Fellow vs Legacy
Updated October 16, 2026
Men who want a semen analysis or a frozen sample without a clinic visit usually compare Fellow and Legacy. Both mail a kit and run the test in a certified lab, but Fellow has built its business on clinical partners and validation research, while Legacy leads with multiyear storage plans and fertility benefit coverage. The better choice depends on whether testing or long-term storage is the main goal.
Our analysts compared Fellow and Legacy on kit options, storage plans, extra testing, benefit coverage, and clinical evidence, using the HIR review of each company and Fellow's press page. In the following sections, we compare the services, describe who each suits, and note Fellow's recent news.
Fellow vs Legacy at a glance, October 2026
| What buyers weigh | Fellow | Legacy |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Posted prices for mail-in kits, with shipping both ways. Freezing adds a yearly storage fee for each sample once it is successfully frozen. | Posted bundles of at-home kits and storage (1-, 3-, 10-, and 25-year plans), plus yearly storage you can renew. You pay cash, with insurance and employer fertility benefits where available. |
| What drives cost | The kit (analysis only, analysis plus freezing, or vasectomy test), how many samples you store, yearly storage renewals after the first year, and whether fertility benefits cover the analysis. | Plan length, how many samples and kits, whether STI and DNA fragmentation testing are included, storage renewals after the prepaid term, and insurance or benefits like Progyny, Carrot, or Maven. |
| What you need first | A clear reason to test or freeze (trying to conceive, confirming a vasectomy worked, or a medical risk). | A clear reason to test or freeze (trying to conceive, planning before a procedure, or a medical risk). |
| Deal-breaker | You need a donor sperm bank or anonymous donor catalog. | You need a donor sperm bank or anonymous donors. |
| Pricing clarity score | 8.8 | 8.8 |
| HIR overall score | 8.3, Highly recommend. | 8.2, Recommend. |
| Best for | Men who want a mail-in CLIA semen analysis, post-vasectomy test, or analysis plus cryopreservation without a clinic collection-room visit. | Men who want at-home semen analysis, DNA fragmentation testing, or sperm cryopreservation without a clinic collection-room visit. |
| Not a fit for | Anyone shopping a donor sperm bank or anonymous donor catalog - Fellow freezes and stores a patient's own sample for use with a sexually intimate partner. | Anyone shopping a donor sperm bank or anonymous donor catalog - Legacy freezes and stores a patient's own sample. |
Which fits which buyer
Pick by whether you mainly want a result or a sample in storage.
Choose Fellow if
- You want a lab-grade analysis or a post-vasectomy test ordered through your doctor.
- You care about published validation for mail-in testing.
- You live in New York, where Fellow's mail-in service is expanding.
Choose Legacy if
- You want storage for many years with a plan bought upfront.
- You want DNA fragmentation or STI testing in the same kit path.
- You plan to use a fertility benefit such as Progyny, Carrot, or Maven.
How they differ in practice
Legacy includes DNA fragmentation testing and STI options in its kit path, and accepts cash pay plus fertility benefits such as Progyny, Carrot, and Maven.
Fellow runs a large clinical-partner channel next to its DTC shop and cites peer-reviewed CLIA validation (Samplaski et al., Fertility and Sterility 2021). Legacy emphasizes multi-site cryostorage for men planning ahead of vasectomy, testosterone therapy, cancer treatment, gender-affirming care, or deployment.
Verdict
Fellow is slightly ahead and is the stronger choice for testing that a clinician will rely on. Legacy is the better fit for someone focused on long-term storage paid through a fertility benefit.
Neither runs a donor sperm bank.
Where the two tools are headed in 2027 and beyond
Fellow: Fellow expanded its mail-in analysis across New York on June 30, 2026, partnered with Sunfish on July 17, 2026, and announced on October 14, 2026 that it will present nine studies at the ASRM congress.
Confirm current kit and storage prices on each site at checkout.
Methodology
Each row comes from the HIR reviews of Fellow and Legacy, scored under the HIR method, and from each vendor's public pricing where it exists. Any published price for Fellow or Legacy was checked on that vendor's own site on October 16, 2026.
A green check marks a clear edge for Fellow or Legacy only where their review scores differ by at least 0.3 points or the two reviews show a plain difference. Rows with nothing published for either Fellow or Legacy are left out, and time to full value for each adds up the rollout stages in its review.
Sources
- HIR review of Fellow and HIR review of Legacy
- Fellow website
- Legacy website
- Fellow press page, June 30 to October 14, 2026