | 36-45 |
Mira Max | 980-1131 | 41-47 |
You can spend a lot on technology. So if it's more your budget and more your style, good old-fashioned and cheaper traditional tools like cervical fluid observations and oral basal body temperatures remain an option. You can even add in basic LH tests that are just 30-50 cents each to help pinpoint that ovulation window. BCC has a great protocol for that.
These are just some quick back-of-the-envelope costings, and much can vary - even for regular cycles - depending on how long your cycles are (a regular 25 day cycle might require fewer tests than a regular 35 day cycle), whether you need to use a Proov PdG baseline test, your fertility intentions, underlying conditions, and more. Remember for those of you in the USA that many of these products are eligible for FSA or HSA spending, if your health insurance offers that.
And of note, when considering ovulation confirmation, a tool like Tempdrop will work out less per cycle/year over a longer span of time, while disposable tests like Proov Confirm will accumulate in cost, so the balance would shift if I did costing over a 5 year span instead of a 2 year span.
These are costs for the tech supplies, but other budget factors can include charting or professional instruction (good instruction can be vital when using devices specifically designed for TTC when you are not TTC.) If you'd like some free paper charts for download, BCC has some for you!
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